Following a lengthy time recovering from an injury, we are pleased to announce that Steve and Oscar are once again an operational search dog team.

Dorset Search Dog Charlie receives the PDSA Order of Merit for lifetime service

Charlie who completed hundreds of searches during his exemplary ten-year career, has been honoured by the UK’s leading veterinary charity, PDSA.

Border Collie Charlie, who worked with his volunteer handler Matt Cooke, posthumously received the PDSA Order of Merit – known as the animals’ OBE – for his outstanding devotion to duty and service to society.

Charlie, who passed away in 2017, is the 32nd recipient of the award since its institution in 2014. His medal was presented to canine colleague Zak** at a special presentation at Highcliffe Castle today (Tuesday 15 October 2019).

Commenting on the awards, PDSA Director General, Jan McLoughlin, said: “We are pleased to announce Charlie as the latest recipient of the PDSA Order of Merit. Although we’re saddened that he was unable to receive his honour during his lifetime, we hope that Matt and his colleagues at Dorset Search Dogs see it as a fitting tribute to his incredible career.

“Our Animal Awards programme seeks to raise the status of animals in society.  Charlie’s long and dedicated career epitomises the reason we must continue our Founder’s tradition of honouring the contribution animals make to our lives.“The PDSA Order of Merit was introduced to recognise animals for their exceptional devotion to duty and service to society. Charlie was a truly exceptional animal and an incredibly worthy recipient of this medal.”

Charlie’s story

Border Collie Charlie started training as a Search and Rescue Dog with his owner, volunteer handler Matt Cooke, when he was 14-weeks-old, qualifying in November 2005. He soon attained the highest level of qualification and subsequently spent ten years in service with Dorset Search Dogs and Lowlands Search and Rescue. In this time he completed hundreds of searches and amassed thousands of search hours.

Charlie was deployed to both domestic and international incidents, helping find missing people in boggy woodland, dense undergrowth, burnt-out buildings and landslide zones.

Renowned for his phenomenal scent detection, Charlie could cover large areas of ground quickly, freeing up valuable Emergency Service resources to deploy elsewhere. As well as locating missing people, Charlie’s work enabled areas to be eliminated from a search, thus narrowing the focus of the Emergency Services. His methodical and reliable approach to searching earned him an enviable reputation within the Search and Rescue community.

In addition to his search duties, Charlie helped recruit and train other dogs to work in specialist taskforces. He also represented Search and Rescue Dogs in the House of Lords, raising awareness around quarantine and pet passports for specialist dogs travelling abroad.

Charlie’s most notable work includes:

• Charlie located an elderly and vulnerable lady who had been missing for 14 hours in freezing temperatures. Police and ambulance services reported that had Charlie not found her when he did, she wouldn’t have survived.
  • In May 2008, Charlie located a murder victim buried in a large field, leading to a conviction.
  • Also in May 2008, Charlie located a missing 90-year-old dementia patient who had become disorientated and bogged down in mud.
  • In February 2009, Charlie and Matt were sent to Ascension Island in the Southern Atlantic, to help search for a missing woman. Charlie, along with two Thames Valley Blood Detection dogs, searched the entire island in brutal conditions and terrain. Such was Charlie’s reputation, the fact that no one was located gave closure to the search. Clearing a search space in this way is often as important as making a positive find.
  • Charlie was called to search a fire-damaged squat for fatalities. One homeless man was known to have lost his life in the blaze, which took 50 firefighters and 13 engines to put out. Charlie’s skills were called upon to ensure that there were no other fatalities in the building, which became structurally unsound. His subsequent search enabled the building to be cleared for demolition.

  Charlie retired at the end of 2015, enjoying a full and happy retirement until he passed away in December 2017.

   

  Award reaction

  Charlie’s handler, Search and Rescue volunteer, Matt Cooke, said: “Charlie was my boy. My dog of a lifetime. He was a pleasure to train and work alongside, and I am immensely proud of everything he has achieved in his career. For him to receive the PDSA Order of Merit, even after he has left us, is such an incredible honour. I am thrilled to have Zak – his Hampshire Search and Rescue colleague – accept the medal on Charlie’s behalf.”

  

  

   

  PDSA Order of Merit dogs

  Find out more about Charlie and all the other amazing canine Order of Merit recipients here.

