History

History of the Search & Rescue Dog

When thinking of the stereo typical image of a Search & Rescue dog, this undoubtedly conjure up images of the famous St Bernard trudging through the snow carrying a small keg of brandy to a lost walker.  This is in part true; at the St Bernard Hospice in St Gothard it was well documented from 1800 onwards that the guard dogs were being used for Search & Rescue work to great effect.  Incidentally, the breed of dog was named after the monastery they inhabited, but sadly, they never assisted lost or weary travellers with a barrel of Brandy.

As time passed and the use of dogs within Search & Rescue became more apparent across the world, many individuals began to refine training techniques and make those training jobs more specific.  In the early 1960’s two early pioneers were Bill and Jean Syrotuck who later formed the German Shepherd Search & Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) in the USA. This couple were fascinated about dogs in Search & Rescue work having heard a story about a dog which led a family to their child who had become lost in woods.  Following this they began to train dogs to search for missing persons in a variety of environments and set the standard from which many modern canine Search & Rescue agencies now operate.

Since then Search & Rescue dogs have gone from strength to strength, whether searching for missing persons in woods, fields, collapsed buildings or victims of natural disasters they have found their way into almost all areas of search and rescue work and have proven invaluable in them all.
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History of Lowland Search Dogs

Lowland Search Dogs was formed in November 2002 as an organisation to set the standards, and give a unified approach, for search dog teams based away from mountainous areas.  This enabled a training standard to be agreed and set amongst the member teams, and afforded national representation and recognition among the SAR community.  The setting up  of LS Dog was initiated by the Association of Lowland Search & Rescue (ALSAR)
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History of Berkshire Search & Rescue Dogs

Berkshire SAR Dogs was initially formed in 2002, in the wake of the creation of LS Dogs.  Initially with very few members and dogs and known as “Lowland Search Dogs – Thames Valley” due to the necessity for clarity, the team was re-named Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs in 2004.  The main aim of the team still remains the same today; to assist the police to locate lost or missing vulnerable people, in essence:

“…to search, locate and reunite”