Information on Trossachs SAR Search Dog Unit
The picture above shows one of our members - Blair McFarlane, who is Watch Manager of Blue Watch at Alloa Fire Station, Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service . The Alloa crews form the USAR capability for CSFRS on top of their normal FRS duties. Blair is wearing the full PPE currently the standard for our search dog handlers and buddies- helmet, safety goggles, headtorch, flashover hood, 3M respirator, coveralls, leather gauntlets, high quality knee pads, steel toecap boots, 30 litre daysack which contains clothing, first aid kit, water and collapsible bowl, intrinsically safe torch, lightsticks, pencil, notepad, etc and of course Blair has the most important piece of kit - a search dog!
Sponsored by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, WAGG Foods and Arnold Clark, our search dog unit comprising of 8 search dogs and handlers has a proven track record of locating missing people in the outdoors. So far, our dogs have located 12 missing people - some were merely lost in forest or because darkness had fallen, but others have had life threatening conditions which would have resulted in their death had the dogs not found them. Unfortunately locating people already dead has also occurred in these circumstances.
In May 2004 we attended the Stockline Plastics factory collapse in Maryhill, Glasgow where our search dogs indicated on 3 locations at which deceased casualties were subsequently located.
Our search dogs are independently and externally assessed by members of the Police, (Home Office approved Police Dog Instructors) and Fire Service personnel, as well as by members of other search dog organisations with whom we have worked.
We are members of the National Urban Search and Rescue Dog Group - NUSARDG - which was formed to discuss and set common standards for search dogs and handlers engaged in major and catastrophic incidents within the UK.
Common UK search dog standards have now been established, as well as standard operating procedures, safety equipment levels etc..
In the International Search Dog competitions at Huddersfield in the years 2000 and 2002, our search dogs worked extremely well and some gained very high placings - 1st, 2nd, 3rd in some sections of the competition.
One of our dogs - Meg, won the UK's most prestigious Animal Award in the year 2000 - the Animal Health Trust Bravery Award - for her willingness to help man in difficult conditions. She has also received, with her handler - a Certificate of Merit from the Police for locating an unconscious man in dense forest.
Despite all of this - our search dogs are there to find missing people and this they have done time and time again - in open countryside, open hillside, dense forest, riverbanks and urban areas. It takes around two years to train our search dogs. Why so long? because we need to ensure the dog and handler are very highly trained, not only in search techniques, but in all other aspects of our work such as navigation, first-aid, rope skills, search planning, casualty evacuation etc..
Our current operational search dog teams are: Iain & Glen; Joanne & Gigha; Stuart & Mitch; Bobby & Corry; Jeff & Cono.
Dogs which have been search dogs with the team but have since retired were Ella - a flatcoat retriever who found 4 people in all and has sadly since passed away - she was worked by Gavin Shaw; Jenny - a Border Collie who suffered a throat injury when a stick pierced her neck and had to retire. She was worked by Iain Fiddes; Axel - another Border Collie, who was retired from service when his handler - Pat Owen, had to leave the team. Trainee dogs since retired from training include Solas, a Hovawart being trained by Anne ; Jay - a collie being trained by Trevor Lynch and Budd, a collie being trained by Blair McFarlane; Fruin who was worked by Gordon Gregory and retired following a long and highly successful career in May 2006; Sam, a trainee og also worked by Gordon gregory and lastly Meg, who retired in Oct 2007 at 13 yrs old - having found 4 people in her career and identified the location of deceased persons at Stockline also.
Open Area / wilderness searching - Most of our dogs have been trained to search open areas/ forest/ hillside etc for missing people and have passed external assessments to conduct such work.
Collapsed Structure searching - Some of the dogs are also trained and qualified to search at building collapse incidents.
Our open area dogs can do this work too and have proved their ability to do so but they are not subjected to being put into dangerous areas.
Trossachs SAR Search Dog Unit is kindly sponsored by WAGG Foods who provide WAGG Time food for the dogs. Have a look at the files attached below to see more of the dogs, their handlers and the work which they do.
Sponsored by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, WAGG Foods and Arnold Clark, our search dog unit comprising of 8 search dogs and handlers has a proven track record of locating missing people in the outdoors. So far, our dogs have located 12 missing people - some were merely lost in forest or because darkness had fallen, but others have had life threatening conditions which would have resulted in their death had the dogs not found them. Unfortunately locating people already dead has also occurred in these circumstances.
In May 2004 we attended the Stockline Plastics factory collapse in Maryhill, Glasgow where our search dogs indicated on 3 locations at which deceased casualties were subsequently located.
Our search dogs are independently and externally assessed by members of the Police, (Home Office approved Police Dog Instructors) and Fire Service personnel, as well as by members of other search dog organisations with whom we have worked.
We are members of the National Urban Search and Rescue Dog Group - NUSARDG - which was formed to discuss and set common standards for search dogs and handlers engaged in major and catastrophic incidents within the UK.
Common UK search dog standards have now been established, as well as standard operating procedures, safety equipment levels etc..
In the International Search Dog competitions at Huddersfield in the years 2000 and 2002, our search dogs worked extremely well and some gained very high placings - 1st, 2nd, 3rd in some sections of the competition.
One of our dogs - Meg, won the UK's most prestigious Animal Award in the year 2000 - the Animal Health Trust Bravery Award - for her willingness to help man in difficult conditions. She has also received, with her handler - a Certificate of Merit from the Police for locating an unconscious man in dense forest.
Despite all of this - our search dogs are there to find missing people and this they have done time and time again - in open countryside, open hillside, dense forest, riverbanks and urban areas. It takes around two years to train our search dogs. Why so long? because we need to ensure the dog and handler are very highly trained, not only in search techniques, but in all other aspects of our work such as navigation, first-aid, rope skills, search planning, casualty evacuation etc..
Our current operational search dog teams are: Iain & Glen; Joanne & Gigha; Stuart & Mitch; Bobby & Corry; Jeff & Cono.
Dogs which have been search dogs with the team but have since retired were Ella - a flatcoat retriever who found 4 people in all and has sadly since passed away - she was worked by Gavin Shaw; Jenny - a Border Collie who suffered a throat injury when a stick pierced her neck and had to retire. She was worked by Iain Fiddes; Axel - another Border Collie, who was retired from service when his handler - Pat Owen, had to leave the team. Trainee dogs since retired from training include Solas, a Hovawart being trained by Anne ; Jay - a collie being trained by Trevor Lynch and Budd, a collie being trained by Blair McFarlane; Fruin who was worked by Gordon Gregory and retired following a long and highly successful career in May 2006; Sam, a trainee og also worked by Gordon gregory and lastly Meg, who retired in Oct 2007 at 13 yrs old - having found 4 people in her career and identified the location of deceased persons at Stockline also.
Open Area / wilderness searching - Most of our dogs have been trained to search open areas/ forest/ hillside etc for missing people and have passed external assessments to conduct such work.
Collapsed Structure searching - Some of the dogs are also trained and qualified to search at building collapse incidents.
Our open area dogs can do this work too and have proved their ability to do so but they are not subjected to being put into dangerous areas.
Trossachs SAR Search Dog Unit is kindly sponsored by WAGG Foods who provide WAGG Time food for the dogs. Have a look at the files attached below to see more of the dogs, their handlers and the work which they do.