9:26am Friday 2nd January 2009
By Paula Roberts
TO Charlie it is a fun game of hide and seek but in reality it is a matter of life or death.
The four-and-a-half-year-old border collie is a trained search dog with Dorset Search and Rescue and has been instrumental in helping find vulnerable missing people across the south.
His significant finds include saving a 77-year-old injured pensioner who had spent more than 10 hours in freezing conditions suffering from hypothermia and helping the police find a body buried in a suitcase.
Charlie is one of a family of six dogs that make up Dorset Search Dogs – a non-profit voluntary organisation helping the police, Coastguard, Dorset Search and Rescue and other rescue teams to look for missing people every day of the year.
His friends are Charlie 2, Jenny, Molly, Rodney and the latest recruit, 14-week-old English springer spaniel Bailey.
This year they have assisted in more than 50 searches across the South Coast, including helping Dorset Police find a man at Hengistbury Head and search for two hours alongside a river for a missing woman.
The Daily Echo accompanied the team on a training session at Delph Woods near Merley to see Charlie and his friends in action.
Matt Cooke, chairman of Dorset Search Dogs, said Charlie is the only fully trained dog in the organisation but Charlie 2 is just a few months away from becoming the second.
Unlike police dogs, Dorset Search Dogs use air scent only to find a missing person.
“It is like a game of hide and seek. Charlie will run away and sniff the area picking up on human scent. Charlie can detect human scent up to 500 to 800 metres away depending on the conditions,” he said. “When he picks up on that smell he will run towards the body, alert me to the fact he has found something and will run back so I can follow.” him.”
Matt explained that once the harness is put over the dogs, they know they are in work mode. It comes with a bell and lights so the handler can see and hear it in the dark.
Matt said an important part of the training is teaching the handler to understand the dog and their subtle signs. “When Charlie finds someone he shakes to let me know. He will then bark and lead me to the body.”
Puppy Bailey is in the first stage of training, which involves finding someone with his ball.
It will take between 12 and 18 months before he is a fully qualified search dog and can search a 2km track, pick out his own routes through various vegetation and then indicate to this handler when he has found someone.
Matt said: “He’s got the right temperament to be a search dog and he has confidence to run |ahead.”
The running of Dorset Search Dogs has to be heavily subsidised by the handlers and the organisation is always looking for donations.
These can be made via the website dorsetsearch dogs.org.uk or by emailing info@dorsetsearch dogs.org.uk.
They have received a generous donation from Proctor and Gamble, which has provided a huge supply of dog food.
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