  Find out more

  ×

It is with great sadness that the team announce that Charlie passed away following a short illness. He was just a few days away from his 14th Birthday. Charlie was instrumental in finding a number saving the lives of a number of missing people, helped secure a murder conviction and was an ambassador for UK search dogs.

Here’s just a few of his career highlights:
December 2007 – Saved the life of Pauline MUGGLETON – BBC missing live recreation / Dorset Police Media Release 

May 2008 – Located a body in a suitcase helping to secure a murder conviction on two individuals

February 2009 – Searched parts of the Ascension Island (South Atlantic) for a missing member of the community

September 2009 – Located a deceased male in a remote wood in Hampshire

Searched a collapsed structure following a derelict building fire (one homeless male previously located deceased)

Worked along side Dorset fire & Rescue ensuring no persons were trapped under a large landslide at Bournemouth beach.

January 2009 – Helped locate a missing suicidal male on Canford Heath.

May 2008 – Assisted in finding a missing 90 year old male, trapped in mud, with dementia.

2001 – Undertook National Urban Search and Rescue Dog Group assessment to assist the Fire Service in their New Dimensions Project – searching collapsed structures.

Provided demonstrations to Devon and Cornwall Police, assisting them set up their missing person search dogs.

Attended the House of Lords, raising awareness of Search Dogs in general and issues regarding Pet Passports/Quarantine.

Charlie was a phenomenal search dog and will be missed by the Search and Rescue community.

Team radio stolen in the Bournemouth area. It will be useless to anyone who buys it or finds it but it is such a valuable asset to our team members when we are out looking for vulnerable missing people. When they realise that they can’t use it may be left somewhere (hopefully for an innocent party to find). Please share and keep your eyes peeled. Our team is depending on your help to recover this!

Please contact info@dorsetsearchdogs.org.uk if you have any information

To the thief or handler. Please be careful with it and leave it somewhere where it can be safely recovered. One day, we may be out giving emergency medical assistance to you or looking for one of your friends or relatives. We all need this radio returned.

If you would like to help fund a replacement please support Wayne on his fundraising  50K run   CLICK TO DONATE HERE

On a bitter cold day search teams from Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Sussex and Surrey used specialist search skills in a simulated search scenario. Two of our dogs attended: Trainee Search Dogs Rufus with Handler Serena and Op Support Sheila and Trainee Search Dog Merla with Handler Kath and Op Support Laurence.

When the team arrived they ere briefed that a sunday school group had become split up during a game of hide and seek and 9 people were not accounted for. Both dogs were deployed to cover woodland search areas. The teams worked alongside foot searchers, water rescue, drone teams and other dog teams to cover an area of woodland, farm land and lakes. Our dogs showed that hard work and training is paying off when they both successfully located missing people in their search areas.

We send our thanks to Hampshire Search and Rescue for hosting this event providing an amazing opportunity to introduce our trainees to a live search environment. A special thank you is also extended to the wonderful people who gave up their Sunday and volunteered to act as missing people on such a cold day.

We are delighted to share the news that Serena and Rufus passed their Lowland Rescue Level 2 Airscenting National Assessment to become an operational search dog team. All our search dogs and handlers have to pass the Lowland Rescue assessment to achieve operational status. This is a special achievement at the end of a difficult year with team training cancelled for much of the year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Dorset Search Dogs have received a donation of £2,750 from Talbot Village Trust to purchase life-saving first aid equipment.

Dorset Search Dogs, which is affiliated to Lowland Rescue, was presented with the funding by the grant-giving charity to purchase two Lowland Rescue First Responder kits, which includes automated external defibrillator (AED) equipment, as well as additional first aid training equipment.

Matt Cooke, chairman of Dorset Search Dogs, said: “We are extremely grateful for this generous donation made by Talbot Village Trust. This is something that we would not have been able to fund ourselves without their help. We obviously hope that we will not need to use the equipment on a regular basis, but given the nature, frequency and circumstances of our work, the equipment will undoubtedly help the team to save lives.”

Matt added that the team often work in remote areas with limited access to power or medical facilities, so if they find a missing person who requires immediate medical attention, they need to provide assistance until an ambulance arrives. He said that the Lowland Rescue First Responder kits would ensure that the team could respond to an incident using the full extent of their skills, including the use of the AED equipment.

