Sadly last month trainee search dog Harvey died from a brain tumour. Harvey was  a very cheeky cocker spaniel who loved to train. Harvey joined the team after completing the Beginner and Intermediate course, he continued his training as a level one dog and was showing great promise. The team send their condolences to handler Nick and partner Sarah at this sad time.

AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices and shopping features as Amazon.co.uk The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the net purchase price (excluding VAT, returns and shipping fees) from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases.  Sign up to Amazon smile and choose Dorset Search Dogs as your charity.  Click to sign up

Deciding to turn her paw to something new  this summer, trainee search dog Hattie appeared in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a tearaway dog in the Toot Sweet scene.

Hattie joined the cast of The Bournemouth and Boscombe Light Opera Company  in their spectacular summer holiday production at the Bournemouth Pavilion. She appeared in 9 performances with a  pack of dogs who  dashed across the stage  alarming  Lord Scrumptious and the sweet factory workers.

Along with her best mate Fred the Pug and three other stage dogs their performance was noted in the Dorset Echo review “the appearance of real dogs was the icing on the cake for the younger members of the audience. ”

Hattie has continued  with her  search dog training.  Dorset Echo Review

 

 

Congratulations to Serena and Matt who passed the Lowland Rescue First Responder course this weekend. The course is  run by the  Lowland Rescue Medical Faculty a multi-disciplinary team of  experienced pre-hospital care practitioners. The training includes classroom sessions, skills stations, and indoor and outdoor simulation. The course, accredited by the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, equips responders to deliver high quality, evidence-based pre-hospital care from the first point of contact with Lowland Rescue teams, prior to handing over to emergency services colleagues.

 

 

 

Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSEN) Resilience Grant supports local  communities to improve their resilience. As grant recipients in 2017 we were delighted to be invited to  their parliamentary reception  to learn more about their innovative projects.  Team member Serena fed back that “it was one of those occasions where you really don’t know what to expect but are pleasantly surprised” she met key SSEN staff and learnt about technical innovations and vulnerability mapping that could be used to help Search and Rescue. Our technical guru Laurence tried out the TOUCAN fault detection thermal imaging camera and learnt about  its  potential for use in search.

As the electricity distribution owner in central and southern England and the north of Scotland SSEN recognise their responsibility to continually drive improvements in network performance and extend the reach and support they provide to customers.  They are great supporters of Lowland Rescue through  the Resilient Communities Fund and we look forward to working in collaboration with them on future projects.

 

Picture: Team members Laurence and Serena day trip to Westminster.

This Sunday  the church at Hinton Martell was full of creatures great and small including  two trainee search dogs .  The congregation of  the animal blessing service included dogs, cats, and a tortoise who all  listened intently to our presentation about search dogs. It was a lovely service giving thanks for the joy that animals bring to our lives and finished  with  the animals each  receiving a blessing from the reverend Suzie Allen.

The service has been a long established  tradition going back to  1954 when Canon Barnard pioneered this unique service and Blessing for animals at St. John the Evangelist Church, Hinton Martel.

We were delighted  to be invited as guest speakers by the charity Animals’ Voice an Educational Trust and Wildlife Rescue based in Hampshire who campaign against cruelty to animals and rescue sick and injured animals from the New Forest. We send our thanks to the Chairman Mrs Betty Price  and the Congregation for the generous donation  made to Dorset Search Dogs.

Click to read more about the Animals’ Voice Charity HERE

 

The latest exercise to test the multi-agency response to finding missing people in Dorset was held on Brownsea Island on Friday 8 December 2017.

Specially trained officers from Dorset Police were joined by colleagues from the Coastguard, RNLI, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue, Dorset Search and Rescue, Hampshire Search and Rescue Dogs, Dorset Search Dogs and the Royal Life Saving Society as well as the NPAS helicopter.

The first live scenario they encountered involved three missing people, including a 10-year-old boy, and a second scenario involved a vulnerable man who had been reported missing.

The services worked together to plan and co-ordinate the search and locate the missing people.

Earlier this year an exercise was held in Holt Heath Nature Reserve after officers took part in a week-long specialist training course to become Lost Person Search Managers to further improve the Force’s capability for finding missing people.

The Brownsea Island exercise also marked the completion of Dorset Police’s second training course for a further 11 Lost Person Search Managers.

Superintendent Mike Rogers, of Dorset Police, said: “Exercises such as this are a valuable way of testing the response of the various agencies involved to major incidents, the roles they each play and how they work together in such scenarios.

“They help us test our plans and resilience and ensure that our staff are up-to-date with the latest practice.

“I would like to thank all the personnel from the various agencies and organisations who contributed to the exercise as well as the National Trust for its permission and support to run the event on Brownsea Island.”

Dorset Search Dogs has received a boost to its funds after kind-hearted colleagues at the nearby Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) depot held a bake sale to raise money for the volunteer organisation.

Workers from the SSEN Poole depot had heard that Dorset Search Dogs was hoping to purchase an infra-red camera, which enables search crews to pick up heat signatures when they’re called into action in the hunt for missing persons.

As the SSEN team had already tackled Dry January and Veganuary, they decided that the rewards of baking were just what was needed to help them raise funds for the local organisation, which provides search and rescue support 24 hours a day – all year round – and relies on donations from members of the public and local companies to operate.

Through the sale of scones, sponges and strawberry tarts, the team raised a total of £200 to contribute to the purchase of the much-needed camera equipment.

Matt Yates, Community Relationship Manager for the region acted as both baker and banker for the fund-raiser and said: “Dorset Search Dogs is a well-known local organisation that functions purely through donations and when we heard that they were looking to buy such an important piece of kit, we didn’t hesitate to help. We’d all tackled the alcohol- and meat-free months at the start of the year, so we knew we needed something a bit more indulgent to get our colleagues to part with their cash and a bake sale was the perfect option.

“We know the service that Dorset Search Dogs provides to the local community is vital and we hope the money we have raised helps them to enhance the incredible work they do.”

Laurence Jeffries of Dorset Search Dogs commented: “We would like to offer our thanks, once again, to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, and especially the Poole depot staff, for their continued support of our charity.

“Dorset Search Dogs relies on donations to maintain its operational effectiveness when called out on behalf of the Police to search for vulnerable missing people; at all times and in all weather conditions. This donation will make a large difference towards maintaining and increasing our operational capability.”

Find out more about SSEN HERE

Very well done to Sheila and the gorgeous Barney who passed their intermediate assessment yesterday. Lots of hard work and keeping at it paid off.