Whether sprinting down the mountain to assist ski patrol, searching for buried skiers or becoming best friends with ski school students, Zuma the avalanche dog has been a fixture of the Loveland Ski Patrol team for the better part of a decade.

Longtime Loveland Ski Area patroller Mary Lorch originally got Zuma when he was just a puppy and immediately had aspirations of shaping him into a certified avalanche dog.

“We got him when he was 7.5 weeks old,” Lorch said. “I had a previous dog that I thought that I wanted to have as an avalanche dog. Well, he wasn’t appropriate. This guy came along, and I brought him up to meet our boss and he said, ‘Let’s do it.'” 

After getting the green light from management, Lorch began the process of teaching the husky-Akita-wolf mix some of the rudimentary skills it takes to become a certified avalanche dog.

“As a puppy, he was a little guy,” Lorch said. “We started training that summer — more obedience and behavior. His mix of breeds said that we were going to have to spend a lot of time on that.”

Due to the progress he made in training, Zuma emerged from the summer as a well-behaved dog. That fall, he was introduced to new challenges like getting on a ski lift and riding a snowmobile.

As Zuma quickly morphed from a puppy to an adolescent dog, Mary Lorch blew out her knee while her daughter Caitlin, who was utilizing the avalanche dog training as an opportunity to attain the Girls Scout Gold Award, departed from Summit County for college. 

In need of someone else to finish out Zuma’s training, Loveland Ski Area patrol assistant director Tanner Franti eagerly took over the reins.  

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“He wasn’t quite certified yet, and Caitlin would soon be leaving for college,” Lorch said. “Tanner stepped in for his handling, and they clicked pretty much right away. His first time out, he did some nice, impressive work.”

With obedience and search training already out of the way,  Franti began the process of teaching strategy and cues all while working to develop a bond with Zuma. At 28 months old, Zuma and Franti traveled up the Interstate 70 corridor to Copper Mountain Resort, where the duo passed the Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment (CRAD) certification test with flying colors. 

“It is always nerve-wracking,” Franti said of the certification process. “You go into a new area that you have never been before and are evaluated by people that you don’t really know or are just meeting. They really know what they are looking at with dogs, so it is a pretty accurate test of a search dog’s ability to perform.”

Since receiving his certification, Zuma has enjoyed high points throughout his 11-year career. One of the most notable days that Franti can remember is when Zuma assisted in searching for buried skiers on Loveland Pass.

“With Loveland Pass being next to us here, there are avalanches up there each season,” Franti said. “There have been a couple of them off the pass that we are not sure if there is anyone buried in them or not. You get a report from a 911 call, so Zuma has been on two or three or those.”

One particular slide on Loveland Pass three years ago resulted in Zuma being actively deployed by Flight for Life. He was tasked with finding and rescuing potentially buried skiers.

Leaning on his prior training, Zuma thoroughly searched the slide debris and determined that no one had been caught in the slide. 

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Outside of helping to clear slides, Zuma has also enjoyed meeting new people. Over the years, Zama has greeted school groups visiting the ski area, attended public events and even got a chance to meet Colton Underwood as he went snowboarding at Loveland Ski Area during the 23rd season of “The Bachelor.”

After years of adventuring and completing rescue missions, Zuma, 12, has retired and will now focus on being a full-time ambassador for the ski area.

“For him, it was unfortunately an injury,” Lorch said. “He was doing great up until almost eight weeks ago. We discovered that he had torn his rear ACL and injured something in his low back. Running was kind of out of the question on the mountain. He is too old to go through the surgery.”

Lorch says Zuma can still run full-bore down the mountain, but it is in the best interest of his long-term health to scale things back so that he can enjoy the rest of his life just being a furry companion. Although the retirement came quite suddenly, Lorch and Franti are grateful for the memories they have been able to make alongside Zuma over the years. 

“I am pretty proud of him,” Lorch said. “His athleticism amazes me. As a 12-year-old dog, this kind of came to a sudden stop. It is a little heart-wrenching to have this happen. At home, he is a full dog. He likes to play, he has toys everywhere and he likes to cuddle sometimes.”

“I love watching him run down the mountain,” Franti said. “I think he was probably 3 or 4 years old when I was driving a snowmobile uphill and we were going 17 mph sustained for like half a mile, and he was keeping up and didn’t slow down. I have also seen him coming down the mountain and effortlessly bound over an 8-foot hole for snowmaking equipment.”

Beyond grand displays of athleticism, Zuma created a bond between Franti and the Lorch family that is expected to last long after Zuma has passed on.

“He has become part of the family,” Lorch said. “… He is like one of the other kids in the family.”

With no immediate relatives in the area, Franti has attended Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and has received personal haircuts from Lorch when he was in the Army. 

“He has changed Mary and I’s relationship,” Franti said. “I would go pick him up on a daily basis from Mary’s house, or we would meet somewhere. It really brought me in as part of the family. I don’t have family in Summit County, but thanks to Zuma I have a place to go.”