Russell Lucas-Rowe, trustee of Talbot Village Trust, said: “We wanted to do all that we could to ensure that Dorset Search Dogs could continue to offer their exceptionally important work to help to look for missing people. It is a fantastic cause and we have no doubt that it proves invaluable to the emergency services when looking across woodland, farmland and along on the shoreline. We hope the charity will continue to operate for many years to come.”

Talbot Village Trust meets biannually, and will be accepting applications for funding from both previous and new applicants in the area before the Trustees meet in autumn of this year. Please go to www.talbotvillagetrust.org for more information.

Media Coverage: Daily Echo Report

With profound sadness, we share the news of the passing of Search Dog Hattie. Her remarkable dedication and life-saving contributions have left an indelible mark on all of us.

Hattie’s extraordinary skills and enthusiasm for search and rescue missions will forever be etched in our hearts. She brought hope to countless families in their times of need.

“Hattie was a determined search dog.  Her boundless energy both in training scenarios and on searches for vulnerable missing people was second to known.  Initially being qualified in March 2019 she attended her first callout the very next day with handler Wendy.  As a Level 2 dog, she has helped the police and fellow volunteer searches clear great distances on routes and paths.

Hattie deployed on 59 occasions, supporting searches in Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Surrey.  That’s 59 occasions where they have helped to locate that missing dementia sufferer; the missing child; the missing despondent person, the injured walker and the missing victim of crime.  Each one of these searches ranged from a quick deployment through to a protracted search throughout several days.  This doesn’t include the additional occasions where Wendy and Hattie have travelled hundreds of miles to be stood down on route or prior to deployment.

Hattie was always eager to please.  My enduring memory of Hattie’s play drive and enjoyment of the search game was her early days of training.  As a trainee, having found her missing person she would run back to Wendy full of excitement, launch herself at Wendy and use her as a springboard to try and run back to the missing person as quickly as possible, hoping that Wendy would be following close behind.  By this stage, Wendy would normally be in a ditch, covered in mud and struggling to recover from Hattie’s excitement.

Once qualified, as a Level 2 Route and Path dog, Hattie was bomb-proof.  This is testament to Hattie’s ability and Wendy’s determination with her training.  For the years of hard work, Dorset Search Dogs and countless vulnerable individuals, their families, friends and colleagues are grateful.”

Stand Down Search Dog Hattie. Your duty is done, and you will be deeply missed.

Christmas came early for the team last November when we heard that against strong competition we had been chosen for an award from the Scottish and Southern Electricity Network Resilient Communities Fund. The incredibly generous grant of £10,066.00 will be used to improve the digital radio and data network coverage in East Dorset.  The Team are extremely grateful for this significant award that will improve our ability to communicate across rural areas and the resilience of our response to emergency events.

Dorset Search Dogs were among a number of local charities who benefitted from the 2017 round of grant funding. Lisa Doogan, Director of Customer Relationship Management for SSEN said:

“I’m delighted to see that this latest round of applications and awards covers a broad spectrum of ways in which the SSEN Resilient Community Fund can help communities to boost their resilience. To provide the funding that enables them to equip themselves and prepare for adverse weather events including high winds, snow, lightning and flooding reflects our own message that we are always prepared and there to help our customers.

“I’m immensely proud of these organisations, and the work they do to improve the lives of those who live and work in the communities they represent.”

Media Links:

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/15921852.dorset-flood-rescue-group-dog-charity-and-parish-councils-receive-grants-from-scottish-and-southern-electric-energy-resilience-fu/

http://news.ssen.co.uk/news/all-articles/2018/february/ssens-funding-boost-for-local-communities/

Our fundraisers were delighted to receive a check for £200 from the Bournemouth Area Defibrillator (B.A.D) group. This generous donation came at the end of a talk from Wendy and Kath accompanied by a demonstration from  trainee search dogs Hattie and Merla.

The B.A.D group supports patients who have complex Cardiac problems, many of whom have suffered Cardiac arrests and have subsequently undergone a procedure to have a Implantable Cardiovertor Defibrillator implanted. The group also  recently raised money to purchase a defibrillator for Hengistbury Head.