Monday 15 March 2010

Training update

Dram and Einich

This weekend was spent training Einich under Striding Edge and the surrounding hillside. We made quite a bit of progress working larger areas to extend the length of time she works before locating a hidden person. Red Tarn proved to be quite a challenge, there where quite a number of onlookers, some unknowingly stood right next to the hidden person who was sheltering in a bivvybag (protection against the weather). I think they must have got a bit of a surprise when, what they thought was a rock started to move as Einich approached and stood barking next to it. A big thankyou goes out to all our very willing volunteers who give up their spare time to sit out on a fellside in all weathers.

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera so I have included a photo from last months training in the Cairngorms.

Monday 1 March 2010

Still snowing in Cairngorm

Einich at work

February has been a month of travelling between the Lakes, Glencoe and the Cairngorms. We have been blessed with fantastic snow conditions and great weather. This last week I have been in the Cairngorms with SARDA (Lakes) training Einich to locate people buried in Avalanches. We had a group of hard working volunteers who didn't mind being buried in snowholes several feet below the surface and wait for the dogs to come and find them. The dogs located them by picking up an air born scent which filtered up from the snow, they then dig and bark to locate the source. It's great to see how quickly a dog can pick up a scent and home in on it. All the dogs did really well. By midweek a fresh snowfall arrived which was enough to closed the ski area for a couple of days. We seem to have been digging all week.