Hebard has had five dogs from which to learn those differences, and a sixth dog, Lasso, is in the final stages of training. She typically gets a dog between 18 months and 3 years old to train. She then has them work until about age 9. She gets her dogs from Germany after they've undergone basic search and obedience training. His father is the current German sieger, which means he's the current number one dog in Germany.
Every day is a training day.
The most important lesson is obedience, since the dogs work off the leash, in tense, loud and crowded surroundings. Hebard uses German voice commands, but in disaster situations she has some extra help. My voice won't carry, but my whistle will. The dogs work for hours at a time, all for the privilege of playing with a rubber chew toy called a Kong. Searching crumpled buildings and tracking lost people in the woods are part of a day's work.