An Edmonton woman with the Canadian Search and Rescue Dog Association says she and her dog were put to work within minutes of arriving in Haiti, and helped rescue six people.

"It was very chaotic," said Silvie Montier, recounting her first impressions of the ruined sections of Port-au-Prince early Saturday.

"Bodies at intersections that were [on] the sidewalks, some of them were covered with sheets or with a coat, some of them were not covered."

In some of the ruined houses, she could see bodies that had been crushed, but there was no way for crews to get in safely to retrieve them. Her mind was on getting to her assigned sector with her international team.

"What's going through your mind is, 'how fast can I stop that truck, get out and start working,' so we don't really pay much attention to what you see," Montier said.

Montier said her crews, which included rescue personnel from Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, were always escorted by a well-armed guards.

"If you did find a survivor, then the heavy tech would come with their heavy equipment and try to access the survivor, going through concrete, bringing the microphones, the cameras, etc."

One of the biggest challenges was the heat, Montier said. It was hard on the dogs, who began to tire after just a few hours, needing water which remained in short supply.

Montier returned home from Haiti on Sunday night and said her work there is done.