Search and Rescue Dog Association (Wales)
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Search and Rescue Dog Association (Wales) |
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Harold and Sam recently visited Ysgol Bryn Hedydd, Rhyl, to give a talk and demonstration to the pupils. Members of the school council interviewed Harold for the school Comic and are helping Sarda Wales by fundraising, i.e. wearing their PJ's to school, and collecting stamps. A cheque was presented to Harold & Sam for £236.35.
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SARDA Wales would like to thank the staff and pupils of
Fielding House at Prior Park College, Bath, and Alison Chapman for their
kind donation of over £2400 in memory of Clive Chapman who died of
altitude sickness whilst on his way Everest Base Camp, in Feb 2006.
Chairman Kevin Taylor was invited to give a talk and display to the pupils to show them what SARDA Wales is all about . the students decided they would like the money raised to go to a Charity that has something to do with mountains as Clive was a mountaineer.
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Phil and Flash have a find (29th April) Phil and Flash were called to search for a missing elderly man in the Wrexham area, finding him at 06:00 in the morning safe and well. More details to follow ! |
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Jim runs the London Marathon in 4hrs, 49mins and 24 seconds! Jim McGregor, SARDA Isle of Man, undertook to raise funds for SARDA Wales and SARDA IoM at the London Marathon - in a dog consume !! Jim completed the course and managed to jog the whole way round without stopping and had fantastic support on the course with " who let the dogs out" sung to all round the east end. Jim Raised £250 for Sarda Wales - thanks Jim! |
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| Cadi's first boat trip ! As a trainee water search dog, it's important to be used to boats and so Sian and Cadi made their first boat trip ! Cadi's owner, Sian said "She was great - loved it, very confident, jumped out and came back in with no problems. She also wore a dog lifejacket for the first time, and was quite comfy in that. The water was very cold, so we didn't stay out long, but she wasn't seasick, and really seemed to be enjoying the experience! More interestingly, she was certainly interested in smells on the water, and was moving confidently around the boat, apparently following the smells - all good stuff!" Thanks to Surf-Lines, Llanberis for the loan of the canoe and safety equipment. |
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Double Dog Find on one day.. Friday the 11th brought the news that two of SARDA Wales dogs had made a "find" whilst on searches in England and Wales Richard and Celyn were called to search for a missing person who had become separated from their walking party on Y-Garn in Snowdonia. Shortly after being deployed by helicopter, Celyn indicated to Richard and located the person who was suffering from mild hypothermia. The casualty was air lifted to hospital by RAF helicopter. Click HERE to see the BBC news article Iain and Mij were called to search for a missing 66 year old in Garstang, Lancashire. Mij located the persons trail near to their house where they had been seen last, and followed it to the edge of a nearby canal where Mij showed more interest in the water. Iain and Mij then checked for any other trails leading away from the house and nothing was found, so the search was centred on the nearby area and canal. Andy Colau and Taz (SARDA England) had an indication further down stream in the canal later that morning. The missing person was found in the canal the next day by police underwater search unit. |
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| Fly goes on holiday ! So what does your dog think when you're off on holiday ? Going back ages now I had heard rumblings from Geraint, mumbling to himself something about ‘I don’t want to go to America blah, blah, blah’. At that time I didn’t understand why he was going on so much, but suddenly there was hustle and bustle, Olwen was ironing, suitcases were out, the boys were getting excited, Geraint was off for lots of walks with me then one day I heard Geraint say ‘what shall we do with Fly?’ read Fly's full story by clicking on her picture >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> |
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Dinners for SARDA Wales dogs... November has brought an early Christmas present for SARDA Wales with Oscar Pet Foods sponsoring SARDA Wales Search Dogs. After discussions with Richard Dancy, Sales Director and Alan Rees, North Wales Franchisee, SARDA Wales' graded dogs will benefit from being fed with Oscars dog food, and also access to the specialist nutrition, behaviour and other advisors at Oscars. (Click on the logo opposite to go to Oscars web site) |
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Congratulations to Jim MacGregor, SARDA Isle of Man, who is a regular visitor to SARDA Wales training weekends. After much hard work ( and quite a few ferry crossings !) Jim and Star achieved Novice Lowland Search Dog Grade at the assessment in November. Pictured L-R : Richard Beech (SARDA Wales Training Officer), Jim, Kev Taylor (SARDA Wales Chairman) |
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Successes were also made by Roly and Nellie (left), along with Mick and Corie (far left) who passed their obedience and stock tests as part of the registration, the first step to training a search dog. SARDA Wales dogs work amongst sheep whilst operational and during training, and all are tested to ensure that they do not chase sheep before commencing formal training |
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Once again, a big thank you goes to Charlie (pictured left) for
organising the accommodation and food over the three days of the course,
and also managing to fit in some bodying is his spare time ! Also, a group of people deserve a mention - the bodies ! These are the people who hide on the hills in all sorts of weather and allow the search dogs to train. Without them, there would be no one to find in training
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| Some of the bodies make an art from hiding in the surrounding
terrain making a challenge for dogs and handlers to find them - most
notable Mike Randall in SARDA Wales. Mike's actually the left hand rock in
the picture below, taken on the November assessment
weekend. From Mike's e-mail containing the photo...... "Attached photo of my "Body Position" - Fri 9th Nov, Nant Ffrancon - Opposite Life Foundation / Motel / Snowdon Lodge. While "bodying" on SARDA Wales Assessment's, testing both Dog and Handler, it is necessary to conceal your position, here, I'm disguised as a "Rock" amongst the bracken! MikeR (Dogsbody)"
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SARDA Wales T Shirts and sweat shirts are now available online - click any picture to go to our e-bay sales |
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Phil and Flash have their first find !
