While the humans in Brazos County spent Sunday looking for Easter eggs, Bera the German shepherd was on a boat searching for bodies below Lake Bryan.
Not real bodies -- the 21/2-year-old sought dummies with human scents hidden by her trainer. But to the all-black Czech-bred pup, the quest was the same.
She struggled to maintain her footing inside a small green fishing boat as it tossed in the wind-chopped lake. With her nose inches above the water, she sniffed and licked the air hoping to find a trace of her target.
Finally, she pinpointed the scent below the surface and barked.
"Good girl," the people on the boat exclaimed as they tossed her a squishy toy.
Bera was the last dog to practice Sunday during a three-day training session for canine search and rescue teams. Fifteen volunteer dog trainers from across the country spent the weekend learning how to find drowned bodies -- they specialize in finding people who are already dead. The dog handlers said they sacrificed their holiday because they are drawn to the thankless, hard work.
Bera's owner, Joe Marsillo, came from Missouri. He began learning search and rescue in 2006 during a difficult part of his life that included a divorce and retirement from 40 years of raising cattle.
"I figured I have lived a pretty good life and it is time to give back," he said.
So he turned his 135-acre farm into a training center and compiled a 14-person team ready to respond to missing person calls. He said his team is called into action about twice a month.
The most recent deployment was for a missing 4-year-old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Marsillo had tears in his eyes by the time he reached the scene and learned that she had already been found.
"Someone lost their kid, and you want to do the best job you can to find them," he said, describing the emotions of the search.
None of the trainees in town this weekend are paid, and they all have other jobs. But many of the rescuers said they have developed a passion for the work.
"It's not a hobby; it's more of a lifestyle," said Ben Alexander, director of the local Cen-Tex Search and Rescue.
He said he began training dogs in 2000. He was living in Dallas at the time and saw a story on the news about a search for two missing children. His then-wife turned to him and said, "You can do that."
Alexander now has four border collies, two that are certified for rescue work and two puppies waiting to be trained. The doctoral student at Texas A&M teams up with three other volunteers at Cen-Tex Search and Rescue to help local law enforcement find newly missing people and cold cases that are decades old.
Their search areas have varied from a backyard to 100 acres.
"We will search an area as big as we need to," said Jaime Greenway, a member of Alexander's team.
This weekend's exercise was designed to teach other groups how to do water searches. The dogs are experienced combing through wooded areas to find people, but standing in a boat can present new challenges. The dog has to learn how to signal to its owner that a body is near, and it has to handle the fact that it can't run freely like on land.
"To them, this is a big game," Greenway said.
But to their owners, it means more.
"We get to help people, and bring them closure," Greenway said.
HOW TO HELP
* To donate to Cen-Tex Search and Rescue, visit www.rothcala.com/CenTexSAR.html.
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