K-9 Search and Rescue dog handlers train on farm at Teconnaught, County Down
On a lovely, early spring day, several dog handlers with their specialist search and rescue dogs arrived at a farm near Teconnaught, County Down, for an important training session for K-9 Search and Rescue N writes Jim Masson/DownNews©).
The dogs are primarily pets, but after initial training they are selected because of their search ability for further on-going training.
Paul Fielding, a dog handler, said: “Over the next few days we will be training here on the farm as it has running water for the dogs to work in on tracking, and this is a scent day dealing with human smells.
“Next session will involve work around the River Quoile then we will move on to Balloo where we continue training of human smell and exactly following footprints and get involved in water based searching.
“We are quite a democratic organisation and share responsibilities. We all muck in and get the job done. We also share the costs as we are a charity.
https://www.k9searchandrescueni.org
“K-9 Search and Rescue NI has to date attended many searches including the gas explosions at Creeslough in Donegal in October 2022 where ten people died with eight injured. And we also attended the recent earthquake in Turkey.
“Families often ask us to search for their loved ones. They find it difficult to get closure until they find their bodies. Then the grieving process can begin.
“We also took part in searches for Lisa Dorrian who was murdered in 28th February 2005 at Ballyhalbert at a party she attended. Her sister Janine is on our Board.
‘The organisation was established by Ryan Gray who is the team leader. We go out in all weathers.”
Dave Jones, the specialist assessor with UK K-9 Training For Exclellence who was assessing the dogs and the trainers on the day at Teconnaught, has been involved all his life in searches in Snowdonia in Wales in mountain rescue since the mid-70s, and also works for the Commission of the Disappeared.
“I have been involved in training dog handlers in the ROI, Spain, Croatia, Denmark, Russia, Poland Japan, Dubai, the USA and other countries. I have participated in humanitarian missions in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Mozambique, Turkey and El Salvador.
“I’ve just spent a week in Wicklow. It is very rewarding work. On a search we may search through collapsed buildings and natural disasters, and also provide general purpose concealed cadaver detection. We also get involved in swift water rescue and powerboat handling. It is quite a mix of skills.
“Often we arrive at a place where the search is to be conducted and we get involved in the search planning and management. Our close-knit teams are trained to work together on the ground.
“We aim for continuous professional development and we are aligned with NASDU (National Association of Security Dog Users. ) and to British standards.”
