A Lake District mountain rescue charity has joined forces with a Cumbrian company to support its life-saving work.
Pet specialist WCF Pet & Equestrian has announced a five-year partnership with the Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs Association, which operates specialist dog teams across the region to search for people missing on the fells.
The company, which has five stores in Cumbria, will provide free food to the search dogs from its Lakes Collection range, and offer a 20% discount in-store for operational members.
It has also pledged to support the charity’s fundraising activities and will be hosting and attending events to raise awareness of its work.
The association is made up of eight teams of graded search dogs and their handlers, with four more dog teams currently in training.
All handlers are members of Cumbrian mountain rescue teams and are deployed with their dogs when their specialist search skills are required.
The association is made up entirely of volunteers and costs around £60,000 a year to run.
Based in Keswick, it has around 80 members including the dog teams, training assessors, and dogsbodies, who play a vital role in training exercises by lying out on the fells waiting to be discovered by the dogs.
Rob Grange, association chair, said: “The work we do is crucial in situations where someone is lost on the fells and needs to be found quickly. A search dog can cover the same area that it would take around 40 people to cover.
“The costs associated with training and deploying search dogs can be significant and, as a charity which relies entirely on donations, securing the partnership with WCF Pet & Equestrian is a huge boost for us in terms of their support and in raising the awareness of what we do.
“Working with a local company which shares our love of dogs and the Lake District is the perfect combination for us.”
Jade Earley, general manager of WCF Pet & Equestrian, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside the association to support the essential life-saving work they do in the Lake District and beyond.
“As a Cumbrian-based company, it’s really important to us that we actively support causes which are important to our customers and our team, who are all passionate about animals.
“The Lakes Collection range is inspired by our roots in Cumbria and the Lake District, so linking up with the association is the perfect fit for us.
“The search dogs are true Cumbrian heroes and we hope through our partnership we can give something back in recognition of the brilliant work they do.”
WCF Pet & Equestrian has stores in Cockermouth, Penrith, Ulverston, Wigton and Carlisle. The company is part of the Brampton-based WCF family of businesses which was established in West Cumbria more than 100 years ago.
WCF Pet & Equestrian also has stores at Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway; Skipton in North Yorkshire; and Claughton in Lancashire.
