Busy time for us all

Its been manic here since we last spoke Dot fans.

The Penrith team had great fun at the Cumberland show - me and Angus got to play with all the children who were lining up to have a go at the zip wires and climbing wall.  We were absolutely exhausted when we finished (so was Kaz I think).

 

 

We got home really late and went straight to bed - problem was that at 0445 the next morning Kaz got woken up and heard that there was a missing runner from a race in Shap - so she started sorting that callout out at the same time as getting dressed and running round the house - I think she was a little confused which was funny as she then got a second callout from the Police for a missing man - Kaz thought they were talking about the same person and couldnt understand how the runner had gone from Shap to Caldbeck.  She called out the team and started splitting the team resources up to go to the 2 callouts.  She also woke up Kath from Kirkby Stephen to see if they could help and then she called the rest of the searchdogs.

 

Me and Kaz n Angus jumped in the car - we were going to the Shap callout first but as we were on the way it turned out he had actually retired from the race the day before but the organisers hadn't recorded it.  So we made for Caldbeck for the other callout which was a search for an 80-yr old who'd been missing overnight.  Kaz sorted out which people were searching which routes and then me and her set off.  Literally 3 mins later we got a call to say the man had been found by a farmer in a farmyard.  We went to help the ambulance people get him in the ambulance - although he'd been out all night he was still alive and was taken to hospital.

 

When we got home we did some more gardening (Angus was in trouble again for eating the top off of one of Kaz's new plants!).

 

The next day the new conservatory was getting some floor tiles which look nice but we aren't allowed to walk on them.

 

 

 

Kaz has also been busy with her DIYing and has now got very excited about building a radiator cover (blimey she really is living the high life!!).  I have added the photo cos Kaz is so proud of it

 

 

 

Angus and Kaz have been doing some training - she worked an area at Whinlatter and he followed the scent all the way to body Anne who gave him loads of food and a play with a ball (he gets more than I do when he finds people!)  It was very midgey and Angus had them all over his nose.

 

 

 

In the meantime Elly and her trainee Bracken and Dave and his trainee young Fern only have 2 more assessments to pass so we are hoping that they will all pass at the Coniston weekend in 2 weeks time - all the humans have got fingers crossed and dogs have their paws crossed too!

 

Me and Angus have been sooo busy helping out with the gardening and decorating - Angus ran himself into the ground the other night (so you can see here) - he really needs to pace himself though

 

 

On Wednesday night me and Kaz and Angus went for a run over at Haweswater - we went up to the slopes of Kidsty Howe and ran all the way back - it was a nice run and we bumped into quite a few people on the way back then watched the sun set at Mardale Head.

 

 

On Friday Kaz got asked to sort out a callout for a missing lady in Ainstable who had been out all night.  We got to Ainstable and Kaz sorted out some areas for the team and search dogs to search - she had to try and work out what the most likely places a person with Alzheimers would go.  She gave Mik and Andy and their searchdogs Ginny (my big sis) and Corrie an area called Broad Wood which was a bit away from the lady's house.  She gave Chris and his searchdog Beck 3 areas of woodland to the East of the house and we were to search a plantation north of the house with Elly and Meg when she got their.  She got the Penrith team members and also our helpers from Kirkby Stepehen to search some other areas but after about 20 mins she got  call to say that Corrie had managed to find the lady in really difficult ground in the wood and that Andy and Mik were helping her out of the area - what great news and well done Andy and Corrie.  The Police and the lady's husband were very happy that she had been found safe and sound- here's Corrie and Andy

 

 

 

On Saturday me and Kaz and Angus were off to see our friends Steve and Elaine and their trailing dog Boris.  We all went for a really long walk round some reservoirs near Bolton and as we stopped for a drink Steve got a callout for a search in Wales.  He said Kaz n us could come so Kaz could help navigate and I could be used if necessary.  We were about 5km away from the cars so had to hurry back and then we jumped into the cars and drove all the way to Llandudno and met the Police at the police station.  Steve and Boris got a pillow case and searched round where the man had gone missing whilst Kaz held back and followed.  Boris trailed all the way to the Great Orme and stopped by a view point and barked.  I couldn't be used as the ground was like cliffs here and it would be very dangerous even for an expert climber like me.  Steve got Boris to try from the other direction but he still went back to the same spot.  The police thanked us all and we started walking back to Llandudno

 

 

When we got back the police gave us some tea and as we were about to return to Steve and Elaines Steve got a call from the Bowland Pennine team leader to help for a missing person in Silverdale.  Me and Kaz were asked to come too.  It took us 2.5 hours to drive up to Silverdale and we arrived about 11pm.  Me and Kaz were given an area of woodland to the east of Silverdale and we were given a navigator called Sarah who gave me loads of fuss.  The ground was slippy and I could hear searchdogs Skye and Floss nearby.  Unfortunately we didn't find anything and we eventually got home at 3.30 this morning.  Kaz and me were tired but Angus wasn't so at 7am he woke us up barking.  Kaz let us out and fed us and then put us in the kitchen so she could go back to bed.  That didn't last long as she got a callout to help a man hit by tree near Longtown - she sorted out the team via radio and phone and they started out but got stood down as the air ambulance managed to get to him.