| Phil and Flash had their first find today (October 25th) on a search
for a missing vulnerable male in the Ysbyty Gwynedd area. Flash
located the missing 86 year old in a hedge, suffering from being in the
cold for a while. Click here to visit Flash's "dogblog" to see his account of the search ! |
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Success at the SARDA Wales March Assessment !
| The 23rd to 25th March was the weekend for the Spring Assessment in
SARDA Wales, and was another great success with new dogs on the callout
list and one dog moving to Novice Mountain. The weather was
excellent for the weekend, and the hard work that the handlers have put
in over their training paid dividends ! Left to Right - Rob Booth and Teal graded to Novice Lowland Search Dog Antony Griffiths and Moss upgraded to Novice Mountain Search Dog Phil Benbow and Flash graded to Novice Lowland Search Dog Congratulations must also go to Matt Creer from SARDA IOM who upgraded to Full Lowland Search dog during the assessment weekend, and to Simon Worth, who passed his stock test.
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Winter Training Week in the Cairgorms
| The end of February was the week where SARDA Wales "moved north" and
spent another enjoyable week in the Caringorms . The annual Winter
Training week at Loch
Insh was a great success, with all of the dogs involved having a
good weeks training in the snow (when it was there !). A great deal of fun was had by all involved in the week, with the dogs and handlers working across the various land available from the forest areas to high mountain areas. Many thanks must go to all who helped organise the event this year |
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Success at the SARDA Wales December Assessment !
Decembers' training course is dedicated to the assessment of Search Dogs to assess their performance against the standard to be on the callout list as operational search dogs. Despite mixed weather, the assessment was a great success with the successful dog teams as below:
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| Anthony Griffiths and Moss Novice Lowland Search Dog |
Gaynor Lewis and Pero Full Mountain Search Dog |
Gwen Patmore and Rolf Advanced Trailing Dog |
 Awaiting Picture |
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| Kev Taylor and Roly Full Mountain Search Dog |
Iain Nicholson and Mij |
Roland Layland and Willow Full Search Dog |
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Congratulations also to Sally Armond and Spin, who successfully passed their stock test and obedience test, both a pre requisite prior to starting to train as a search dog. Both tests are important as it's essential to have control of a working search dog, and also know that the dog can work safely in the presence of sheep and other farm stock.
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Ceri's Sponsored Wheelchair Trip
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Ceri Elizabeth Jones is a 13 year old young lady who is wheelchair bound. She is a great supporter of SARDA Wales, and helped out at the Snowdon collection this year. On Saturday 14 October 2006 she undertook a sponsored wheelchair trip around Llyn Brenig, which is 10 miles, and raised a total of £340 for SARDA Wales. Those who walked were Judy Stapleton, who's Ceri's carer, Bob, Maria who’s a Sarda body and Sian our Secretary. They were supported by Ceri's mum, Ceri's auntie and her two cousins. They met them half way with cups of tea! Dogs on the walk were Flash (trainee & blogger); Ellie (Sian’s spaniel) Judy's dogs Beth, Pero and Tod. They had a fantastic sunny day for the whole thing, and certainly knew they’d done a walk! |
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| Emma Thomas a Potential Dog Handler is going to be handcuffed for 24 hrs in order to raise money for SARDA Wales. She will even be sleeping in them, but will be allowed a 10 minute comfort break every few hours! This will take place on the 21st of July. Don't worry Emma is qualified to do this a she is a Special Constable, but I'm sure she's more used to putting handcuffs on other people rather than wearing them herself! If you would like to sponsor Emma contact Fundraising@sardwales.org.uk |
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Visit Flash's "Dog Blog"
| Flash, being an internet aware dog, now has his own "dog blogg" with owner Phil. Click Flash's picture to visit his "dog blogg" web page |
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December 31st 2004 SARDA Wales were Called Out to Killarney, Co Kerry, Southern Ireland.
Six SARDA Wales dogs and their Handlers travelled to Southern Ireland on New Year's Eve, to help out the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team search for a young man who had not returned from a two day walk and overnight camp, (there is currently a shortage of Search Dogs in Ireland).
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handlers were kindly flown by 22 squadron at RAF Valley to Dublin where
they were then flown by aircraft to Cork, got a few hours sleep and
started searching at 8am. The other two dogs and handlers caught the
Ferry from Holyhead and drove to Killarney starting their searches early
afternoon. The dogs all searched the following day too, but had to leave mid afternoon in order to catch the ferry back home. Sadly the missing man has still not been found despite over 200 searchers being out looking on any one day. All of the Irish Teams were represented, and worked very well together. The search lasted for four days and will continue on training days and some weekends until new information comes to light. Richard Beech & Celyn, Gaynor Lewis & Pero (on their 1st Call Out), and Gwen Patmore & Rolf (on their 2nd Call Out), Steve Howe & Tilly, Roland Layland & Willow, Geraint Strello & Fly, Roly's wife Sue also came along to look after us all, and a fine job she did too, even though she didn't get any Euros.
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