NORTH BEND, Ore. - Armed with an extra set of legs and a sniffer of up to 1,000 times the strength of any humans, man's best friend has been joining with some local citizens in an effort to help find lost individuals in the area. And as we found out, it all starts with a game of Hide and Seek.

Tucked behind the old airport terminal in North Bend, there are currently three dogs being trained through the American Society of K9 Trainers, or ASCT.

Instructor Bob Hood has been building up both the handlers and K9 skill level, during these bi-weekly classes.

According to Hood, "They're tracking the scent of the individual, cross-vegetation, things of that nature. And progressively it just gets stretched longer and longer into a couple hundred yards, to half mile to mile and so on."

And already, their skills are paying off. While the Coos County Search and Rescue Team says they're not employees or Reserve Members, they say they have offered their assistance in a few rescue missions.

"They have been successful in finding a lost child and other individuals and that's what they do, anybody who's lots, that's who they go after," said Hood.

Ed Makaruk and his Blood Hound, Franklyn were a part of the search and rescue mission just two months ago, when they helped find a 6 year old autistic boy missing in the Allegany woods.

"Now we've already done a couple saves and it's just been absolutely wonderful, so that's really it," said Makaruk. "It's just the adrenalin and actually finding a person and doing it is so marvelous. It just makes me work harder and harder and harder."

These volunteers have been training with Hood for the past few months now. And together, the owners and their dogs have been moving up the ASCT certification ladder.

And there is much more to it than just asking if Timmy is stuck in a well, according to Makaruk, it involves a lot of practice.

"When I first got into it, i thought, you'd just take yo dog and say here, smell this and go," said Makaruk. "And it sure isn't that. You have to compute the area and the wind and degrees of drift, it's just amazing."

These trainers are excited to show up every week, rain or shine, which is better for the dogs and their ability to find folks in all types of conditions.