 

We are now keeping Kaz company as she is taking the lounge apart so that the decorating of the conservatory and the lounge can be done. 

 

We are looking forward to next weekend as me and Kaz and Angus are going away in the caravan to Norfolk/Suffolk for a long weekend of running about - hooray!

 

Anyway no doubt I'll have lots to tell soon.....

 

 

 

 

Kaz has yet another holiday...

So - yet again me and the Angus dog have been left 'home alone' by Kaz.

No sooner than she and Angus got back from their holiday in the caravan, Kaz was getting ready for another one!  On Tuesday night though, we went over to Hollows Farm campsite in Keswick so that Kaz and Angus could do some trailing practices in more busy areas.  Here's Angus......

Ohh I'm getting used to this now - anyways me and Kaz were told that we were looking for a missing person who'd left their car in the carpark at the campsite.  About 2 hours earlier all of the other dog bodies and a load of handlers had parked there and walked all over the place as well as the people staying at the campsite.  Here's a pic of the car park.

 

 

There were about 6 exits from the carpark all going in different directions and we didn't know which one the missing person had taken.

 

Kaz took the missing person's hat which had been given to her and put it in to a fresh plastic bag.  Then she put some gauzes in which had a fine spray of salty water (this is so that the smell/bacteria can grow on them and then these 'clones' can be used instead of the hat in case the Police need to keep the hat).  Once she'd left them for a while she then split them in to some more bags and got my collar and lead out.  She put my harness on, and clipped the lead on to the collar - I was going a bit mad at this point as I was getting pretty excited - and eventually she told me to 'sniff sniff' which means take a smell of the thing in the bag - I got a bit over excited and nearly ate it!!

 

Anyway, once I took a big whiff of the scent I was then told to 'check' and went up to Mick and had a sniff of him (this is because he took the hat from the missing person and was possible that his scent could be on it and that would mean I might end up following Mick instead of the missing person.

 

Once I'd sniffed Mick, Kaz told me to 'find' - this means I have to search around and when I find the scent that matches I must lie down to tell her.  Kaz lead me to just outside the carpark and we went to each exit in turn and I had a sniff around.  Suddenly I realised that the scent was just by a wooden footbridge over some boggy ground so I lay down.

 

 

Kaz said 'Good boy' and then clipped the lead on to my harness and said 'Show me'.  This means I now have to follow the trail to the person.  So I set off.  There was a family eating outside one of the tents and I wagged at them as I went past. I was pulling Kaz pretty hard, but she kept me steady.  We went across the campsite and there were lots of people and some dogs who were off their leads running about but I was good and carried on.  We went left by a big knoll and then the scent went back towards the way we came down the track we had driven in on - we got all the way back to the carpark entrance and Kaz got worried that I'd gone wrong so made me start all over again.  I did exactly the same again and she was really concerned that I'd done it wrong that she radioed the missing person Rosemary who said I was right as she'd walked across the campsite then cut round the knoll and walked back down the main track and past the entrance to the carpark and then had carried on for another 100m or so and hidden by the river!!!  Kaz started again and this time she just let me get on with it and I found Rosemary!!  I got loads of cuddles and Kaz kept being told 'trust your dog'.  Then me and Dot went for a swim with the other searchdogs which was great!

 

So thanks Angus for such as short explanation!  Kaz then left us with grandma and grandpa to go to the Pembroke National Park in Wales for a seakayaking course.  She got back really late last night just as her pager went off for a dog callout at Newby Bridge (typical) - despite 7 searchdogs the man still hasn't been found yet and we may still be called out again.

 

Anyway here are some of her pics from the weekend...she says she really enjoyed it and even enjoyed practicing the capsizing thing:

 

 

Even though Kaz was a bit tired this morning she had arranged to go with my favourite dogsbody Glenn to Stainton Primary school to talk to the children about the searchdogs.  It was brilliant - Angus behaved himself while me and Glenn showed them what we all do.  The children seemed to really enjoy their assembly and me and Angus got loads of hugs.

