When people walk into McDonald’s, they smell a hamburger. If search dogs were to go in, they’d smell the lettuce, mustard and all the way down to the wheat in the bun and the salt on the fries.

Jenni Bidner, a handler with ILL-WIS Search and Rescue Dogs, once had an instructor tell her that.

Putting the dogs’ snouts to work for a good cause, ILL-WIS Search and Rescue Dogs is an all-volunteer organization formed in 1985 that doesn’t charge for its services. Police and fire departments as well as other law enforcement agencies call the group when they need help finding a lost or missing person.

Currently there are about 12 handlers with 15 or more dogs serving mostly southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The organization typically responds to between 15 and 20 calls a year, but by mid-March of this year, it already had been out on eight.

In January, ILL-WIS dogs were used to search for a missing Rockford man whose abandoned truck was found in a residential area of Crystal Lake. The man’s body later was found in an abandoned farmhouse in Ogle County.

Deputy Chief Eugene Lowery of the Crystal Lake Police Department sang the praises of the work done by ILL-WIS Search Dogs.

“They have the appropriate training and they bring resources to the table, especially in this day and age where local governments have less financial means,” Lowery said. “It’s a high-quality service at zero cost to the taxpayer.”

A department calls, and ILL-WIS shows up, he said.

“These people are doing it because they have a passion for it and they want to serve their community,” Lowery said.

It’s a big commitment.

It takes about two years for a dog to become fully certified, but training is always ongoing. At least three group trainings take place per month, on top of individual time.

There’s also a financial investment, with handlers covering all of the cost of veterinary bills. The group relies on donations to help defray some of the expenses, such as insurance, radios and GPS gear.

Handlers also need to have an employer who will allow them to leave at a moment’s notice when a call comes.

Sharon Naskrent of Crystal Lake, who was a founding member along with her husband, said being part of the organization has taken over her life.

“All of our vacations in the last 26 years have revolved around going to seminars across the country,” she said.

Many breeds of dogs can be search dogs, including more traditional breeds such as bloodhounds and German Shepherds.

“We always get asked, ‘Can my dog be a search dog?’ “ Bidner said. “Some dogs are genetically predisposed to it either by the way they hunt or want to serve. German Shepherds want to be trained; they want to please you.”

Bidner uses a more unconventional breed, German shorthaired pointers, but mixed breed dogs from shelters also can do the job.

“A lot of rescued dogs become the rescuers, and that’s really rewarding to see,” Bidner said.

Both the handler and the dog need to be physically fit and have a desire to do the work.

“In the eighth hour of the search, you have to be game to plow on,” she said. “The good search dogs live for it – they see the hiking boots go on and they’re ready to go.”

The dogs have specialties, such as trailing, where they can smell the scent of a person and follow the path taken regardless of the number of people or cars in the area. Human remains detection is used to look for the body of someone presumed dead, such as a suicide victim or a hiker who died in the woods.

They also can help in water recoveries by locating a body, even if it’s under water.

“The decomposition scents rise to the surface and the dogs can smell it,” Bidner said. “It’s a great way to shorten the search time.”

Training starts simply, with a person running and hiding while the dog watches. When the dog “finds” them, there is a celebration and reward.

During mock searches, a person will walk away an hour beforehand, or even a day or two, and the dogs will try to find them.

Training tools include artificial scent, blood if someone bled onto gauze, or even a donated tooth from the Tooth Fairy.

The nature of searching has changed over the years, with fewer lost hikers because of cellphones and GPS. But people with Alzheimer’s disease sometimes go missing, as do people under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and young children.

Bidner said the handlers feel for the families of people they search for, but at the same time, there needs to be some emotional detachment.

“Some of the finds we’ve made, the person never would have been located without dogs,” Bidner said. “Otherwise, the family is wondering what happened for years, maybe forever, so we focus on that.”

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ILL-WIS Search and Rescue Dogs occasionally takes on new members as dog handlers or field support personnel called flankers. For more information, go to www.illwissardogs.org or e-mail SARbuddy@sbcglobal.net.