You’re very right, that sorta thing can be rough. But I cannot stand hugging homeless people or working in a soup kitchen. I’ve even done work with habitat for humanity building homes for a while, didn’t really tickle my fancy. Search and rescue, or disaster response, sounds more like my cup of tea, and I feel strongly about volunteering my time I figure between volunteering locally, as well as signing up with project rubicon, I should be able to put a little time in and help out. I have a limited amount of training in several different aspects, and have been on my fair share of crime scenes. Hopefully it goes easily and I can make a positive contribution. Once I get a few things in my life in order I plan on signing up for some classes/training and seeing what happens. Maybe I can get fully trained before I have to worry about training a puppy.I'll add 2 cents about search and rescue: I was thinking of getting into that several years ago. Took my dog to K9 University on NW Exp to have him evaluated; they said he had the nose for it.
Then they started telling me about the process to get certified. It's quite extensive and expensive. I would have had to get training in evidence preservation, on site trauma treatment, and so forth.
Then there's the dog training.
Bottom line, once fully trained you might get a call in the middle of the night during a storm, they'll give you a map and ask you to cover a section of land, maybe way out in the boonies, in the dark, in the rain, in the cold, crossing streams, rocks, whatever.
I decided I was too old for that, and didn't want to make the time and financial commitment.
Maybe there are other programs not so intensive, I don't know.
Something to consider, I'm sure it can be very rewarding.