Stop by the Bend Public Library on August 18 at 6:30 and the Sisters Library on September 2 at noon for a chance to meet the dogs of the Mt. Bachelor Avalanche Dog Team. Wyatt, Makita, Kenai, all labs, are the current canine members of the Avalanche Dog Team. According to Curtis Norsen, the team coordinator, “an avalanche dogs needs to have a good drive, enjoy the snow, and have a willingness to learn.

Norsen says they train the dogs using a system of “games,” that get increasingly harder. By the end of their training, the dogs can find someone, or multiple people, buried in up to six feet of snow. The dogs are owned and cared for by individual patrollers who have earned the dog handling position by hard work and dedication to safe patrolling practices.

The two programs are part of the “Know Dogs” series being offered at the library during August and September.

For more information about the series or other library programs, please call 541/312-1032.