Janie Merickel

Janie Merickel has been in SAR K9 for 15 years and is currently partnered with her third K9, Charger - a purpose bred detection dog out of Katalyst Kennels.

Previously certified in Avalanche with Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment, C-RAD, and Wilderness Livefind with Search And Rescue Dogs of Colorado, SARDOC, Merickel currently focuses human remain detection for the Communities they serve with certifications out of Tri-State and Northwest K9 Search And Recover, NWK9SAR.

Charger, a happy black lab, loves everything about her detection job and is always stoked to go out for training or an incident, which can include land, shore or water missions. K9 Charger works hard - sometimes as long as 6 hours in the deep, dark, deadfall mountains - for a few tosses and tugs of her beloved “pay” - the Kong tennis ball on a rope. 

For Charger there is nothing better than working for the ball and she waits - sometimes not all that patiently - for the opportunity to train or serve her Community. She also specializes in popcorn clean up around the house, as well as fly snatching - and really anything that dares to fly near her, like wasps or moths - and continues in vain to get the house cat to play. K9 Charger assists Handler Merickel in packing for training seminars by placing her favorite toys in the suitcase, and sometimes taking a nap in the suitcase so she doesn’t miss anything.

Janie and Charger are certified in:

Cadaver 1, Cadaver 2, Shore, and Open Water

SARDUS HRD Type III / IV