The following is a short report made by our newly operationally qualified and graded DVSD Dog Handler Dave Marsh ;

“So, after a training period of two years, it was left to Dave and Sasha to travel back across to Northern Ireland once again to complete their assessments.

Readers may well remember that their last assessments were cut short due to very bad weather.

Last weekend saw the lonesome pair back in the company of Neil Powell [Training Officer for NSARDA Ireland North and the only person within Mountain Rescue, who is able to train and assess for this type of search dog].

After completing a search of Castlewellan Lake, which is 2 kms long and 1/2 km wide, Dave and Sasha narrowed down the search area to within 3 metres.

That was considered by Neil to be an excellent pass. So the Team now has the first DVS dog available to Mountain Rescue teams in England and Wales and is also available to other statutory services throughout the UK.”

Please also see website ‘News’ report dated Friday 3rd October 2014.