If you’ve ever wanted to meet a Mountain Rescue search dog, you’re in for a treat.
The Lake District Mountain Rescue search dog handlers are hosting their first open day post-COVID at Kirkstone Pass this weekend, and everyone is welcome.
People will have a chance to meet the search dogs and their handlers and learn more about how they work and train to find missing people in the fells through demonstrations and talks.
Patterdale Mountain Rescue team member Mike Evans, 52, said: “These dogs do a fabulous job on the hillside, for them its all about fun and being out with their handler out on the mountain. They respond to callouts throughout the year regardless of the day or type of weather, even when its deep with snow.
“They can cover a large area very very quickly, so an area that would normally take 10 people an hour to search they can do it faster and so much more accurately, they can get into some really inaccessible areas on the fellside, they miss very rarely and they can do it in poor conditions.
“The open day is all about education and it’s both for the mountain rescue teams and general public as they forget that we are there and such an integral part of the mountain rescue within the lake district. It is as much about raising awareness that we exist as it is about showing these dogs doing a fantastic job out on the fells.”
Mike added that as the mountain rescue was fully funded by the general public, hosting the open day was a good chance to show where 80 per cent of donations go.
Training the dogs takes up to three years and is an incredibly intensive process. Mike added: “Training is a massive requirement, all search dog handlers are members of the Mountain Rescue Team and they have to go through all that training with them and then the dog handler training on top of that.
“Its a massive step up and a huge undertaking and people don’t realise that, just how much it is. Its one weekend away in the Lakes with the dogs every month and then there’s two training sessions a week for the dogs alone and a full week away up in Scotland doing avalanche training where they learn to dig people out of snow.”
The team’s special volunteers – known as ‘dogs bodies’ – will also be there on the day to talk about how they go out and hide in all weathers and locations, including places like gullies, boulders, bushes and even up trees to help the dogs train to save lives.
Dogs bodies are members of the general public and those interested in becoming a volunteer are encouraged to get in touch.
This year’s open day will be held on Sunday August 21 between 11am and 3pm at the Kirkstone Pass top car park opposite the inn.
Mountain rescue relies solely on public donations and all support is welcome.
