June 2008

Hello everyone, my name’s Holly and I’m a qualified search and rescue dog for the Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service. You may have heard about me from Islay, my younger sister and trainee search and rescue dog.

I’ve decided to give Islay a little break from writing her diary this month. She’s been to the vets a lot recently, so I thought it’d be best for me to keep you updated with our news for a change.

As you know, we went on holiday to Scotland in May with our owner Kirt, and his wife. I’ve been holidaying there with Kirt for a few years now, but it was Islay’s first time so she was really excited. Unfortunately, she didn’t realise that it’s a bad idea to pick up unidentified objects off the floor, which is how she developed a little stomach complaint and had to go to the vets. She also hurt one of her paws on the rocky paths during one of our walks.

Understandably, Kirt put a stop to her picking things up off the floor, and she’s feeling a lot better now. It’s a great quality of hers that she’s curious, because that’s such a huge part of our job when we’re out searching for trapped people, but she’s starting to learn to be a bit more careful when she’s on her own little adventures.

That didn’t stop her going into the sea though! I couldn’t believe it! She just followed Kirt into the water and started splashing around; she looked like she had a fantastic time. As a border collie, I expected her to be a bit more wary of the sea, as I am, but it appears that she may be slightly braver than me in that sense. You certainly won’t catch me in there anytime soon.

As you can imagine, Kirt’s main concern at the moment is keeping her healthy, so we didn’t do too much training while we were away. But we got straight back into it once we got home, and Islay seemed to have improved a lot following her time off. Kirt’s decided that it’s a good idea to give us breaks in between training now, because we both function a lot better when we’ve had a rest.

I’m actually planning to retire later this year, so I’m glad that Islay’s a keen learner and will be able to do my job within a couple of years. It’ll be my tenth birthday in November, and I’ve been training since I was a puppy, so I’m due some quality ‘me’ time!

I’ll still be capable to work, and will miss the job immensely, but Kirt says that it’s fairer to let me retire while I’m still active and healthy rather than when I’m a bit older and more tired.

I’ll always be the boss of Islay though, even when she becomes a fully qualified search and rescue dog like myself. At the moment, she’s very playful and gets under my feet a lot, but that should calm down once she’s older. She certainly tests my patience at times!

Kirt’s started taking her to more advanced sites now, rather than just the local park, although her training is still very basic at the moment. She’s good at playing hide-and-seek, and her ‘fetch’ skills are really improving. 

I’m currently training on a demolition site in Leyland, searching among the piles of rubble. It’s great for me to work on big, complicated sites because it really challenges my skills and keeps me interested in the job. I’m constantly learning.

When Islay watches me train there, she gets really excited and wants to join in. It’s quite obvious that she wishes to reach my high standards, and Kirt believes that it’s advantageous for her to watch me work and become more eager and knowledgeable about the job.

He makes sure to keep her on a lead, and has recently started walking her across the rubble to get her used to new surroundings and to test her agility. It’s important not to overwhelm her at this stage, but exercises like these really boost her confidence.

When Islay’s training, I tend to stay at home because it’s frustrating not being able to join in! Also, Islay is easily distracted, because she just wants to play when I’m there, so she’s more focused on learning when it’s just her and Kirt. She’s still a puppy at the minute, so I understand that she’s sometimes giddy and excitable, but those traits will fade as she gets older and more dedicated to being a search and rescue dog.

I’m always focused and concentrate hard when I attend incidents. I went to the Cumbria rail crash recently with my brother Ben, and it was our task to look for bodies which were potentially buried under one of the carriages. Luckily, there was nobody trapped in that instance, but it does make me feel intensely proud and important to be given the responsibility to save people’s lives. It’s such a rewarding job, and I know that Islay will appreciate the seriousness of it when she matures.

Ben and I were used as back-up dogs a few months ago to a gas explosion in Leeds at an old pub. The explosion was quite substantial, and it was a miracle that nobody was hurt! It may sound like a wasted effort to attend incidents where nobody is actually trapped, but knowing how much difference we search and rescue dogs make in circumstances when we are needed, gives me the drive and dedication to continue my important work.

It’s time for me to go now; Kirt wants to take me out to the demolition site to practice my techniques.

Islay will be back next month to fill you in on any developments and adventures that we have. So until then, please take a look at the video footage of me training and the photographs of us with Kirt.

Thanks for reading!