SUMMERDALE, Ala. — Watching Summerdale resident Randy Clemmons wash a puppy is a study in concentration. Three pups, a week away from being weaned from their mother, Callie, had picked up a mild fungal infection at an overwhelmed breeder in Mississippi. It was important for the rescued pups to get treated, and their care from Clemmons, Baldwin County Humane Society (BARC!) Board Member Lou Ausman and the organization’s volunteers was going to be critical to their full recovery.

"They are only used to seeing one person, so all these people is a little unusual but they and their mother are doing just fine,” said Clemmons. The pups and their mom are Nova Scotia duck-tolling retrievers, a medium-sized breed with a luxurious double coat that Ausman says will cause the animals no trouble in Alabama’s climate.

“It’s insulation,” she said.

According to the American Kennel Club, “‘Tolling’ refers to the old hunting style of drawing ducks and other waterfowl toward the hunter in the style of a fox (alternating between baiting and hiding.)”

They were part of around 20 that BARC! helped to rescue. Ausman says some went to shelters in Mississippi, but 16 of the dogs came to Baldwin County.

As 7-year-old Callie watched anxiously, Clemmons and Ausman wrapped the pups in fluffy towels and held them close to their bodies so the pups did not get chilled. It was obvious that Callie trusted these new people in her life with her babies.

Caring for dogs comes naturally to Clemmons. A native of Florida, he now makes his home in Baldwin County. He volunteers for the Baldwin Humane Society, The Haven and other rescue groups. He even run his  own large-breed rescue.

According to Sonja Presley, BARC! executive director, “Randy takes on our toughest dogs and devotes his time training them, even if it takes months. We’ve seen the most amazing transformations in the dogs who then become adoptable. We are so grateful he volunteers his time and talents with the Baldwin County Humane Society.”

“I've always owned dogs,” he said. While in the military, Clemmons became a dog handler. He learned to get a canine companion to trust him with his or her life, and to get that dog to do things your average Fido and Rover-in-the-yard would not even think of doing.

“I applied for it,” said Clemmons of the dog-handling program. He began his career in the Air Force, but does not want to talk about other missions. He says the Air Force has Rottweilers, Doberman pincers and German shepherds.

“Dogs can see into your soul,” he said, explaining how he and others get a dog to do what they want.

Clemmons has kept up his love of dogs, and eventually rescued Cheyenne. Cheyenne showed an aptitude for rescue work, and Clemmons scuttled plans to find the dog a nice home. Instead, he trained her for search and rescue work, and the pair went all over the world to disaster sites, including a search of the World Trade Center site.

“I really don't like to talk about that,” said Clemmons, adding that he and Cheyenne were diverted to the site on their way home from the civil war in Sierra Leone. The pair were there on behalf of the World Health Organization.

Not finding anyone to rescue is hard not only on the handler, but the dog as well.

“It tore her heart out” said Clemmons. “The emotional toll was as bad as the physical.”

Now retired, Cheyenne is 16 years old and has arthritis. She goes almost everywhere with Clemmons and she has the manners of a grand duchess. It’s clear that dog and master share a special bond.

“Dogs come into the world very sweet,” said Clemmons. Training and how people treat them afterward makes the animal good-natured or mean. Even fighting dogs can be rehabilitated enough to become good family pets, but they will not lose the training to fight, so they have to be placed Clemmons says, “in a place without that stimuli, but they can be very good with people.”

And while Clemmons is visibly disturbed by it, he admits there are some dogs that cannot be rehabilitated.

“They usually have been severely abused,” he said. “The most humane thing to do is let them be at peace.”