Assynt Mountain Rescue Team & S.A.R.D.A Search Dogs

The Team currently has 2 Search & Rescue Dogs, 

Skye, a Female Border Collie, Full Search Dog                Assynt, a Female Border Collie, Full Search Dog

owned and handled by Innes Beaton.                           owned and handled by Fiona Henderson.

So Why Use Search Dogs?

SARDA Search dogs are trained to “Air Scent”, that means they do not as a general rule track a person. The dogs will react to a human scent being blown towards them by the wind or air currents. This means that as long as the dog is searching downwind of a casualty, it should find them.

The value of this is enhanced by the dog’s ability to search in all weather / night conditions without any significant loss of speed. As a result, the general rule for the deployment of search dogs is to involve their early use in sufficient numbers to cover large areas as soon as possible.

For example In bad weather, and particularly at night the chances of a Mountain Rescue team member finding a casualty other than close to a path is reduced to an extremely low level unless the missing person can attract attention. This is a matter of fact that should not be seen as devaluing the proven ability of the individual team / member in finding missing people in adverse conditions.

In these conditions a dog can cover large areas of ground in the search for a missing person, the dog is very sensitive to any human scent it finds and will immediately follow that scent to where a human is located. It will then indicate and will return to it’s handler to let it know it has had a “Find”.

It matters not whether it is dark or very poor visibility, the dog can search just as well as if it were a clear day.

How to Become a Search Dog Handler

Anyone interested in becoming a SARDA dog handler must satisfy the following criteria before they will be considered.

• Must be a Member of a Mountain Rescue Team, with at least 2 years mountain rescue experience
• Must have approval from their spouse/partner
• Must have approval from their employer
• Must understand that training and then working a dog on call outs is a very big commitment, often involving driving hundreds of miles and then being on the hill all day in atrocious weather conditions.
• Must be competent mountaineers, being able to withstand all weather conditions, be excellent navigators and have the stamina to work at all times of the day or night.

A reference is sought from mountain rescue teams as to the suitability of any person