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Update
as at 17 Nov 2009:
A
message from Sunny: Just to let you all know that
last weekend my Dad took me up to the not so sunny,
apart from me, Peak District. Just to get my own back,
for leaving me all night in a cold dark van with
Springer Spaniel Scoot and not left nice and comfy under
his bed as at home, I dragged him up and down these very
steep and slippery hills and crags. I totally ignored
him, for a change (not really) and found in record time
lots of nice people who played with me with my toy. I
thought he would be rather annoyed with me but at the
end of the weekend he looked really pleased? Humans I
just don't understand them!
And a message from Alan his dog handler:
Yep we've gone and done it and become DSRT Plymouth's
first full grade search dog and handler. What a relief.
Sunny really did work hard, ranged well and had some
really good strikes. I understand the assessors were
really impressed. What a star!
Oscar’s Dog Foods sponsor all graded Search Dogs
Great news for all Search Dogs in
England. Oscars have agreed a sponsorship deal with
Search And Rescue Dog Association (England) whereby all
the graded dogs will benefit from being fed with Oscar
dog food, along with having access to the specialist
nutrition, behaviour and other advisors at Oscars.
Plymouth search dog Sunny and his
handler Alan Hill were very pleased to meet Graeme
Winder from Oscar's
Update from Alan: More than a year has passed
since we graded but we have continued to train, despite
injuries, operations (Sunny was beginning to be a bit
aggressive with other male dogs so we decided to remove
his doghood before this got out of hand and it has
worked!) and holidays permitting, on a weekly basis to
learn and improve our standards. We have to be seen to
train in different locations including moorland,
woodland, rural, riverside and suburban. We also have to
attend at least seven training days per annum on
National Training courses. In 2008 we attended courses
in the Trough of Bowland, North Pennines National Park,
Brecon Beacons, Dartmoor twice(April & August) and in
the Peak District, each course lasting three days.
Our first call out, with lots of panic and excitement,
was in March where we were tasked to search steep
woodland in the Dart Valley near to Ashburton. I’ve
never seen so many Policemen but after six hours we had
found nothing. I was, however, impressed by Sunny’s
endurance, concentration and stamina. This search was
soon followed by another four hour marathon searching
along the coast near to Gunwalloe in Cornwall. We
attended at least twelve call outs in 2008 including
Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Woodbury Common. We have also
searched the countryside, some overnight, near to
Launceston, Bude and Bodmin, this was re-sited to Truro
and Newton St Cyres, North of Exeter. We certainly get
around. We have responded to many more call outs where
we have been either turned back on route or upon
reaching the R.V point. So far this year, in 2009, we
have searched parts of Bodmin Moor as well as
countryside and woodland near to Holsworthy and
Chumleigh in North Devon. We have also trained in
Swaledale, Yorkshire which included an interesting and
unusual urban search in the warfare village in Catterick
Barracks. The dogs were locating, in pitch darkness, in
boarded up buildings, drains and tunnels. They were
collecting scents from grid covers even though the
body’s hiding were a good distance away and further up
the drain. It’s amazing how they quickly learn and adapt
as this became obvious a few weeks later when we used a
large country house near to Okehampton for our training.
Unfortunately we have not had an official find yet but I
am confident we will in the not too distant future.
Where we search is the responsibility of the Search
controller and we have come very close on a couple of
occasions. The first was a search for a missing school
girl on Dartmoor. We had just been tasked to search the
area when she was found by the Hasty team who had been
instructed to circumnavigate the outer edge of a more
extensive search area. If they had gone the other way
round then the find would have been ours. The second was
a search for a lady in Newton St Cyres. She had been
missing for two days and nights and search teams had
been out all of the night before. We were tasked, along
with another dog team, to search some nearby woodland.
As I was in the area first I elected to search along the
far boundary and the casualty was found near to the
nearest boundary by the other search dog Max. I was
still able to give much assistance until the medics and
ambulance arrived and the lady made a full recovery
after spending a few days in hospital. This was a very
rewarding result and one which makes you realise why all
this effort, time and training is worthwhile. Sunny
loves and revels in it. For him and all of the other
search dogs it is just one big game
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