Caleb Landers

Caleb Landers is a Search and Rescue canine handler, part-time police officer, and

founder of 3R K-9 Search Foundation holding the title of Chairman of the Board. He is

currently employed as a Search and Rescue K-9 handler and trainer for the Quapaw

Nation Department of Emergency Management and holds the title of Deployment

Manager. Growing up his family lived across the road from a circus animal trainer Bunky

Boger where he grew a passion for training all animals. Caleb was known to bring home

every stray dog or cat or injured wild animal he found much to the dismay of his family.

Caleb’s Father was the Chief of Police in Lowell Arkansas and purchased the

department’s first K-9. Caleb would spend time helping his Dad and the handler train

with the dog. Because of that Caleb decided he would grow up to become a dog trainer.

Career

Caleb began taking steps to become a professional dog trainer in 2008 when he

rescued a German Shepherd. He interned under a trainer with Canine Unlimited where

he began to learn how to train police K9s and trained his dog for narcotics detection,

tracking, and personal protection. In 2012 Caleb moved to Louisiana to attend school

and work part-time as a dog trainer working under a Police K9 trainer. In May of 2012,

his father was tragically killed by a drunk driver in Panama City Beach Florida. The

community both in Florida and back home in Northwest Arkansas rallied around him

and his family. Feeling that love and support is what led him to begin to find ways of

giving back. He found a way to do that through search and rescue. In 2012 he joined a

volunteer Search and Rescue team in Louisiana. In 2014 he moved back to Northwest

Arkansas and joined Washington County Search and Rescue. In 2022 he was hired by

Quapaw Nation Emergency Management to help build one of the first paid K9 Search

and Rescue teams in the 4-state area. Since then he has helped create paid K9 teams

for 2 other tribes.

Caleb has led instruction and K-9 training in Live Find area searches, tracking/trailing,

and disaster search, as well as instructing in the field of Human Remains Detection. He

has assisted numerous Search and Rescue teams and law enforcement agencies on all

aspects of K9 detection, handler skills, and search techniques as well as providing

virtual search planning and mapping. Caleb holds a SARtech 2 certification through

NASAR.

K9 History

Caleb has trained and assisted in the training of many law enforcement K9s as well as

numerous Search and Rescue K-9s for others. He has trained and certified 3 of his

personal dogs in Human Remains Detection (Rowdy, Shadow, BayLee) and is certified

in trailing with a dog trained and owned by a teammate (Hades). Caleb has/had K-9

certifications through NOCSAR, AWDA, and NAPWDA.

Influences

Caleb has attended many seminars over the years and worked under the guidance of

many wonderful dog and animal trainers to learn new skills and stay up to date on the

latest training methods. One of Caleb’s biggest influences was Bunky Boger a world-

renowned animal trainer and rodeo hall of famer. In the Search and Rescue K9 world,

Caleb’s biggest influence is Jeanette Barnes. Jeanette is an evaluator for American

Working Dog and has numerous years of Search and Rescue experience. Her positive

attitude and willingness to help others is infectious and Caleb considers himself lucky to

be able to call on her anytime he needs advice.

Current Endeavors

Currently, Caleb has 2 K-9s Shadow and BayLee that he trained and certified for human

remains detection. K9 Shadow is certified through NOCSAR and K9 BayLee is certified

with AWDA. Caleb is the Chairperson and founding member of 3R K-9 Search

Foundation  3R’s mission is to train rescue dogs for Search and Rescue to donate to

volunteer teams and law enforcement agencies as well as conduct search missions

throughout the US. Caleb is a board member of the Arkansas Search and Rescue

Association, works as a part-time police officer, and is a full-time K9 handler/ trainer and

deployment manager for the Quapaw Nation Department of Emergency Management.

Caleb hosts a weekly and monthly K9 training for multiple Search and Rescue teams

focusing on all aspects of Search and Rescue.