Whilst we are all getting a bit fed up with the wet, windy weather which seems to have become locally our winter, spare a thought for those who still train to meet the harshest of conditions.

Trainee search and rescue dog, Isla with handler Mark Williams headed north to Scotland at Christmas for a SARDA training session at Glenshee.  There was no shortage of snow up there as the dogs were put through their paces learning how to work in challenging conditions.

Handler and mountain instructor, Mark said, “All dogs seem to love the snow.   I was really pleased that Isla didn’t get phased by the rather wild winter conditions and coped remarkably well.  In such ‘white out’ conditions fully graded search dogs might be the only effective means of locating a lost person.  They don’t need to see you, they work on human scent.”

Just another day in the long, long process of training a young dog towards full accreditation as a Search & Rescue Dog Association grade 1 search dog.

See also, “Happy First Birthday” article 24th November 2015.

Photo credit: BMRT  –  Isla, Dec 2015