Search and rescue team get a cute new recruit

Eleven week old Springer Spaniel Orion has dived straight into training with with his owner and handler CVSRT Gary Smith from Todmorden, which is expected to take two years to achieve the standard set by the Search and Rescue Dog Association.

The pup got his name from the zf’#three distinct markings on his back that look similar to the stars in the constellation of ‘Orion’s Belt’.

Gary joined CVSRT in 2015 and has been very actively involved with the development of our current search dogs by regularly volunteering as a ‘dogsbody’ for training, and also assisting as a navigator for our search dog handlers when they are deployed on callouts.

‘Dogsbodies’ are highly valued people in the development of a search dog. These volunteers go out on the hill in all weather conditions to hide for the dogs to find on training exercises and assessments courses.

The dogs are trained to ‘Air Scent’ so, as a general rule, they do not track the missing person, but react to wind borne human scent.

A search dog can cover large areas of ground, including difficult terrain and woodland in the search and is very sensitive to any human scent it finds.

It will immediately follow a scent to its source. It will then ‘indicate’ to its handler, usually by barking, to let them know it’s made a ‘find’.

To volunteer as a dogsbody please email [email protected]

To find out more about CVSRT Search Dogs please visit www.cvsrt.org.uk