INBTI-InterNational Bloodhound Training Institute

Great seminar last weekend in Ennis, Texas with Instructors Kevin Pirtle, Mike Szelc and Denise Sacca.

**SUCCESSFUL CASE***
INBTI Member Campbell County Sheriff’s Office K9 Handler Lieutenant Cameron Byrd

On January 18, 2026 I responded to assist a neighboring jurisdiction with a missing 26 year old. Upon arrival I transferred scent from the drivers seat of her vehicle. We were located at a park with several people and dogs walking around. T-Bone was scented from the vehicle and took trail going into the park and then made a hard right turn into the woods before coming out on another trail. T-Bone trailed down this trail leading to rail road tracks. Once at the railroad tracks T-Bone made a right turn and we trailed down the middle of the tracks approximately .25 miles. I observed a female matching the description approximately 100 yards in front of us as we were trailing. T-Bone began to alert and walked up to the female who was experiencing hypothermia after jumping in the river. The temperature was approximately 30° and the female had been missing for several hours. Total trail was .98 miles.

Proud of this team and their accomplishments. Congratulations Byrd.

Last week three INBTI instructors -Ernest Capdevila and Mònica Díaz Trias from Spain and Irina Brūnina from Latvia- had the opportunity to offer a Workshop and Evaluations in Taiwan.
The workshop, organised by the TDDA (Taiwan Detection Dog Association), the largest SAR group in Taiwan, was held in the premises of the Taiwan National Fire Agency Training Center in Nantou, the third largest fire training base in the world and the largest in Asia.
24 teams and more than 20 observers -all of them firefighters, police and search and rescue K9 handlers with a lot of experience-, participated in the 5-day mantrailing training where we shared with them the Kocher Method of mantrailing.
All teams are operational SAR teams wanting to add mantrailing to their disciplines. Some are already training, some are new. The Instructors offered them a general overview of TKM from the start (Intensities, component training) to more components like VPU, NSI and Castings, essential for operational teams so they have an idea of what they can achieve through training.
They also offered them evaluations and are happy to say that one team passed! So congratulations to the first INBTI Certified K9 team in Asia!
Thank you TDDA for putting this together. We look forward to many more seminars and workshops.

Hello everyone & Happy New Year.

2026 INBTI board is as follows:

President: Opal Kocher – [email protected]

Vice President: Michael Szelc - [email protected]

Director of Operations: Heidi Hajek – [email protected]

Director of Business Affairs: Patti Elfreth – [email protected]

Director of Operations_Europe: Bernhard Stummer – [email protected]

The Team of INBTI whish you a Happy New Year 2026.
Train the Intensities!

**SUCCESSFUL CASE***
INBTI Member Campbell County Sheriff’s Office K9 Handler Lieutenant Cameron Byrd

December 24, 2025: Units responded to an address in reference to a domestic. Units arrived on scene, and it was determined the suspect fled out the back door of the residence across a field. I arrived on scene and casted K9 T-Bone across the uncontaminated field and waited for the head turn indicating he had located the trail. I commanded T-Bone to work and he took trail across the field and into a nearby wood line where the suspect was located. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.

INBTI is Proud to announce that through a lot of hard work and dedication there is an update to the INBTI Instructor family.
Please join us in Congratulating our newest Instructor Denise Sacca - Team USA, New Jersey

INBTI December Seminar in Horsham Pennsylvania hosted by Keystone K9s Search and Rescue.

INBTI is proud to announce some exciting news from Hungary. Join us in congratulating the new INBTI instructor, Tibor Simon , who through a lot of hard work and dedication has been appointed as our newest INBTI instructor!
Welcome in the INBTI Family.

https://www.inbti.com/index.php/team-europe/175-tibor-simon

Great seminar this past weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada hosted by Red Rock Search and Rescue, Instructors Kevin Pirtle and Mike Szelc.

INBTI is proud to announce some exciting news from Slovenia. Join us in congratulating the new Assistant INBTI instructor, Adriana Petrovic, who through a lot of hard work and dedication has been appointed as our newest INBTI Assistant instructor!
Welcome in the INBTI Family.