April 2008

Hello, my name is Islay . Welcome to my new monthly blog on Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s website. I am a six month old border collie and I have been employed as a trainee search and rescue dog for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service for just two months. I am already enjoying meeting lots of new people and playing with my new friends.

I live with my older sister, Holly, who is nine years old and our owner, Kirt and his family. Holly is also a border collie and she is fully trained at finding human casualties at incidents. One day I hope to be as good as she is. Kirt is training me everyday; we go to the park or to the fire station and play hide and seek. I have to close my eyes, count to ten and then I have to find Kirt by sniffing him out.  We also play fetch, Kirt will throw a ball and I have to go and collect it and bring it back to him. It can get quite tiring and sometimes I wish I could throw the ball and he could bring it back to me!

I hope to pass my final exams in two years time so I can go and help my older sister. In the meantime, I have lots of important training to do with Kirt before I will be able to go to incidents with Holly. I can’t wait to get my protective boots and jackets and start saving people’s lives. 

In my free time I love to roll around on the grass and go to the beach with Kirt, we are going up to Scotland in May which I am really looking forward to. Anyway more about that next month, I am off to play with Holly now, if she lets me!

Bye

Islay