me and the Dram and Angus dogs were made to wait outside while they listened to an
informative presentation from handler Chris Francis on the realities of the
weather and conditions we could face both as bodies and handlers on the
February Scottish training week. Then the humans split into teams of
handlers/trainees and bodies to discuss some questions about training and
behaviours – as you can
see from the photo, handler Laura was clearly giving it some thought!!
Apparently they then got into the spirit of Christmas by taking part in the LDMRSDA Christmas
Quiz – consisting of a number of interactive rounds - the teams were given questions on General Knowledge (They
didn’t have much!); Dog Breeds from Around the World (Benny was clearly very
good on this one); Dog anatomy (One team who will remain nameless managed to
answer only 5 right!); a set of conundrums based on Mountain Ranges (top marks
were achieved by many here) – then the key rounds left were a classic clip from
the Generation Game where the teams were expected to remember everything they
saw on the conveyor belt (including the cuddly toy). It has to be said that marks for initiative
should have gone to Dave Howarth for recording the sound!!
Body Penny was busy answering the mountain conundrum round
ethically whilst Jacqui seemed to have resorted to cheating!
The final, most highly competitive rounds were the Casualty
Care and Art Attack. Casualty care is a
familiar skill that all Mountain Rescue personnel are expected to perform and
the 3 yearly exam usually has us all revising hard. This round was slightly different in that the
teams were expected to correctly bandage a dog’s paw – as you can see some dogs
may be a bit luckier than others if they get injured!!
The
final round was the ‘tie break’ round with teams having to create the best 3 d
representation of a searchdog and handler with the resources provided – namely
Play Doh….frankly Kaz says she's never seen so many people getting excited about
plastecine since nursery school – the artistic
standard was set high – as you can see from the fantastic efforts – some
special mentions should go to Jan’s handler who sadly fell at the last hurdle
and collapsed as the judging happened; Chris and Dary’s retro handler with
classic Troll trousers; Elly’s multi-coloured dog (but which looked as if a
major incident had just happened!) and Kath Dyer’s very tiny detailed dog…but
overall the best model was clearly Laura and Deb’s stunning offering – even
managing to fit in mountains in the background – the handler was even dressed
in Cockermouth Blue!!!
The overall winners of the Quiz were Team Sarda England (!)
– made up of Chris, Benny, Daryl, Penny, Roger and Jacqui – Kaz said well done to
everyone who took part and many thanks to Keswick MRT for the use of the base.
In the afternoon the plan was for the Stage 1’s to train
near Brandlehow whilst me and some of the other Stage 2’s and 4’s were going to be doing a night time
footpath search exercise on Catbells. The rain
started and the wind howled and nothing was deterring the bodies going out into
position (Daryl was one of them) -- well, other than once they’d started going up the hill they
couldn’t stay on their feet! So sadly
the evening’s entertainment was abandoned.
Today me (and Kaz) helped the stage 4s along with Dave Howarth
in the Newlands Valley – although the day started cold and blustery, it soon
deteriorated to heavy showers. Everyone had a good day (Kath and Mara, Phil and Crag, Rob and Rona, Elly and Bracken and Martin and Isla).
Finally and probably most importantly it was the last formal
weekend for former handler and assessor, Les Telford. Les has been involved with us for 13 years,
forming a highly successful partnership with Kess and spending many hours
assisting others (including me and Kaz - well, mainly Kaz) to make the grade.
Known as the ‘well-spoken bloke’ Les has provided us with excellent
impressions of the Monty Python team, as well as raising the general
intellect! Les was presented with a
parting gift from the association by Kaz and Mick Guy – and he will be
missed.
Anyway - time to go now Dot fans........ see ya soon
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