Cairn Canine Detection Board members started researching the dark history of Native American boarding schools in 2020 and recently engaged in a project in collaboration with Cascadia Search Dogs with the Yakama Cultural Resources Management Program working with Jon Shellenberger, Project Manager and Archaeologist for the Fort Simcoe Boarding School Project. Phase 2 of this project was completed in the Fall of 2023 with plans for Phase 3 in the Spring of 2024. Cairn Canine Detection is very aware of the importance of respecting cultural practices and understanding that Native American cultures are diverse and have their own unique rituals, ceremonies, and beliefs. 

Click here for a recent NPR podcast on this project. 

Cairn Canine Detection in collaboration with Cascadia Search Dogs started working with the Seabeck Cemetery Restoration Project located on the Kitsap Peninsula in 2023 as a local chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution started looking for a project to celebrate America’s 250 th birthday in 2026. Cairn Canine and Cascadia Search Dogs are supporting the Elizabeth Ellington DAR Chapter of the American Revolution by providing our historical human remains detection dogs and search planning expertise to help preserve, restore and locate unmarked graves. 

Cairn Canine Detection Board members initiated research on the MMIWP project in 2020 and started participating on regularly scheduled Zoom calls with the MMIWP Criminal Justice and Public Safety Sub-committee in the Summer of 2023. Guy Mansfield and Suzanne Elshult did a presentation to sub-committee members in the Fall of 2023. It is crucial to ensure that any future involvement of our K9s in the MMIWP program is done respectfully and in consultation with indigenous communities and organizations of the affected communities and families. 

Cairn Canine Detection has initiated a project with the Northern State Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project Lead, John Horne, to explore the use of our historically trained human remains detection dogs to locate unmarked graves in the fenced in cemetery and also to determine if there are unmarked graves outside the designated cemetery. Northern State Hospital at one time was the largest asylum in Washington State and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Seattle Times article.