ALTA, Utah — When an avalanche happens, one invaluable tool is avalanche dogs.

Many teams from around the West coast bring their dogs to Utah to get trained at Wasatch Backcountry Rescue’s Avalanche Dog Training school.

“These dogs are a great tool for us,” Andy Van Houten, President of the Wasatch Backcountry Rescue said.

“They've proven themselves valuable over the last several years as we've seen an increase in backcountry users.”

The school brings in students from all over the west coast including teams from Colorado, Idaho and California.

One of the 16 teams are Maia and Zak from Keystone ski resort in Colorado.

“Maia's a year and a half old she's a golden retriever,” Zak bloom, Maia’s dog handler said.

“She's done very well this week.”

The one-year-old is a friendly camera-loving star in the school but while it's fun in the snow for her, saving lives is no laughing matter.

“We've spent all week burying each other in the snow and letting these dogs find us,” Brown said.

“Just hoping everybody progresses with the idea that we can hopefully save somebody.”

Golden retrievers like Maia are among a variety of dog breeds building their resumes.

“What we generally look for is kind of the hunting breed,” Van Houten said.

“We want a dog that's pretty resilient out in the harsh weather and then we also want a dog that's gonna work hard that's trainable.”

Being friendly is also a part of the mission.

“We do a lot of interactions around the guests here at the resort and we do a lot of outreach education so we want dogs that are friendly” Van Houten explained.

“If you're at the resorts come up to say hi talk to the handlers we're happy to explain what we do how it.”

While training on the ground is one thing, training in the air is the mission of the final day of training.

“What we do is we hot load teams down here in the lower mountain,” Van Houten said.

“We fly them up to a site on the hill to simulate getting flown into a live rescue.”

As the week of training comes to a close and the dogs are mastering their air rescue skills, dogs like these will be ready to save lives in an emergency.

Spencer Joseph at KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah first reported this story.

JUPITER, Fla. — Thursday is National Rescue Dog Day. Six months ago to the day, a dog that was left in a dumpster at a Walmart in Ft. Pierce was dropped off by a rescuer at Furry Friends Adoption Clinic and Ranch in Jupiter. It was the start of the recovery process and another milestone was reached.

“Oh, she is so beautiful, she looks absolutely amazing,” said one of the vet techs who cared for a dog, now named Lola.

A reunion months in the making took place outside Furry Friends.

“Her name is Lola,” said Michele Jacobs, who adopted the dog. “We adopted her the weekend after Thanksgiving.”

Lola’s new mom, Michele, has a passion for rescue dogs and the true patience of a mother.

“When she came back to our house, she really struggled for the first three months,” she said. “I slept with her in another room, and she really she is attached to me, she struggled with men for probably three months.”

It’s a level of patience similar to that practiced by those who work at Furry Friends.

“When you have a starving dog like that, you have to gradually bring them back so we gave it the care we did,” said Pat Deshong, president of Furry Friends Adoption Clinic and Ranch. “Two hounds that were dumped into a dumpster by Walmart to die. They were literally skin and bones, skin and bones.”

Now, the hope is that this transformation will inspire others.

“I hope so, absolutely please adopt, please rescue these babies they are all so sweet and it’s not their fault,” said Jacobs.

“(It) inspires us that we are doing the right thing,” said Deshong, who explained that mission is rescue, rehab, re-home. “Especially so close to death. We didn’t know it was touch and go for a while. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

Lola is now 20 pounds heavier than six months ago. The love for her is growing as well.

“She was so abused, and you can look at her and see all the scars on her,” said Jacobs. “She has parts of her ears missing and her tail is only half the size it should be, so we know she has been through a lot. She is the sweetest, smartest, precocious little teenager around.”

It just goes to show, the saying is true.

“All dogs are good dogs, yep and they wake up happy every single day,” said Jacobs.

This story was originally published by Tory Dunnan at WPTV.