January Training news and Angus gets his paws on the laptop

Another great weekend – particularly for some of the trainee dogs and my little brother Angus dog.  Kaz was assessing at the Lakes training weekend which was being held in Langdale – cos she was going to be busy standing around and also doing a bit of work with Angus, I decided to stay at home with Daryl and help him with stuff round the house.  So this time I’m gonna let Angus tell you what happened – this wont be a regular occurrence!!!

Hah that’s what you think Dottie…anyway I have had loads of fun – first off I was allowed with Kaz all on my own and I was allowed to watch some of the trainee mountain rescue dogs working.  We walked down a place called Mickleden – blimey it was a long way and the paths were actually streams!  When we got to the bottom we watched Dave and Fern work an area which was really igh up and also go to see Elly and Bracken, John and Cuillin, Kath and Mara, Phil and Crag, and Martin and Isla – blimey I have had to start learning lots of new names…..so these type of dogs just rush about over the hillside using their noses and look for the scent of any human being – when they find the person they bark at them then run back to their owners and bark to let them know – they were all really fast.  We watched for a while then Kaz told me we were going to do some work.  3 hours before body Elaine had walked across the river, through the drumlins and then up a big zigzag path by Greentongue Gill and then onto some crags.  She then gave Kaz her hat which Kaz put in a bag for me to smell. First of all I put a special harness and Kaz clips on a very long line (about 30m) to my collar - then  I lie down and Kaz opens the bag for me to sniff and when I have done that she says ‘Find It’ – this means I have to tell Kaz when I find a smell that matches that one.  I do this by comparing the scent she has given me to all those interesting smells – when I think I can match it I then have to lie down.  Once I lie down to tell Kaz I’ve found it she then clips the line to my harness and says ‘Show Me’.  This is my big opportunity and I get to follow the scent of the body along – sometimes this is hard as the wind may have blown the scent a long way away from the exact place the body walked- especially when its been a few hours.  Anyway – the scent was easy to find and I started trailing over some drumlins – at this time we suddenly had really bad hail and wind and it hurt my eyes a bit but I kept taking Kaz along (She wasn’t too sure where the body was).  After a few hundred metres of going steeply up I realised that the scent had crossed a gully which would be too difficult for Kaz to cross so I took her to the edge of it – she let me off my line and I crossed it and waited on the other side for about 5 mins for her to get across further up.  When she got to me she made me refind the scent again to be sure I was right – so I laid down and she clipped me back on my harness.  We went up into some crags – buy this time it was hard to stand up but I pulled Kaz alog and eventually found body Elaine and lay next to her like I should…..I was very happy and so were Kaz and Elaine – I got loads of sausage and a ball to play with!

Today the other trainees did the same thing again and me and Kaz did another trail from a farmyard along a path that split and along Mickleden – again the weather was rubbish but I did really well and found the body again.  Kaz was dead pleased!!

The good news is that Dave and Fern have now passed 2 assessments and the others all did really well.

Here’s a piccie of the area today – I look a bit drowned!

 

Thanks Angus for the update – don’t get too comfortable with that laptop!

Couple of callouts at the start of the year

Well then - happy new year everyone!  It has been fairly quiet at the start of the year other than me and the others have been out and about over Christmas with Kaz and Daryl.  We got quite a few doggie Xmas treats which were great and we went down to see grandpa Ron for a few days.

Me and Kaz have been pretty busy – the Sunday Kaz got a message from Patterdale team look for a missing man near the lake at Glenridding.  Kaz and I got ready – it was raining again really badly so Kaz thought she’d take welly boots instead of walking boots as we had already been told we’d be searching the edges of the Lake near the steamer pier and other areas.  We got in the car, not before the Angus and Dram dogs tried to get in the car too, and we set off towards Patterdale.  Kaz had to be very careful because the rain had caused some big floods – it was like driving past a sea wall in places where big waves were crashing across the road.

