UK-K9 Receive Helly Hansen Sponsorship

UK-K9 Training for Excellence-Wales are proud to announce and would like to thank Helly Hansen for sponsorship of all their outdoor clothing which is being supplied to our instructors and handlers over the next 3 years. Diolch yn fawr Ian Keartland and all the Helly Hansen team.

Last weekend (25-27 November) was one of our busiest training weekends to date with over 30 mountain rescue and lowland rescue teams plus water rescue agencies attending for the NASDU pathways in Mantrailing, Live Victim (Air Scenting) Search Dogs and also running alongside was the K9 Support course and the Lost and Missing Persons search awareness course delivered by L&MPs International in partnership with UK- K9 Training for Excellence Wales.

We would like to offer our thanks to Maen Alaw and Penmaenmawr Phoenix Football Club for use of their facilities

UK-K9 delivered another very successful training weekend located in Biggar, Scotland last weekend. This is an absolutely stunning location which provides all we require to deliver all of our training pathways. A special thanks goes out to the estate owners and staff for allowing us to use the estate once again.

Another successful training weekend was held in Northern Ireland between the 7th and 10th October. The weekend consisted of Re-assessments, pre-assessments and new potential handlers being introduced to the pathways on offer. Well done to all members of Northern Ireland search and rescue team and for putting your trust in UK-K9 Training for Excellence for the ongoing training programs and NASDU qualifications.

In the 21st September UK-K9 Training for Excellence were tasked by Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team to assist with a large area search in the Wicklow mountains for a missing person (14 days). 4 members were deployed from the cadaver search dog section, unfortunately the missing person was found by one of the dog team, search dog Shadow and his handler Adrian Rogulski with handler Colin monk and Lisa Knowles and  lead instructor David Jones as support, our condolences are with the deceased family and friends. We would like to also thank Dublin Wicklow MRT, Garda ,and Irish Ferries for their assistance.

On Friday the 16th September, 5 of our qualified handlers underwent their annual re-assessment process for the Level 3 Victim (Cadaver) Detection Dog pathway.

The assessments took place in the uplands above Penmaenmawr. All 5 handlers were briefed on the assessment requirements and scenarios which consisted of a search of a possible grave site within a given area followed by a large area for an open search to locate specific "targets".

After a full day of searching all 5 handlers successfully completed their assessments resulting in them all being re-certified for another 12 months.

Congratulations to the following teams:

• Adrian Rogulski and search dog Shadow
• Amanda Drummond and search dog Sturgeon
• Lizzie Watt and search dog Bailey
• Vinny Williams and search dog Scout
• Tina Walker and search dog Vendetta

The remainder of the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) consisted of ongoing training for trainee handlers in the pathways of liver person (air scenting), live person (tracking) and victim (cadaver). Below are a selection of photos from the weekend.

3 day training course completed in snaith Yorkshire,weather not to kind but some excellent training completed covering cadaver land and water and mantrailing under the nasdu courses. 15 dogs and handlers attending from around the UK. Next training in UK  is to be held in rowen North Wales on the 18th March after our 2 week stint in spain

This Training weekend , was a great success introducing new students and their dogs to the various aspects of the training and introduction to scent.  We were also treated to a lecture by David Jones about a number of cold cases he has worked on.