Colorado’s Nonprofit Avalanche Dog Training Organization (C-RAD) Receives National Award

The human and canine heroes of Colorado Rapid Avalanche Response Deployment (C-RAD) are getting well-deserved national recognition.

A 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to training ski patrol and search and rescue dogs to find and save avalanche victims, C-RAD is the winner of The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)’s prestigious 2026 Henry Bergh Award.

Named after ASPCA’s founder, Henry Bergh, the award “is given to an individual or institution exhibiting exceptional leadership, compassion and commitment to animal welfare.” It is one of a handful of the Society’s Humane Awards, which celebrate “people and animal heroes nationwide who have made extraordinary contributions to animal welfare and improve the lives of those around them.”

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Ski area patrol teams and search and rescue organizations throughout Colorado and surrounding states use C-RAD to train their working dogs. A C-RAD validation badge has become the gold standard for dog and handler teams embarking upon an avalanche search and rescue mission.

“The organization’s success is a testament to the remarkable bond between humans and animals, demonstrating how highly trained dogs and their handlers can work to accomplish lifesaving feats in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable,” ASPCA stated in its Humane Awards press release.

Anyone witnessing a C-RAD training workshop or validation test can see that the dogs involved are full of joy from start to finish. They leap in the air in anticipation of being released to search and are ecstatic when finding someone in a simulated drill. Dogs and their well-being are the No. 1 priority at C-RAD throughout the training progression.

Indeed, the bond between a dog and handler is the ultimate key to success. As each handler rewards their dog with a treat or tug toy, then showers them in praise and rubs, the dog’s tail and sometimes entire body transforms into a blur of wags. The mutual adoration is evident among every duo.

“What’s most rewarding is working with the dogs,” says John Reller, who helped launch C-RAD in 1990 when he began training his own avalanche response dog and started bringing others into the fold. “That bond is the most gratifying element, but also to help an individual, another team, the community, the impact of that is incomparable.”

The awards are stacking up for C-RAD. Last fall (2025), the organization won the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame’s Top of the Hill Award and a national film crew has been collecting interviews and footage from C-RAD’s recent training events for a forthcoming documentary.

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Reller and his dog Arva along with fellow C-RAD members will travel to New York City on Oct. 8 to accept ASPCA’s Henry Bergh award.

“That level of recognition is pretty amazing,” Reller says. “It has been a humbling privilege to work with dogs and handlers over the course of many years through C-RAD. For C-RAD to receive the ASPCA’s Henry Bergh Award is truly beyond words, incredible and immeasurable.”

Eric Darling, C-RAD Executive Director who seems to become the new best friend of every canine he works with and can be found stuffing himself into plastic barrels and modeling dog collars in the name of C-RAD training, echoes that sentiment.

“Receiving the ASPCA Award is a tremendous honor,” he says. “To be acknowledged by the ASPCA for the incredible work the canine avalanche community does—and the small part we play as C‑RAD—is truly beyond words. We would not be here today without every single person who supports these teams, and for that, I am deeply grateful.”

To learn more about C-RAD, view upcoming training and testing events or to donate to the organization, visit c-rad.org.