Highly motivated in the crisis

Early Monday morning, the intense workday was already in full swing, my thoughts at that moment were solely focused on return on investment and resource allocation. Buddy, my 6-year-old Border Collie, was lying in his basket in my office. He had laid back down, as we had trained over the weekend in an abandoned quarry, and he must have had incredible muscle soreness. The training scenario that our team received was the rescue of several workers who were missing after a gas explosion. There were different victim scenarios, either that of a buried person or of a colleague who had run into the woods with acoustic trauma and was now wandering around. As the wind had picked up significantly that morning, the search helicopter could not take off, and the dogs had to be deployed in the search. On the premises, there was a dilapidated house used as a storage and administration building, and a large machinery park for quarrying and processing stone. Conveyors, grates, and heights, everything that demanded a high level of physical and mental exertion from the dog. But the dog handler himself also feels the full pressure to perform here, and it is easy to forget that this is "just" a training exercise. This is due to the responsibility for one's dog and oneself to come out unscathed, making decisions and prioritizing under pressure and changing conditions, as well as motivating and coordinating with team mates. Everything leads to a final question from the command team: "Can you release the search area?!?!" Which ultimately means that if there is still a missing person in the area, they will not be found. From 0 to 100 in a fraction of a second Suddenly, my BOS (emergency services) pager went off and pulled me out of my thoughts. It was time again, an operation. At that moment, my dog's eyes lit up with joy, as he knew what that meant, and he looked at me with a clear, joyful gaze. As I read the short message, only one of us was looking forward to the upcoming task, as it is always associated with a heavy fate and crisis. But that was also good, because only through fun, confirmation, and recognition, which it is for the dog, does he go far beyond his limits and search for the missing person under pressure. I admire my dog time and time again, he can be motivated "just" by a shrill whistle to run into the basement and wag his tail in front of the closet where my emergency backpack is stored. If time allows and appointments can be rescheduled, I go to the closet, open the door, and take out my red backpack and protective clothing. For him, this is a sign that it's really time to go. He literally rises above himself and runs around barking with joy, happy that he can finally work again. I often think, if everyone were only half as motivated as this 21kg Border Collie, we would have double-digit growth rates in our revenues, all for a sausage or a small red ball held together by a thin seam.