Carren Corcoran is the founder of Canine Search Solutions, LLC.  Carren has been a Madison Police Officer since May of 1990.  Her love of dogs and her fascination with the power of their noses has been the driving force behind her work with dogs.

Carren began novice dog training in 1989 in a variety of arenas including obedience, schutzhund, guide dog training and foster care.  Carren was a founding member of Central Wisconsin Search and Rescue, a non profit organization, and served as the team's Training Director from 1998 until the team disbanded in 2004, assisting numerous dog teams to certification.

Carren's first search dog, Norse, a male German Shepherd, was Central Wisconsin Search and Rescue's first certified dog and the team's anchor.  Norse participated in approximately 65 searches throughout his career and searched in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan.  Norse had numerous confirmed finds and had his work confirmed by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, Illinois State Crime Lab, a forensic anthropologist and police evidence technicians.  Norse passed away on May 5, 2005, at 11 years and 10 months old, and his last search was in April of 2005.  Norse was an ambassador to both the German Shepherd breed and HRD dogs.  He touched

many people's lives with his intelligence, affection and work ethic.  Norse taught by example the limitless ability of an excellent working dog and what it can accomplish for a homicide investigation.

Carren's second HRD dog is Cleo, a female German Shepherd.  Cleo was adopted in 2000 as a 2-year-old stray from Badgerland German Shepherd Rescue.  Cleo has been trained to detect exclusively human remains, and has no cross-training in live human scent, as Norse did.  Cleo's extensive training has been fine-tuned to include 

detection of trace evidence such as human blood which has been thoroughly cleaned (even painted over,) strands of hair, and other evidence that is not immediately visible to the naked eye.  Cleo has participated in approximately 50 searches throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho and Michigan.  Cleo has had numerous finds and her work has been confirmed by the Wisconsin and Illinois State Crime Labs, a forensic anthropologist, and police department evidence technicians.

In anticipation of Cleo's eventual retirement, Carren's newest partner in training is Molly, a female German Shepherd born in July 2006.  Moly has been in training for human remains detection since the spring of 2007, and is showing very strong working drives.  Carren and Molly plan to test and certify with the International Plice Working Dog Association (IPWDA) in the spring of 2008.

OTHER TEAM MEMBERS

Theresa Christ's extensive history with working dogs began in 1993, when she ban formal K9 training in obedience and agility.  Theresa pursued and earned certification as an obedience instructor through Canine Connection, Inc. in 2000, teaching private obedience lessons and Canine Good Citizen classes to 4H groups; in 2002, she was certified through the AKC as a certified CGC evaluator.  Theresa has been fostering with the American Belgian Malinois Club since 2000.  She was a founding member of the former non-profit SAR group Locators of the Missing, and began SAR work in 1996 with her first K9 partner.  Theresa's second partner, a Belgian Malinois/German Shepherd mix named Sammie (who was originally in training as a seeing-eye dog but rejected due to being too intense,) was certified in cadaver search in 2000.  Sammie is trainied to detect human remains only, and has participated in approximately 50 searches in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan.  She has numerous confirmed finds, and her work has been confirmed by the Illinois and Wisconsin state crime labs, as well as forensic anthropologists and police department evidence technicians.  In addition, Sammie's work has contributed to probable cause for search warrants in both Wisconsin and Nevada.

Theresa's newest partner-in-training is Andi, a female Belgian Malinois.

Jennifer Foth is a 911 operator and dispatcher for the Dane County Communications Center in Wisconsin.  Jennifer is in her 15th year of servicing the public.  Jennifer obtained Ecko, a 5-year-old male German Shepherd from Canada in 2001.  Ecko began his training in dual-purpose search rescue as an MPRT dog (Multi Purpose Response Team.)  Ecko began to excel and obtained his live-person certification and land cadaver certification through Central Wisconsin Search and Rescue in 2004.

Ecko participated in approximately 15 searches as a primary dog and has had 2 confirmed finds.  In one case, Ecko located scattered human remains on a double homicide and the finds were confirmed by a Forensic Anthropologist.  Ecko also assisted LE in locating the body of a drown victim.  Ecko's promising career was cut short when he was diagnosed with a heart condition.  Ecko loved his job and his early retirement has created a very big hole for CSS.  Today Ecko enjoys his life from a couch and Jennifer continues to provide field support to other handlers of CSS.

Joan Brehm has been an associate HRD canine handler with Canine Search Solutions since its inception.  Joan is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois.  She has been involved with canine search and rescue work and training since 1998, when she began training her first SAR dog, Chief (male Redbone Coonhound/Lab mix) in Missoula, Montana.  Joan was a member of Missoula County Search and Rescue and Clarke Fork-Bitterroot Search Dogs from 1998-2000, Weber County Sheriff Search and Rescue in Odgen, UT from 2000-2002, and American Search Dogs in Ogden, UT from 2002-2003. 

She joined Illinois Search Dogs in 2003 when she moved back to the Midwest, where she continues as an operational handler and secretary.  Joan and Chief have extensive training in multiple SAR disciplines including wilderness, avalanche, and water and land HRD.  Since moving back to Illinois, Joan and Chief have focused exclusively on land and water cadaver work, as well as cadaster (cadaver detection in a disaster environment.)  Chief has numerous confirmed HRD finds, with the majority of them being drownings or remains recovered in bodies of water.  Joan also has extensive training in crime scene preservation, first aid, CPR, GPS/navigation, disaster scene safety and assessment, and other related SAR disciplines.  Joan is now training her second canine partner, Sula (female Redbone Coonhound) in both scent-specific trailing and HRD detection.  In addition to internal certifications, Sula certified through the International Police Work Dog Association (www.ipwda.org) in both trailing and basic land cadaver 2007 and 2008, and is now working toward certification in advanced land cadaver and water cadaver.

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