Tiso Sponsorship
Milly Qualifies as a SARDA Rescue Dog - March 2008
Milly and Heather successfully passed the final 'hurdle' of their SARDA examinations in March 2008 and have gained their FULL dog status within SARDA. Milly passed at the age of 1 year and 9 months old - pretty young to pass through the full dog test. A SARDA full dog is fully operational and may be called out with their own rescue team - the Cairngorm Team or for jobs in other team areas if dogs would be an asset for the rescue. So far Milly has attended 3 call outs. Milly and Heather are on call 24/7, (Milly wants to add here that she is not too keen on those middle of the night call outs!)
The full dog test is an intensive 3 day assessment based at the Kings House in Glencoe where the dog and handler are given areas of the hill side to search for volunteer 'bodies'. Each day there are 3 areas to search with 2 bodies hidden in each area.
Milly Close to qualifying as a SARDA rescue dog - November 2007
SARDA - Search and Rescue Dog Association Scotland.
Heather Morning, Ranger at Cairngorm Mountain and member of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team.
Milly and Heather joined SARDA Scotland when Milly was only 10 weeks old. Milly is one of Neil Ross's pups from Leault Farm at Kincraig.
SARDA are a voluntary charity organisation training Search and Rescue Dogs for Mountain Rescue Teams all over Scotland. The organization trains dogs to search for missing persons wherever required - mountains, moorlands, fields, forests - the dogs work anywhere in Scotland 24 hours a day 7 days a week - ALWAYS ON CALL. The dogs and handlers are called out by contacting the Police and asking for Mountain Rescue Search Dogs.
In order to join SARDA you have to have been on a rescue team for a minimum of two years, and commit to one weekends training every month. Training venues are in a variety of locations around the Scottish Highlands. The training process is very rigorous - it has taken 14 months of training for Milly to become a qualified rescue dog. All the training is done with play and squeaky toys. The dogs use air scent to find the missing person and as a reward the dog handler plays with them with the toy. Milly has been kindly sponsored by Tiso, the outdoor retail company specialist.
Heather and Milly would like to pass on their thanks to Cairngorm Mountain for their continued support and look forward to many years active service with the Cairngorm Team.
Paws for thought as Tiso and Ruffwear sponsor Milly the Border Collie
Milly, the Search and Rescue Dog is one of Tiso's newest sponsored athletes.
Milly is based up at the ski area at Cairngorm during her working day. She works for the Cairngorm Ranger Service and accompanies her owner Heather the Ranger out on the hill doing her daily rangering duties. This is very varied work ranging from Milly's favourite task of footpath maintenance (which usually includes digging holes which Milly is very good at!) to guided walks with the general public or school and university groups. The ranger service also offers a variety of other services including mountain safety advice, weather information and various monitoring projects in the Northern Cairngorms.
Heather has been a member of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team for 4 years and saw the great opportunity of training Milly to assist with rescues. They went along to their first SARDA (Search and Rescue Dog Association) meet when Milly was only 10 weeks old to meet the other dogs and get to know some of the handlers. SARDA Scotland meet one weekend per month for training. It takes around 18 month to qualify as a search dog, not all dogs are successful so Milly and Heather will have worked very hard.
Tiso have a great range of Ruffwear products in-store covering everything from Warm Overcoats for cold and long days on the hill to Float Coats (ideal if you are taking your dog sailing or on water) to harnesses and portable waterbowls. Visit our Glasgow, Edinburgh or Blackford stores or look at the full range on www.ruffwear.com.