We got to Patterdale base and we heard on the radio that Andy and Corrie and Roger and Ted were searching the bit next to us.  Me and Kaz arrived at the start of the search and we began searching through some moored boats, making sure we looked inside each of them – well actually making sure I jumped up and looked in them.  The rain was pelting down and we were very wet really quickly.  We didn’t find anyone and by the time we’d finished some of the other handlers and dogs were arriving and searching areas. At about 9pm we got told to finish for the night – Patterdale asked if we could come back the next day to continue helping but Kaz said she had to go to a meeting and so couldn’t.  We got home and Kaz had a nice hot bath whilst I went and shook my wet fur all over the others!!  The next day Kaz heard that Andy and Corrie, Elly and Meg,Mick and Ginny and Chris and Beck went to help but they didn’t find anything which was very sad.

For the rest of the week some of the dogs have continued to try to look for him but there is still no news yet.

Then on Friday night just as me and Kaz had come back from our walk on Helton with Angus and Dram, Kaz's pager went off for a callout to a missing person on one of the Pennine fells.  Luckily, just as Kaz was about to call out the Penrith team, the Police called to say that she had turned up ok which was great news.

On Saturday morning we all went up to Red Screes to watch the trainee dogs.  Phil and Crag, Martin and Isla and John and Cuillin were there and they all looked as if they were doing well.  The weather was pretty cold and there was a bit of slippy snow on the ground - I got to have a go and me and Kaz set off to search the area opposite the pub.  It went really quickly - Kaz thinks I was on drugs cos I was super fast - I found body Steve really quickly and then body Jim in a cave.  Unfortunately as I was barking at Jim for the toy, he threw it and I went to get it but I bumped my nose and ended up with a pretty bad nose bleed (oopps).

 

Last Sunday Kaz and Daryl were training with their team at Tebay practising their first aid for the first aid exams – they took us dogs in the van cos the plan was that we’d go for a walk afterwards near Orton Scar.  They’d been working really hard – Kaz and her team leader Mike were talking and Kaz said – ‘I bet we get a callout’…..and about 3 mins later sure enough the Police called them both to ask the team to look for a missing lady near Carlisle – how weird is that!  Anyway the team started packing up as Kaz and Mike drove up to Carlisle to meet the Police.  Me and Kaz with our navigator - body Glenn (who is also a team member as well as being my favourite dogs body) were told to search a very long bridlepath which had a lot of open ground either side – it was about 3 miles long and then ended in a large area of woodland with a very big river in the middle.  We set off while the RAF helicopter was above us – I don’t mind the helicopter too much really, a lot of the other dogs get a bit scared.

It was hard work – the ground was very boggy and slippy and in the steep bits Kaz and Glenn were sliding around.  We lost the light and I kept working really hard – the area was very big and occasionally we stopped for a quick drink (Kaz) – although I didn’t really need any especially as a lot of the ground was very wet with big puddles.

After a few hours (and when other searchdogs had arrived) we were told we could stop for the day and that the Police might want us out on the Monday.  Because Kaz has only just started her new job she told me we wouldn’t be going, but some of the others could.  We went home and the other dogs had a quick walk (I didn’t need one really) and Kaz and Daryl ate fish and chips – and I got a treat for working hard!

On the Monday Kaz came home from work and told me that sadly, the body of the missing lady had been found quite a long way from where we were searching.

On Tuesday night Kaz was just about to take us all to Whinlatter for a walk before a dog meeting, when she got a message for searchdogs to help Keswick team look for a missing lady.  Me and Kaz and Andy and Corrie were tasked with searching the northern side of the river Greta in a very steep sided thick wood – the rain was really bad again and the ground was really difficult – me and Corrie split the area in to two and we worked really hard with me at the bottom doing the edge of the river up the steep ground for about 150m and Corrie doing the top half.  We could hear lots of the other dog teams on the radios – Mick and Ginny and Chris and Beck were working the areas immediately next to us.  Despite a long night (with the occasional stop where Kaz and Andy were having trouble negotiating the difficult ground) we were not able to find the lady in our area.  Keswick team called in help from Cockermouth team and at about midnight they found the body of the missing lady which was very sad.  Me and Kaz went home – it’s always hard for Kaz and the other handlers when the search isn’t positive.

Last night me and Kaz and the other two dogs went up to Helton for a long rainy (surprise surprise) walk – Kaz even set out some smells for the Angus dog to find which he did!  Yes and when we got home we muddied up the house some more!

Anyway – I’ll be writing soon Dot fans as it’s the dog team training at Langdale next weekend.