September Update

September proved to be a very busy time as we conducted 3 training courses within the space of 2 weeks.

Between the 1st and 4th of September we were involved in training 10 dogs and handlers from K9 Search & Rescue Northern Ireland. All pathways were covered over the three days including our bespoke Collapsed Buildings search work which is a ‘bolt-on’ programme to the live person (air scenting) pathway.

Our instructors then headed south and spent 3 days (7th - 10th September) with members of the Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team where they concentrated on the Live Victim (Air Scenting) and Mantrailing pathways. During this session 3 handlers (2 Mantrailing and 1 Air Scenting) and their dogs were reassessed and were successful in continuing to work operationally for another 12 months. 

After arriving back in Holyhead in the early hours of Monday the 11th September there was just enough time to catch a few hours sleep before we forged ahead with our first weekday training session between Monday 11th and Wednesday 13th September.

The course was split into two groups with the Water group spending 2 days at a lake in the Conwy Valley and the Land group heading to the uplands of Penmaenmawr. 

The water session took place in the Conwy Valley where 3 handlers were involved in assessments. Congratulations to Ursula Furter and her search dog Mojo for passing her Water Search assessment and to Colin Monk with Zeuss and Tony Warren with Jessie for successfully completing their annual re-assessments.

The land session consisted of instruction within the cadaver detection and live person (air scenting) pathways. A great session was held with the cadaver detection group with their training culminating in a full day scenario based exercise which saw the trainees field crafting, conducting open area and grid searches to gather evidence and ending with a successful find of the ‘grave site’.

Also, many congratulations to Alun Newsome for successfully completing his Live Person (Air Scenting) assessment with his search dog Blue.

Here is a selection of photos from all activities over the past 2 weeks.

On Thursday the 27th July 2023 we had the privilege to co-host a Search & Rescue Conference at the Emergency Services Training Centre (ESTC) in Birkenhead.

The day was jointly organised between UK-K9 Training for Excellence and ESTC which took the form of an open day at the ESTC facilities.

We welcomed over 30 delegates on the day representing a wide range of search & rescue organisations across the UK and beyond.

Delegates were initially taken on a tour of the ESTC facility where they were given a history of the centre along with future plans.

The tour was followed by demonstrations from both UK-K9 Training for Excellence and ESTC including dog and handlers demonstrations, medical rescue  and fire fighting demonstrations.  

The delegates had a very informative and interesting day and this open day is just the start of future collaborative work and training between UK-K9 and ESTC. 

Here are a selection of photos from the open day.

UK-K9 would like to give our thanks Dave Alcock (CEO of ESTC) and his team for making this a very successful day

Last weekend we welcomed our trainees to Penmaenmawr for a full weekend of training and skills development.

We were joined by trainee handlers from K9 Search & Rescue Northern Ireland as well as individual handlers from all across the UK. 

As usual, On Friday, the trainees were split into their pathway groups with the Water Search group spending the day down on the beach at Penmaenmawr where the river Gyrach meets the sea.

Our Live Person (air scenting) and Cadaver (land) groups concentrated on open search work in Graiglwyd.

Saturday was dedicated to a number of scenario based exercises on the uplands above Penmaenmawr which everyone enjoyed despite the challenging terrain and weather.

Sunday was spent back at Graiglwyd where further skills development took place.

We now move on to Anglesey for our next training weekend in August.

Here are a small selection of photos from our weekend's activities.

We headed over to Anglesey for our training weekend last week (23rd-25th June).

We welcomed trainees from all over the country who continued with their training  in their chosen pathways (Cadaver-Land, Cadaver-Water, Live Person-Air Scenting and Live Person-Tracking).

On Friday we had some unseasonal weather including wind and rain but all dogs and their handlers performed well under the circumstances. The weather improved markedly on Saturday and Sunday with handlers and their dogs taking advantage of the good weather to progress well with their skills development.

We now move on to Penmaenmawr in July for another weekend of training on the 21st - 23rd July. Please refer to our Training Calendar page for further details.

As always, here is a selection of photos from the weekend's training.

We have just completed another successful training weekend in and around the Penmaenmawr area. The weekend concentrated on Cadaver (land) , Cadaver (water), Live Person (air scenting) and Live Person (man trailing).

20 handlers were in attendance during the weekend a number of them travelling from as far as Cornwall, Kent and Scotland.

Congratulations to Vinny Williams who passed his practical assessment for becoming an instructor with UK-K9.

Both Jayne NIcholson and Jane De Boise successfully completed their Level 3 Cadaver (water) pathway, Congratulations to you both.

We also welcomed a few new trainees who have registered to follow the Level 3 Cadaver (land) pathway.

Below you will see a selection of photos from the weekend.

On Monday the 27th March we delivered our first 3 day "Introduction to Search Dog Handling" course of the year at Glyndwr University's Northop Campus. The students were introduced to the work carried out within the Cadaver (Land), Cadaver (Water), Collapsed Buildings, Live Person (Tracking) and Explosives disciplines.

All of the students attending successfully completed the course and are now considering their next steps which could include following a pathway course leading to a Level 3 NASDU qualification.

More introductory courses and follow up courses are planned for the year so please keep checking our website for details and future dates.

2 members of our team were recently invited to Spain to oversee a Multi Agency exercise dealing with multiple casualties, missing persons and involved representatives from the Police, Civil Defence, Red Cross and Mountain Rescue Teams from various areas across Spain. 

UK-K9 Training for Excellence and Glyndwr University held a 3 day conference between the 3rd - 5th February at Glyndwr University in Wrexham. The conference concentrated on the various work, research and learning within the field of Forensic Science. Lectures covered topics such as Forensic Ecology - How nature can solve violent crime; Outdoor Decomposition in Nigeria, Identifying Bone as well as a presentation by our Team Leader, David Jones on the work of Cadaver Detection dogs.

We were also very privileged to welcome Professor Ben Alexander from Texas State University who, on Friday the 3rd February, led a masterclass into the research and work carried out at the Texas body farms.

Other speakers who we would like to thank for sharing their insights, expertise and knowledge came from other seats of learning such as Glyndwr University, University of Wolverhampton, Keele University, Liverpool John Moores University, Staffordshire University, University of Cross River State, University of Sheffield, North Wales Police, University of Derby and Florid Gulf Coast University