Joey, a 2-year-old Labrador retriever with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, helped locate three people alive after a deadly earthquake tore through Venezuela earlier this year. Now the certified search-and-rescue dog is a semifinalist in the American Humane Society's 16th Annual Hero Dog Awards, and his handlers are asking the public for votes before the contest closes.
From Utah Classified Ad to Elite Search Dog
Joey's path to becoming an internationally deployed rescue dog began far from any disaster zone. According to the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, Joey was born on September 25, 2023, and was originally listed for adoption in a Utah classified advertisement after his owner felt overwhelmed by his high energy. The foundation evaluated him and recruited him for the same natural drive that had made him difficult as a pet, a pattern the organization uses often: converting shelter and surrendered dogs with intense toy and prey drives into specialized disaster-response tools.
Joey trained for more than five months alongside Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Louis Gudiel, and the pair became certified in September 2025, according to a report from ABC7 Los Angeles. Separately, the Search Dog Foundation's own timeline states that Joey graduated from its program in April 2025, when he was officially paired with Gudiel, giving the team more than a year of preparation before their eventual deployment. Once certified, Joey and Gudiel were mission-ready to deploy anywhere in the world as part of the county's Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, known as USA-2.
Answering the Call After Venezuela's Twin Quakes
That call came on June 24, 2026, when twin earthquakes measuring magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 devastated central Venezuela, causing hundreds of building collapses and killing more than 3,300 people while injuring over 15,000 more, according to KFI AM 640. The U.S. Department of State activated LA County Fire's USA-2 team the following day, deploying 71 search personnel, six K-9 teams and 84,000 pounds of specialized rescue equipment to the country, per a bulletin from the Los Angeles County government. Joey and Gudiel arrived in Venezuela three days after the disaster struck, the station's report notes.
Over an 11-day mission, Joey recorded three confirmed alerts in the earthquake debris that guided rescue crews to extract live victims, including three children trapped inside a collapsed structure, according to footage shared by CBS Sunday Morning. The Los Angeles County search-and-rescue team returned home after those 11 days in Venezuela, and the USA-2 team, which included the 71 members and six K-9 teams, was honored with medals for its work searching for survivors.
A Local Training Ground With Global Stakes
LA County Fire's task force holds rare status: it is one of only two specialized U.S. municipal teams authorized by the federal government to deploy internationally for foreign disaster missions, alongside Virginia's USA-1, according to a post shared in a Los Angeles County Fire Department Facebook group. LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone has said that international deployments like the Venezuela response build vital real-world experience that directly enhances local emergency readiness for future Southern California earthquakes, as reported by CBS News Los Angeles.
The mission also drew attention from Washington. U.S. Department of State spokesperson Tommy Pigott publicly endorsed Joey in August, posting a photo of the Labrador and encouraging the public to vote for him in the Hero Dog Awards, according to Reporte Relámpago.
Off Duty, Joey Comforts First Responders
When he isn't deployed, Joey provides comfort to first responders at his station. Gudiel has said Joey plays with his ball for about 20 minutes every day and snuggles with the family at home, according to ABC7 Los Angeles's report. Matthew Vela, another member of the department, said Joey helps and comforts firefighters at the station.
Joey is competing as a law enforcement and first responder dog semifinalist in the Hero Dog Awards, and the public can vote for him once every 24 hours through Friday, September 18. His foundation traces back to a much broader institutional effort: the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation was established in 1996 by former schoolteacher Wilma Melville after her deployment to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, where she found only 15 FEMA-certified canine search teams existed nationwide. Since then, the foundation has trained more than 220 certified canine search teams that have responded to over 280 major disaster deployments worldwide, including Ground Zero on 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2023 Turkey earthquake.
