Meet the dogs of SARDA Southern Scotland.
Our Active Dogs
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Evie
Grade: Advanced Mountain Grade
Handler: Ross MacIntyre
Evie is an 8 year old Labrador. Her parent Mountain Rescue team is Ochils Mountain Rescue.
Evie qualified at 2 years old and she has deployed to many searches with her own team, and across Scotland to assist other mountain rescue teams and Police Scotland.
Evie's reward for finding her missing person is a tennis ball and some hot dog sausages.
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Poppy
Grade: Advanced Mountain Grade
Handler: Iain Brydon
Bio: Coming soon.
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Alfie
Grade: Mountain Grade
Handler: Richard Eadington
Alfie was originally my daughters, however, he had lots of energy and needed a suitable outlet. So we thought we'd give it a try. The majority of Alfie's training was during lockdown, which allowed a lot of time for practice, and probably kept us all sane! Alfie qualified for the callout list October 2021 and he averages around 20 call outs per year.
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Tam
Grade:
Handler: Joanna Toohey
Tam is a Fox Red Labrador who is 7 years old.
Tam is a Water Search Dog – searching for people who have drowned or been submerged in water ways such as lochs, reservoirs & rivers. This can be achieved by searching from the bank/shore side or in a Rigid Inflatable Rib (RIB).
Tam stared training in 2017, and qualified for bankside and shore line (Stage 1) searching in 2019 and completed his training in December 2021 after undertaking further assessment in an ‘Initial Water Search Dog’ in the RIB in line with NSARDA standards.
Tam and his handler Joanna are members of Nith Inshore Rescue based in Glencaple and SARDA Southern Scotland and have been involved in call-outs where Tam has provided a positive indication of a person or persons in the water.
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Skirrid
Grade: Advanced Mountain Grade
Handler: Caroline James
Bio: Coming soon.
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Tymbl
Grade: Advanced Mountain Grade
Handler: Caroline James
Bio: Coming soon.
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Woody
Grade: Grade 3 / Active
Handler: Ross MacIntyre
Woody is a 2 year old Labrador. His parent MRT is Ochils Mountain Rescue.
Woody is following in the paw steps of his big sister Evie and recently graduated to become an active search dog on the call out list.
Woody loves searching for people and his reward is a tennis ball in an old sock, it's his favourite toy!
Our Trainee Dogs
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Caoimhe
Grade: Trainee
Handler: Susie Mowatt
Caoimhe is a four year old border collie, she has recently passed her Grade 2 assessment.
Caoimhe's reward toys are a yellow hoop and her giant green ball. She loves to play in the water and will leap from the bank into the river when ever she gets the chance.
During her spare time Caoimhe enjoys agility and lives for running up the hills with Susie.
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Ragnar
Grade: Trainee
Handler: John Romanes
Ragnar is now just over a year old and is 6 months into his training. He has passed his livestock test and grade 1 assessment.
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Jess
Grade: Trainee
Handler: Mark Hogarth
Jess is a white Springer with the odd liver patch. She is currently Grade 2. Her favourite toy is a ball which she plays with when she finds someone. She loves chewing the zip tassels of my jackets when they are drying but apart from that she is a treat to own.
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Cairn
Grade: Trainee
Handler: Rob Hume
Cairn is a 2 year old, tri colour Border Collie
His parent team is the Borders Search and Rescue unit based in Kelso, Scottish Borders.
He’s been a trainee for around 18 months now, his reward for finding a missing person is a game of tug with a rabbit tail toy and lots of play time.
He joins me quite often on local trail runs and hiking trips.
And is quite the snorer.
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Kai
Grade: Trainee
Handler: Craig Paterson
Kai is an exuberant young golden Labrador who started out with Guide Dogs Scotland, but soon found he was more suited to the outdoor lifestyle.
His home hills belong to Galloway MRT where he is training, and currently at stage 1.
Kai loves nothing better than searching for people or articles, with maybe a puddle or stream on route.
A lovable dog with a massive heart and appetite to match.
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Gigha
Grade: Trainee
Handler: Blair Wilkie
Bio: Coming soon.
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Rum
Grade: Trainee
Handler: Colin Ribbeck
Bio: Coming soon.
Our Retired Dogs
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Rauour
Grade: Retired
Handler: John Romanes
Rauour is now retired . He graded as a search dog in 2013 and has since been deployed 168 times, assisting parent Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team , and other MRT's throughout Scotland. Some deployments were solo searches for specific police incidents.
In 2015 he was awarded a PDSA commendation for a critical find of a missing person in winter conditions.
He retired last year, but still gets to put his search jacket on to find articles that I hide for him, as he doesn’t realise that he is retired.
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Caileag
Grade: Retired
Handler: Kirstie Smith
Bio: Coming soon.
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Tattie
The greatest dog, the best body and a very good boy.