Search and Rescue Dogs were first introduced into
the UK, after Hamish
MacInnes (team leader of Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team) attended
an International Red Cross Search Dog course in Switzerland
where they were training and assessing avalanche search dog's.
He immediately saw
the potential for using dogs to search for lost walkers and
climbers within the UK, so on his return he started training his
two German Shepherd's Rangi and Tiki.
The
first training course was held in 1964 with Mountain Rescue
Members from throughout the UK in Glencoe, it was a great
success and everyone saw the potential of using dogs. A meeting
was held in May 1965 and SARDA was formed.
All members of
SARDA must first become members a recognised Mountain Rescue
Team for a minimum of one year before SARDA
England will allow them to train their dog to become a
Search Dog. The reason for the one year rule is that they will
only be taught how to train their dog, as they should already be
trained in Mountain Rescue skills and further develop these
skills as part of their team.
There are three
stages in training a SARDA dog, but training starts with the
puppy to ensure that it shows no interest in any stock, grazing
on the hill. The First stage is called the 'Find Stage' - This
is when they find the hidden volunteer, 'The Dogbodies' and indicate to the handler that
they have found them. The second stage it is the handler
who is taught how to search with the dog, and the search area
gets gradually bigger as the training progresses. In the third
and final stage the handler doesn't know the location of the
hidden 'Dogbodies' and has to search an every growing area. When
they are competent with searching three hour areas they are then
ready for assessment.
These images were
taken during one of their regular training events, near Thropton,
Northumberland, in July 2007, as part of a charity fund raising
initiative - to produce a calendar for 2008. The images were
taken by 5 photographers Bob Turner, Carl Roberts, Colin
Davidson, Richard Nixon and George Ledger.
The calendar will
go on sale towards the end of 2007 with all proceeds going
towards SARDA - so please make sure you buy as many copies as
you can afford. To view SARDA's web site please clink on the link.
