My name is Roland I had the pleasure of attending my first training session with the Berkshire Search and Rescue Dog team on Tuesday
“Go hide in the woods over there and the dogs will come and find you” they said.
One of the questions I didn’t ask was what to do if the dog didn’t find me, which incidentally it didn’t on the first pass. But I sat tight on what was the brightest moonlit night I can remember and they found me on the way back.
I was very impressed with the professionalism and attention to detail. (just little things like making sure several people had my mobile number before I became a “missing person”). I was also surprised at how many people turned out on the Tuesday night in November.
I was assigned a buddy for the evening (thank you Mark ) who looked after me and explained the organisation and practices. Everyone made me feel very welcome and they seem a really nice group..
A little about me, I live in Caversham and run a small home cinema installation company. I have two children, a daughter who has just started University in Warwick, doing Equine studies and a son just starting his GCSE’s
We have a 3 three year old Welsh Collie, Meg who has more energy and intelligence than is good for her. So she needs a focus. My daughter took her to Fly ball and then Agility lessons which they both loved.
I have a passion for walking and Meg is my constant companion. She is a keen ball chaser and it doesn’t matter how “lost” the ball is in the undergrowth she won’t give up; I can honestly say we have never not found a ball. It was only when a stranger said she should try out as a search and rescue dog that the penny dropped.
Having seen the some of the dogs training I think Meg will excel at Search and Rescue, but we both clearly have a lot of training to do to get to the standard I saw.
I look forwards to learning from others on the forums. I'm sure I will have many questions.
Many thanks Roland
![[laugh]](./images/smilies/laugh.gif "Laugh")
