Ask the Author: Robert D. Calkins
Answered Questions (8)
Robert D. Calkins
Hi Sally-
Thanks for your question. In my state, search and rescue is overwhelmingly a volunteer activity. So it's technically not a "line of work." About the only person getting paid at a search is the sheriff's deputy who supervises our effort.
The training commitment is huge. Our team puts on training every Saturday and usually one weeknight. I rack up about 300 to 350 total hours per year. We have to learn everything that a regular "ground-pounder" SAR member knows, and then learn to work our dog on top of that. For a newbie to be "mission-ready" with their first dog can take a couple of years.
Thanks again for your question and I'm glad you enjoyed Digger.!
Thanks for your question. In my state, search and rescue is overwhelmingly a volunteer activity. So it's technically not a "line of work." About the only person getting paid at a search is the sheriff's deputy who supervises our effort.
The training commitment is huge. Our team puts on training every Saturday and usually one weeknight. I rack up about 300 to 350 total hours per year. We have to learn everything that a regular "ground-pounder" SAR member knows, and then learn to work our dog on top of that. For a newbie to be "mission-ready" with their first dog can take a couple of years.
Thanks again for your question and I'm glad you enjoyed Digger.!
Robert D. Calkins
Hi Patti-
Yes, our dog live as (spoiled) pets when we're not searching. We take extra care of their health with every vaccination known to vet medicine and they get some diet supplements, but otherwise no real "special" treatment.
We work hard not to have harrowing experiences, but I do recall a park ranger asking me "how's your dog around bears?" Even that wasn't harrowing until she told me that in a national park you can't use bear spray. "Wha-ut? No bear spray?" She shared that the rangers just throw rocks at the bears. "Sure...uh huh." Fortunately the bears were having their picnic elsewhere that day, and we didn't run into any.
Yes, our dog live as (spoiled) pets when we're not searching. We take extra care of their health with every vaccination known to vet medicine and they get some diet supplements, but otherwise no real "special" treatment.
We work hard not to have harrowing experiences, but I do recall a park ranger asking me "how's your dog around bears?" Even that wasn't harrowing until she told me that in a national park you can't use bear spray. "Wha-ut? No bear spray?" She shared that the rangers just throw rocks at the bears. "Sure...uh huh." Fortunately the bears were having their picnic elsewhere that day, and we didn't run into any.
Robert D. Calkins
By not writing. Seriously. The best way for me to write effectively is to step away for awhile and do something different. In particular, go for a hike or a training search with my dog. Doing something different clears my mind and gets me ready to write again.
Robert D. Calkins
Filling in the gap between my children's books and the teen/adult mystery novel. That'll be a chapter book for elementary readers called "Bryce Bumps His Head," in which Sierra the Search Dog does something pretty amazing!
Robert D. Calkins
Knowing that I've given someone a bit of enjoyment and distractions from the challenges in their life. Very few books will change the world. But I can change someone's world for a few hours.
Robert D. Calkins
Write! You're not a writer if you don't write. Bad writing can be fixed but get something down each day. Then work hard to improve it later.
Robert D. Calkins
I never try to write more than a couple thousand words per day. Optimum is 1000 words. Then I go do something fun and get my mind completely off the book. When I return the next day, things just flow.
As an athlete, your body will tell you when you're "over-training." Writer's block is your mind's way of telling you you're "over-writing."
As an athlete, your body will tell you when you're "over-training." Writer's block is your mind's way of telling you you're "over-writing."
Robert D. Calkins
The scenes in my books all begin with actual searches I've been on. The endings, however, are where the fiction comes in. Most searches end routinely. But good dog handlers always do what athletes call "visualization." They challenge themselves by thinking through potential outcomes- even outlandish ones.
"If this person doesn't WANT to be found and runs, what will I do?" (I'm too old to chase people. I'll get a compass bearing and call it in. At least we know they're safe.) "What if I find them and it's obviously a murder?" (Freeze! Then stop, think and figure out how to back out of the scene without destroying the killer's footprints.)
Those kinds of self-training efforts at visualization have become the ingredients for my books.
"If this person doesn't WANT to be found and runs, what will I do?" (I'm too old to chase people. I'll get a compass bearing and call it in. At least we know they're safe.) "What if I find them and it's obviously a murder?" (Freeze! Then stop, think and figure out how to back out of the scene without destroying the killer's footprints.)
Those kinds of self-training efforts at visualization have become the ingredients for my books.
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