AVI DOGS  Tellurides snow safety program gets a lift from its canine companions. Here, Jessie and Wiley, escorted by their handlers, Jim Greene and Erik Aura, embark on a training mission in a Helitrax helicopter. Avalanche dogs are taught to search for the scent of a person buried under the snow. Starting as puppies, Tellurides avalanche dogs go to work just like their human counterparts: riding chairlifts, hitching rides on snowmobiles, and getting familiar with the ski areas terrain top the priority list for Tellurides rookie avalanche pups. As they grow older, the dogs begin their training in earnest, participating in regular avalanche burial scenarios in which they search for people hiding in snow caves beneath the snow.
{}