About Us
Who we are
Massachusetts Canine Response Team (MACRT) is an all volunteer organization founded in 1998 by a few dedicated individuals, some of whom were also on the MA Task Force 1 response team. MACRT is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit and is a member of the Massachusetts Search and Rescue Dog Federation (MASSARDF).
The team currently consists of 12 humans and 17 canines, 12 of whom are certified in human remains recovery and live-find rescue.
Meet Our Training Directors
Kristine Rich
President / Co-training Director
Kristine has been a professional dog trainer (CPDT-KA) for the past decade.
She currently competes in Flyball as well as other K9 sports such as disc and dock diving. Kristine has certified two dogs in human remains detection under the International Police Work Dog Association; K9 Raven and K9 Strike and has a third dog (K9 Orzo) in training.
Liz LaPointe
Vice President / Co-Training Director
Liz has been active in K9 SAR for over 15 years. She has certified dogs in tracking, trailing, rubble search, live-find search and human remains detection. She is a certified Training without Conflict trainer (Ivan Balabanov).
She is a current member of Canine Alert Search Teams; one of only 2 International Rescue Dog Organization (IRO) members in the United States; a prior founding member of Search Dog Organization of North America; the current co-training director of Massachusetts Canine Response Team (MACRT) and the founder of Canine Search Initiative.
Liz has trialed and titled 3 dogs under the IRO standards (RH) in tracking, area search and rubble, and gives seminars for the American Rettungshunde Sport Association for those interested in competing in the RH sport. She founded Canine Search Initiative to bring high quality detection training to law enforcement, SAR and sport handlers and hosts annual seminars in the New England area.
She is currently working 4 certified K9s (Zostan, Sonnet, Gryphon and Mika) focused on human remains detection through the International Police Work Dog Association. Liz is an evaluator for the National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA) in Land and Wilderness Human Remains Detection.
Jeremy Almarode
Safety Officer / Co-training director (live find)
Jeremy is an active general contractor and a retired fire-fighter (Captain) as well as a fire service instructor. He has been active in search and rescue during his fire career and then with a SAR K9 for over a decade.
He currently has two certified human remains detection dogs: K9 Argos and K9 Riley—both certified under the International Police Work Dog Association. K9 Riley was also certified as live find dog for eight years.
Jeremy is certified in Wilderness First Aid, SARTECH II/SARTECH I and Advanced Search and Rescue (NASAR). He is certified to teach Wilderness First Aid, CPR/First Aid and is currently a NASAR instructor/evaluator for SARTECH II/SARTECH I and Advanced Search and Rescue. He is an evaluator for the National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA) in Land and Wilderness Human Remains Detection.
Meet our Certified Dogs!
K9 Mika- IPWDA HR Basic and HR Crime Scene Certification
K9 Strike- IPWDA HR Basic and HR Crime Scene Certification
K9 Sawyer- IPWDA HR Basic and HR Crime Scene Certification
K9 Bowyer- IPWDA HR Basic, HR Crime Scene, Live-Find Daytime 40 Acre Certification
K9 Sonnet- IPWDA HR Basic and HR Crime Scene Certification
K9 Zulu- IPWDA HR Basic and HR Crime Scene Certification
K9 Zostan- IPWDA HR Basic, HR Crime Scene, NSDA Rubble HR Certification
K9 Gryphon- IPWDA HR Basic and HR Crime Scene Certification
K9 Argos- IPWDA HR Basic, HR Crime Scene, HR 20 Acre Wilderness Certification
K9 Zia- IPWDA HR Basic and HR Crime Scene Certification
K9 Riley- IPWDA HR Basic Certification
K9 Simba- Live-Find Daytime 40 Acre Certification
