Yesterday me and Kaz and Daryl and the Dram dog went over to Kirkby Stephen MRT base to help Kath out - Kath is the Deputy Team Leader at Kirkby Stephen and has just started training her dog Mara. Me and Kaz have been helping her - Kaz has been doing the human stuff and I've been having a bit of a doggy chat with the young upstart! Anyway, we went to help so that Mara wouldn't be scared when the helicopter came in.
First of all when it was landing Mara was a bit nervous (probably the noise) but Kath gave her lots of treats and she eventually settled down a bit.
Then they shut the motor down and Kath walked Mara on and she was able to settle down on board.
Then they started up and went for a flight round - Kath says she was really well behaved.
Then it was the turn of the Kirkby team members to climb on board, have a flight and be winched out. They all seemed to enjoy it!
Then me and Kaz and Daryl and the Dram dog were told we could go on board with Kath and Mara.
We stood in front of the helicopter (slightly to the right of the pilot) and they lowered the steps. We walked across to the door one at a time - it was very windy and loud. The Dram dog was very good and walked calmly on board. Mara did really well but was a bit scared right at the end!
We took off and flew round,then it was time for Daryl and the Dram dog to be winched out. They walked over to the big door and Daryl got the harness on himself and made sure the Dram dog was clipped in to the hook.....then they were off. Then it was me and Kaz as usual, I wriggled around while we were in the air.
Kath and Mara stayed on as it was a bit too scary for Mara to be winched out.
So then, where did I get to on my last blog? Oh yes, I'd just been groomed and wasnt too impressed was I!
Anyway since then it's been pretty busy all round really.
1st of all Daryl and the Dram dog were training for Trailing with all the other handlers from Ireland, Scotland and other places in England. We all stayed at Patterdale YHA and me and Kaz were helping as assessors.
I was dead proud of the Dram Dog - he did really well. He is now at stage 11 (of 17) and he had to do a test where there were 3 people in a line and Daryl was given a hat off one of them in a bag. He then had to give the hat to Dram Dog to smell and then he had to walk over to each of the people and tell Daryl which person the hat belonged do.......and he did it really well. Now, dont tell the Dram Dog but I was flamin amazed - I'm trained to find any human scent but he's being trained to find only 1 human scent out of many. Well done the Dram Dog.
On the Tuesday, me and Kaz went to Whinlatter for a bit of training - it was very midgy and Kaz was being eaten alive. I was dead brilliant - I found all the bodies in super quick time. In the meantime Dram Dog and Daryl were showing off their skills at scent discrimination with handlers Chris and Mick being the bodies. Everyone else seemed to have a really good time too - Elly and Bracken are coming on well and Andy and Corrie are looking good. Little Mara and Kath are beginning to work well too and Mara's bark is really starting to change from a squeak to a proper bark!
Then Kaz and Daryl had a parcel delivered to home - it contained another dog! Here it is..........
..... me and the Dram dog got a bit miffed about it as we thought it was going to be replacing us, but Kaz and Daryl explained that they were riding the dog down a river in Scotland....idiots! (more about that later...)
On Thursday me, Kaz, Daryl and Dram dog went over to Keswick to the Keswick team to talk about a charity even that we were helping with. Basically, they have to help run a demonstration rescue for some children to take part in, so we went over to Great Wood and looked for a place to do the demo. Me and Dram dog played in the beck whilst Kaz and Daryl did the work! Can you spot me in the piccie?...
On the Saturday the demo went really well for the children - they loved it. Me and Kaz showed them how a searchdog works and then they helped treat our pretend casualty and put him in the stretcher and carry him off. Then at lunch time they watched the RAF helicopter fly in and they were allowed to go inside and have a look. What a great day.
Then me and Kaz did some training up at Whinlatter on the Tuesday - me and searhcdog Ginny who's my big sis had a great time in the rain.........dont we look pretty! Andy and Corrie did a big area as a practice for being asessed and looked really good so hopefully they'll be on the callout list soon.
Then last Saturday me and the Dram dog went to grandma and grandpas for the day as Kaz and Daryl and handler John Leadbetter were off to do a mad event in Scotland. Basically, they were going to do the Glen Nevis River Race which was a 2 miles down river race on an inflatible lilo (hence the blow up dog that I referred to earlier)
(Have a look at this video clip....it'll give you an idea of how daft they were)
They all got home late on Saturday night counting their bruises!!!! They had to get all their kit ready cos we were all due to go dog training at Coniston, so that took little while and they finally got to bed at 2am.
After about 3 hours, Kaz's pager went off at 5am for a search down at Ullswater for a missing man whos car had been found. Me and Kaz went down whilst Daryl and the Dram dog stayed in bed snoring.
Kaz and I searched the banks of Ullswater and I thought I could smell something different coming from the water, so I barked at Kaz. Kaz wasnt too sure what to do and so she got John and Skye to go along there too - Skye also was very interested in the area so we passed the information on....here I am searching the banks.
We then searched some steep woodland with searchdogs Ginny, Meg, Enich, Keppi and Moss. Me and Kaz got home on Sunday afternoon after Patterdale team stood us down for the day - Kaz was very tired so had an early night!
Then last night (Tuesday) me and Kaz went out again to help Patterdale team in the continuation of the search - I got to search some really steep woodland that was full of brambles and head high bracken and also an old disused quarry, but didnt find anything.
