Reunited! A Lost Dog Was Rescued With The Help Of Mantrailing Dogs In Cheshire.
It is every dog owner's worst nightmare... your dog doesn't come back, gets spooked and lost.
Time ticks, but there's no return.
And that's exactly what happened to one Chow owner in Cheshire, recently.
The Search Begins With A Call For Help
More time passed and in the absence of other help, the owner was desperate for assistance. Six hours later, and with unconfirmed sightings, trailing teams Pree (a Pug) and Aphy (also a Chow), who train with Dog Trailing made themselves available. Aphy had been away from trailing for a few months following an operation, and Pree had just completed other detection scentwork, so was tired before starting.
The missing Chow had been spotted down local streets, which is where the teams started, but neither of the experienced trailing dogs showed any interest.
Instead, the dogs took their handlers straight back to the woods where the Chow had originally got lost. Both trailing dogs were tired but absolutely determined that the missing dog was there.
It was so overgrown and bad underfoot that the handlers couldn't get in, and a busy A road, the A500, is right at the edge of the area, so no one wanted to take risks.
Aphy picked up his scent and literally ran, indicating, pulling, and crying into thick bush. She refused to search any other area, but the handlers couldn't see the lost dog. Time had passed, and Aphy was tired.
Team Pree then took over whilst Aphy rested. Sure enough, Pree went straight back to the thick woodland.
Searching With A Drone The Next Day
The teams didn't make contact, and the missing dog may have gone further to ground at this stage, but the next morning a drone operator came in to check from the air, starting with the area where both trailing dogs had been so obsessed.
Sure enough, the drone picked up the lost Chow deep in the woodland right where the trailing dogs insisted they had found him!
Aphy's handler, Mel Barker, said afterwards:
"They were so tired but absolutely determined... they were absolutely faultless...
"it just shows how it can make a difference in real-life situations."
It's lovely to hear of our trailing teams' success in assisting with this lost dog rescue, and it certainly makes us all proud that their training had equipped them so well for this real-world situation.
While Dog Trailing advocates working with experienced rescue organisations to reunite pets, we were delighted to learn of the role our trainees played in assisting in this case.
There couldn't be a happier ending!
Well done, Team Aphy and Team Pree. Yes, they are a Pug and a Chow, proving even brachycephalic dogs can hold their own with the right training!
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