 

 

Anyway better go - at the moment me and Angus are supervising the conservatory people and Kaz should be back soon so I'd better get on with that!

We all get a holiday

Hi there Dot fans - how are you then?

It's been another busy few weeks in the house with Kaz.

She's still a bit down about Daryl leaving and Dram not being here any more - it got worse as Daryl came to tell her that he is in another relationship with someone else so soon after he said he needed to be alone.  Kaz has been very angry and gets upset at times....but me and the Angus dog cheer her up and cuddle her and she says that us dogs are the only thing she can rely on now.

The good thing is that we've all be doing a fair bit of stuff.

Kaz had a callout for a missing person near Ravenglass - all the graded searchdog handlers who have a Swift Water qualificaton were asked to go as we would be searching near to water.  Kaz left work early and rang her team who were also going to the callout to bring her drysuit along to the callout.
The trip from Kaz's work to the Ravenglass is a long way - by the time she picked me up it was already an hour since the call - then the drive down took another 1,5hrs but then we got stood down!!  So we drove back home and on the way back Kaz took me out on the fell for a run around which was great.

That was the Monday then on the Wedesday there was a Penrith team callout for a lady with a broken ankle - Kaz was at work but she managed the incident as she was able to use her radio set and computer link to the callout page.  Luckily Penrith team were able to get to the lady who had fractured and dislocated her ankle (she had 2 operations the next day even!!).

Then me and Kaz went to a callout for a missing person on Scafell - we got to search Kaz's favourite valley (not) - Langstrath.....

 

 

Kaz's team mates were searching the other routes to Allan Crags but we started very early in the morning and I was running in front of Kaz up the left had side of the valley - zigzagging to the side of her - we didn't see anyone or I didn't smell anyone but we kept going for ages - then at the end of the valley we started to climb up Glaramara Ghyll towards Allan Crags - but just as we were going up there we got a call to say that the body of the missing man had been sadly found in Piers Gill.  So we ended up having a very long walk back.

Then we've been working in the garden really hard - Kaz has got the old conservatory down (lots of spiders and ants made her scream) and there is a brand new base in place ready for the new frames to go in place in a couple of weeks - apparently it isn't really the done thing for dogs to run around over new concrete!!!  Whilst the conservatory is down Kaz has been taking the opportunity to paint the eaves above it - it's looking really nice (well as much as human houses can).  Kaz has been planting some plants in the garden and weeding - again me and Angus tried to help out but the bad dog (Angus) managed to eat one of the new plants so we were banned from helping any more!

Then we had a Penrith team callout for a missing man in Kings Meaburn - Kaz had literally just walked in the door from work when the pager went off - she called in to the Police on her radio and was told to take me and meet at the village hall.  Blimey I haven't seen so much rain for a very long time (it was raining cats and dogs).  Me and Kaz got the description of the man and set off with our navigator Glen to search for him.  But just as we were about to set off he was found by the Police not very far from where we were.  By the time we walked back to the village hall we were soaked - the rest of the team hadn't even set out from the hall and were laughing at how wet Kaz was.
Last week Kaz and me and Angus went 'darn sarf' to visit with some friends in Essex - we had a great time and even played with their dogs too

- here's 14 week old ZaZa.


 Kaz and Angus went and did a very quick trail round a busy country park - it was hard for him but he got there in the end - he was a little scared of some of the dogs running round and so Kaz and her friend Doug discussed the situation and he suggested that Angus is probably missing Dram and a little unsure of what has happened.  He suggested that she take him off for a couple of days in the new caravan and get him to meet as many new dogs as he could.  So that's exactly what they did.  I got to stay with grandma and grandpa which was great as I got loads of cuddles and fuss.  I'll pass over to Angus to let you know what they both did (don't tell him but I was a bit jealous really).

Ohh, I've got the laptop again.  So me and Kaz loaded up the caravan and set off for the Bay of Luce in Galloway.  When we got there Kaz sorted it all out whilst I laid outside 

 

 

Me and Kaz walked on the beach loads and met loads of new dogs which was scary for me - I keep thinking I've got to look after Kaz now but I haven't really - she can do it all on her own - she can look after all of us.

 

Here are some pics of our days out ......

 

 

 

 

Kaz loves the little caravan - her and I had a great time and I think we're all going to enjoy some really fun holidays.  Agghh, Dottie, don't snatch.....

 

Honestly give the dog an inch it'll take a mile!

 

Next weekend Kaz is leaving me and Angus dog at home with grandma and grandpa for a few days whilst she goes off to Pembroke in Wales to a seakayaking course which she is really looking forward to.  So until laters - see ya.