We’d like to introduce the newest member of the team. Trigg is a golden retriever who has just begun his training with the Search And Rescue Dog Association, SARDA Scotland.

He attended his first official session at Poolewe over the weekend where he passed his basic obedience test and started his search training. Owner and experience handler Alasdair Earnshaw said it was a great start to his career.

Trigg is the fifth dog Alasdair has trained (and his third for the Kintail team) – and we think you’ll agree he’s pretty adorable. But he has a job to do, and his discipline and skills must be developed from an early age.

He joined team training earlier in the month because, as Alasdair explained, it’s important for the dogs to be around the team and team training, so they get used to chilling and not getting under the feet after a casualty has been located.

Below, Alasdair explains how the relationship between the Kintail team and SARDA Scotland works.

“SARDA Scotland’s purpose is to enable mountain rescue personnel to train air scenting search dogs for use in locating missing people in mountain rescue callouts.

To be accepted to train a search dog, handlers generally must have been a full team member for two years and be recommended by their team leader for the task.

SARDA dog teams operate within their own teams, but can also be called Scotland-wide, by other mountain rescue teams or directly to assist the police. SARDA training is in addition to team training and takes place one weekend in every month.

Training of a search dog, to ‘Novice Dog’ grade, takes between one and two years. The upgrade to ‘Full Dog’ normally requires a further year. Following Full Dog grading, recertification is required every three years.

The training of new dog teams is undertaken by established dog handlers who are elected to the core training team.”

Alasdair’s previous rescue dog, Cridhe, is currently operational, but owing to health problems (namely arthritis of the elbows), is limited to light duties.

Trigg has now commenced formal training, having been accompanying Alasdair on training weekends where Alasdair has been undertaking an instructor role as part of the training team. Trigg spent the time getting used to mountain environments while being careful to avoid over stressing his young joints.

The Kintail team has a good history of working search dogs. Willie Fraser and Neil Ross are both former search dog handlers, as is Paul Meikle. While with Kintail, Alasdair has graded Torin and Cridhe, and is now starting the process again with Trigg.

Keep an eye on our social media pages where we’ll be sharing more on Trigg’s progress.