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The mountain rescue dogs involved in some dramatic rescues

They are the invaluable extra eyes and ears of the heroes of the hills. 

It’s eight years since Ty, graded as a Search Dog and Search Dog Bob, along with his faithful handler Mick Nield, passed their up grade to qualify as a fully graded Dog Team for Oldham Mountain Rescue Team.  

An OMRT spokesperson said: “Since then both have attended many call outs with some successful results.

“Both dogs have had what we class as “life saving finds”, which makes all the hundreds of hours of hard work put in to the training by both handler and the Dogs Bodies worthwhile. 

“Without the assistance of our volunteer ‘Dogs Bodies’ training and assessment would not be possible.

“Both boys are over 12 years now - and we won’t comment on their handlers age - but still keep their hand in on training, keeping the younger ones in check and being involved in smaller search areas on incidents. 

“We are incredibly proud of both our Search Dogs and their Handlers. Today we want to say thank you to them." 


Search dog Ty

The dogs have been in some dramatic rescues over the years.

One night, the team called to locate a missing person after their vehicle had been located at Dovestones car park.

The dogs were tasked to search the memorial plantation and the crags known locally as Indians Head. Search Dog Bob and his handler Mick  searched Indians Head and Handler Steve with Search Dog Ty the plantation.

Bob's sensitive nose soon located the casualty who was out of sight amongst the crags.


Search dog Bob

“The ability to locate the casualty without the need for humans to enter the danger zone unnecessarily, especially at night is a wonderful asset to the Team.

“Bob saved his handler Mick, a tortuous task of searching the crags and the casualty was eventually taken off the hill to be assessed in hospital.”

In another incident, the Oldham dogs were called to assist a nearby Rescue Team with another missing person call out.

The terrain was very overgrown woodland and proving difficult for humans in the team to access. 

The dogs do not have to enter undergrowth as they are trained to detect human scent emitting from it. This saves time and manpower.

Search dog Ty and his Handler Steve were unable to access the undergrowth and Ty was instructed to circumnavigate the area.  

On the downwind side of the area, Ty barked to tell Steve he had located human scent and after thrashing their way in, the casualty was located in a severely hypothermic state after two days in the woods clad in only shorts and a tee shirt.

The casualty was carried to the helicopter by Rescue Team members and made a full recovery in hospital.

 

Main image:

(from left to right) Search Dog Bob, Mick Nield, Stephen Ward and Search Dog Ty. 

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