Personnel changes took place at Santa Barbara County Fire in recent weeks with the retirement of Riley the rescue dog and the hiring of Waffles, Captain Eric Gray’s new canine partner.
Riley, a yellow Labrador mix, is an eight-year veteran of County Fire, working with Gray as a live scent search dog both in the county and out. The pair were deployed to Japan in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster to search for earthquake survivors, then to Tibet in 2015 after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake there. They went overseas again in 2017 to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and then were the first pair on the scene in the search for survivors of the Montecito debris flow in 2018. Riley, now 11 years old, went home with Gray, who’s been with County Fire for 15 years, as the new family pet.
Waffles, who was recruited as a stray in Ventura, looks to be a Belgian malinois and recently graduated from the Santa Paula-based Search Dog Foundation training program. The young dog’s drive, focus, and athletic ability were successfully channeled to the search for people trapped in wreckage in the seven-month program. During the ceremony, one of his trainers commented on the challenges in store for Gray due to his new dog’s high intelligence and energy level. Gray explained he’d considered hanging up the leash after Montecito and thanked his wife for saying yes to his decision to take on Waffles.