AKC Honors English Springer Spaniel "Morgan"

AKC Honors Outstanding Dogs with
2006 AKC Awards for Canine Excellence

Search and Rescue Dog: “Morgan” from Lebanon, N.J.

Morgan, an English Springer Spaniel, is a certified wilderness air scent, water and cadaver search dog. She and her owner, Katrene Johnson, have participated in over 50 searches nationwide. In September 2001, Morgan and Katrene were called upon to search for DNA material in the debris from Ground Zero. Morgan faithfully searched the quarter square mile of debris that had been deposited at Staten Island’s Fresh Kills Land Fill. Her contribution helped to give numerous families the answers they sought about their loved ones.

In 2005, Morgan was instrumental in the relief efforts of another catastrophe. Hancock County, Mississippi called upon search and rescue teams to help track down their missing citizens after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Morgan and a few other teams were responsible for clearing neighborhoods before residents returned to survey the damage to their homes. With Morgan’s help, Hancock County completed its mission of locating all missing citizens.

Katrene Johnson and 'Morgan (Above) & Maia (below)
from West New Jersey K9 Search+Rescue website:

Katrene is the President of West Jersey K-9 and has training skills, which served many wonderful K-9’s. Currently Katrene is working with two English Springer Spaniels who have tough shoes to fill since the passing of Katrene's old rescue dog 'Dan.' Dan was famous for his many wilderness, cadaver and water search and rescues.
Morgan is a 4-year-old English Springer Spaniel who is up to any challenge she me come across. The hundreds of hours logged in her training is apparent when you watch her methodically work out a difficult HRD problem. Morgan is a seasoned veteran, certified in HRD and water search work. As you can see in this picture, her happy smile (above) and intent gaze on Katrene shows you just how much fun she has doing the job.


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Over and over, I've seen examples of Springers put to use working to make our lives safer, as exemplified by Katrene's Morgan and Maia in pictures above. Once Springer rescue placed a dog with the USDA where they trained him to sniff out contraband plants & products.

Give a Springer a job and you've made his/her life better and happier. Not all Springers can hunt, but many could be trained to do so many other things. If nothing else, consider training YOUR Springer to get a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) certificate from the AKC. Your Springer will thank you!