Jack the Collie-Cross rescue dog
Jack the Collie-Cross rescue dog
A rescued collie cross has become the latest recruit to a Dartmoor rescue group - having been rescued himself by the North Devon Animal Ambulance Charity.
Catherine Goo, a team member with Okehampton-based North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team ((NDSART), came across Jack as an eight-month year old puppy.
Catherine said: ‘I had always thought there is something very lovely about a dog who has been rescued going on to be a rescuer.’
Jack is what Catherine calls a ‘Pollie’, a Pointer crossed with a Collie, a great mix for a search dog combining boundless energy and play with a strong nose.
Finding the right dog is just the start, qualifying a search dog takes many years and a lot of sacrifice from a handler and supporters.
Jack began his training in 2018, passing registration and stock training in 2019, indication and a stage two test in 2020 and finally passed his final grading on April 25th, 2021. The training and exams are run by the Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England (MRSDE), a registered charity.
Jack is an ‘Non discriminatory air scenting’ dog and has been trained to find a human scent and locate onto the smell. When Jack locates a scent he gives a bark indication that draws the handler and search team onto the person. So long as Jack is downwind of a casualty he should be able to locate them and because he can cover a large area of ground, this massively speeds up the rescue for a team. Jack can also work in bad weather when police helicopters can’t operate, which of course which tends to be the weather that sees the team most frequently called out in.
While most search dogs will perfect their bark when a casualty has been located, it doesn’t always happen like this: ‘One time Jack came back to me to indicate - and opened his mouth and burped at me instead!’ said Catherine. So, while he may be out saving lives, he is a still a little way off being invited around for dinner!
By the North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team