OSO, Wash. — It's been a decade since America's deadliest landslide, but it's been most of her lifetime for one of the search and rescue dogs.
Suzanne Elshult and her labrador Keb have an exceptional bond.
"She is my heart dog. She is my forever dog," said Suzanne Elshult, president of CAIRN K-9 Detection.
What makes their bond so special is the more than 100 missions they've been on as a search and rescue team.
"There are times when you get into that zone when you just feel like you're one where you're kind of building off of each other, and things are just working. You're perfectly in sync and there's no feeling quite like it," Elshult said.
There was no mission more life-changing or tragic than the Oso landslide.
"We were one of the first dogs deployed, and we were the very last dog deployed," Elshult said.
Elshult recalled seeing the news of the landslide on Saturday, March 22nd, 2014, and was anxiously waiting for a call.
"The geologists that Monday had decided that it was okay to call in searchers, and I remember it so well, because I came out from my fitness club, and I heard the beeper go off, and it was the call and it was my first real disaster deployment," Elshult said.
It was also Keb's first mission certified as a human remains detection dog.
"It was just so surreal from the very beginning, and at the same time, there were times when I felt badly for my dog, because I didn't know exactly what it was I was asking her to do. The mud was in places it was 70 feet deep. We didn't know what contaminants were in the soil. That's really hard to do. When you love a dog as much as I love, love this dog, and they are the kind of decisions you have to make out in the field," Elshult said.
Keb worked through mud, rubble, and collapsed homes.
"I saw firefighters that had sunk down in the mud that had to be pulled out by two other firefighters. There are places you couldn't walk, but there were times when it looked like she was walking on top of the soil. The dogs were doing much better than us humans were doing," Elshult said.
Elshult would quickly realize the mission would change.
"We got to see the evolution of the mission, which was totally different as it went on. I mean, in the beginning, we all had high hopes that we would still find some alive. It was just very depressing, dark towards the end, but all 43 of the victims, the subjects were found ultimately," Elshult said.
Elshult and Keb would work side-by-side with families.
"I saw a man with, I remember he had on blue jeans, and he looked like he was piling things into a pile. As I got closer to him, I could see that there was a pile of toddler clothes. There was a pink skirt, teddy bear and as we approached him, he turned around to me, and he said, 'Can your dog please help me find my little girl?' I mean, how do you even describe that and the feeling of helplessness," Elshult said.
Elshult can't believe it's been ten years since she and Keb were on a month-long deployment in Oso, and for Keb, things look different in that span of time.
"Her eyes and ears and everything is fine, except she developed the lower back kind of leg condition about six months ago," Elshult said.
Keb is now 14 years old and just recently had to start using wheels to help her walk, but it's not slowing her down and her skills haven't faded.
"Cognitively, she's fine and there's nothing wrong with her nose," Elshult said.
Elshult showed us Keb at work. She hid a sock that had been lying next to teeth and Keb found it without hesitation.
Keb was certified in various disciplines including live avalanche search and rescue and disaster response. It was after Oso that much of Keb's work focused on human remains detection and historical human remains detection.
Elshult and James Guy Mansfield detail Keb's work and missions including Oso in their book "A Dog's Devotion."
Keb retired in 2023, and her last mission was working on the Yakima Reservation at the Fort Simcoe Boarding School searching for children's unmarked graves.
While Keb and Elshult's missions are over, their bond will last a lifetime.
"I'm just feeling so, so very fortunate that I've been able to work with her and that I'm still having every day to love her. I wake up every morning just treasuring every day," Elshult said.
From the KING 5 Archives: Remembering the Oso landslide one year later