Cornwall now has its own ‘mountain rescue’ search dog after a rigorous assessment involving snow, rain and hail saw the end of three years of training for sprockerdor Merryn.
Merryn and her handler Matt can now officially operate as part of the West Cornwall Search and Rescue team to help find missing or injured people.
On their assessment weekend, Matt and Merryn – who is half working Labrador, quarter springer and quarter cocker spaniel – searched five large and technical areas on mountains around Keswick in the Lake District.
Working in snow, rain, hail, wind and occasionally a little sunshine, the pair found all of the 'bodies' hiding out, using Merryn's air-scenting skills, and received high praise from the experienced assessors.
Merryn has already been practising her skills throughout her training over the last three years.
It will be the first time the search and rescue team has had a qualified dog to call upon, since it began in 2019.
To reach this point, Matt and Merryn have travelled the five-hour round trip to Dartmoor every Sunday for regional training and have also attended a national course around the UK once a month.
Training stages have included an in-depth obedience test, a stock test to prove they can work safely around livestock, an indication test to demonstrate Merryn communicating to Matt with a bark that she has located someone, and more than a year of training in search techniques.
Matt said: “Thank you to all of the Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England graded dog handlers, West Cornwall Search and Rescue Team members and hardy 'dogsbodies' for helping Merryn and me to reach operational status. And of course my family for allowing me to leave Cornwall so often for training. We may even spend our first Sunday together in almost three years!”
He also thanked Burns Pet Nutrition for sponsoring Merryn’s food throughout her training and going forward into operational duties.
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Merryn is now one of 14 graded handlers and dogs that can be found from West Cornwall to Bristol.
They are all part of affiliated Mountain Rescue England & Wales teams, and volunteer their time to train their dogs alongside other team duties.
Matt alone spent more than 600 hours last year voluntary training.
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