Even though the website has been quiet over the past few months this does not reflect the huge amount of work that has been carried out by the team at UK-K9.
Ireland
We hare very pleased to announced that the Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team and K9 Search & Rescue Northern Ireland have registered with us to work towards NASDU qualifications. At the time of writing we have 3 handlers working towards the Level 3 qualification in Live Person (tracking/Trailing), 7 handlers following the Level 3 Live Person (air scent) and 1 handler following the Level 3 Cadaver Detection (Land) qualification.
Training has mostly taken place in Ireland on a monthly basis but the group are due to visit North Wales in December for a training weekend in Penmaenmawr.
Congratulations to Sheelagh O'Malley from Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team who very recently successfully completed her Level 3 Live Person (Air Scenting) assessment.
Poland
David Jones went back to Poland in September where he conducted training with Polish Mountain Rescue Teams in the Tatra Mountains. David is due to return to Poland early in 2020 where he will continue to train 8 handlers and their dogs who are working towards a NASDU Accredited Overseas course in both Cadaver (Land) and Cadaver (Water).
Spain
David also went back to Spain in October for a week-long course (Cadaver Land and Water).This is continuation training from previous visits.
This time David was accompanied by Ian Plater, who has recently joined the team as an instructor delivering the Missing Persons search work and our NASDU accredited K9 Support Operations qualification. Ian delivered both courses in Spain and will return with David later in the year to continue this with the Spanish group.
This time David was accompanied by Ian Plater, who has recently joined the team as an instructor delivering the Missing Persons search work and our NASDU accredited K9 Support Operations qualification. Ian delivered both courses in Spain and will return with David later in the year to continue this with the Spanish group.
Whilst in Spain an operational search was called for a missing elderly lady. The teams accompanied by David and Ian took part in the search over a few days. At the time of writing the lady is still unaccounted for.
Finally we are very proud to announce that David Jones, our Lead Instructor/Assessor was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Glyndwr University for his services to Search & Rescue over many years.
Please see below a selection of photos highlighting all our work over the past few months.
At the end of July we signed up 10 new dog handlers from around Ireland. These handlers and dogs will be working towards the Level 3 pathways in Cadaver (Land), Live Person (air scenting) and Live Person (Trailing/Tracking).
At the time of writing this update we have already held two training weekends, 1 in Ireland at the end of July and 1 in North Wales at the beginning of August. We have another training weekend at the end of August in Ireland followed by monthly sessions taking place in Ireland.
See photos below for examples of the work which has taken place so far and keep checking our News page for updates.
David Jones and Rick Ward from UK-K9 Training for Excellence have recently returned from Belfast, Northern Ireland where they conducted a weekend training programme. We we’re privileged to meet up and work with existing students as well as signing up a new cohort who will be starting in their NASDU accredited training very soon. The group also started on their NASDU approved Operational Support programme and did their Lost & Missing Persons certificate delivered by Ian Plater who has recently joined UK-K9 as an instructor following his retirement from UK Coastguard.
All in all an excellent weekend was had with an enthusiastic group of handlers and dogs and we look forward to future training sessions with the group in August both in North Wales as back in Northern Ireland.
We spend last weekend on Anglesey concentrating on Cadaver Land, Live Person Air Scenting and Cadaver Water. Dog Handler Ali with Shaska passed their annual assessment for Cadaver Land and Bryan & Fern, Graham & Maximus and Ali & Ollie passed their annual water search assessment.
Handlers were also presented with certificates for attending a Lost & Missing Person Search Technician course which they completed in May
David Jones has recently returned from a second visit to Spain to deliver courses for members of the Spanish Fire Service, Army, Police and Mountain Rescue. David split his time between 2 locations (Valencia and Jaen) over a period of 2 weeks. The training continued to focus on Cadaver Land & Water search as well as Live Person Air Scenting and students built up their already acquired skills from the last training held earlier in the year. David was also joined this time by Jonathon Brookes of Forensics Connects who delivered sessions on decomposition both on land and in water as well as providing a fascinating insight into the world of forensic investigation.
To date we have over 50 students signed up for the training with a lot more interest coming from other parts of Spain. See photos below for a flavour of the work carried out.
Between the 8th and 15th April UK-K9 trainer David Jones delivered an introductory course covering 2 of the qualifications we currently offer (Cadaver Land and Cadaver Water Search) to members of the Polish Mountain Rescue organisation.
Due to the success of the training David has been booked to return in September and October to deliver further training.
See below for a selection of photos from the week.
Our training weekend at the end of March was a particularly significant one as Tony Warren and his search dog Jessie successfully completed their assessment for the Level 3 Cadaver ( Submerged Victim) Detection qualification. We at UK-K9 want to offer our congratulations to the both of them and wish them all the best in potential future operational searches.
We were also privileged to welcome two experts onto our March training session. Kate Barnes is a Senior Lecturer and Sanita Nezirovic is Lecturer and Foundation Lead for Biomedical Health and Forensic Science at The University of Derby.
During the weekend they were able to see our trainees being put through their paces along with discussions with UK-K9 about future partnership working. Watch this space for further details.
David Jones also visited Iain Marshall and Barra in Scotland for their annual assessment and we are pleased to announce that they were successful in their re-assessment with some excellent work being demonstrated.
There will be no training in April as David is out in Poland and Spain running bespoke courses. We will update you on these sessions next month.
Our head trainer David Jones along with dog handlers who have qualified through or training programmes were recently deployed to assist in searching for a missing person in the Newtown area in Mid Wales. Below are a few photos from the search of the local river. Our thoughts are with the individual‘s family at this difficult time.
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