SARDA Ireland trains and deploys volunteer search and rescue dog teams to locate missing persons – anywhere, anytime.
Welcome to SARDA Ireland
Dedicated to the training and deployment of Search and Rescue Dog Teams, SARDA Ireland’s objective is to assist in the search and rescue of missing persons on the hills or wherever they may be.
SARDA Ireland is a voluntary 999 / 112 emergency search and rescue organisation concerned with the training, assessment and deployment of both air scenting and scent specific Search and Rescue Dog Teams to search for missing persons. Our dog teams, which consist of the handler and their dog, search anywhere in Ireland and are effective in the mountains, woodlands, rural and urban areas, waterways and seashore.
Search And Rescue Dog Association (Ireland) was set up in 1987 as a Registered Charity (No. 20029982) and is a member of Mountain Rescue Ireland (www.mountainrescue.ie) and NSARDA (National Search And Rescue Dog Association) in the UK (www.nsarda.org.uk) which comprises SARDA organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
SARDA Ireland teams are regularly assessed and re-assessed by independent external bodies, including fellow NSARDA affiliates and MRSDE. This rigorous external evaluation process ensures that our teams consistently meet and maintain the highest standards of operational competence, training, qualification, and grading. By subjecting ourselves to independent scrutiny, we uphold best practice across all aspects of search and rescue dog deployment, ensuring professionalism, credibility, and excellence in everything we do.
Why Use Dogs?
Dogs’ scenting capability is awesome
Humans constantly emit microscopic scent particles, whether alive or deceased. Carried by the wind, these particles can travel significant distances. With a scenting ability estimated to be over 10,000 times stronger than that of humans, dogs can detect and follow these trails with remarkable precision. Air-scenting dogs can pick up scent from as far as half a kilometer away, while scent-specific trailing dogs can follow a person’s path for over 5 kilometers under the right conditions.
Dogs can reach areas inaccessible to humans
SARDA dogs can work faster and cover more ground than humans, couple this with their use of scent they far exceed the capabilities of a human search party. One dog can cover the area of 50 human searchers. Air-scenting dogs work off-leash, covering ground quickly and leading handlers back once they find a scent. Trailing dogs follow scent trails on a long line, even across challenging terrain, often identifying hard-to-reach areas where a person may be found.
2-Year Training
It takes a minimum of two years to train a handler and dog team.
How Are Dogs and Handlers Trained?
SARDA Ireland prepares dedicated dogs and handlers to search for missing persons in all terrains and conditions, using scent-based methods and rigorous training.
Reward based searching
Air scenting
Scent-Specific Trailing Dogs
Handler training
Make A Donation
SARDA Ireland is a 100% voluntary organisation. Our highly trained dog teams are on call day and night, ready to search for missing persons across mountains, forests, urban areas, and beyond.
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Callouts to date for 2026
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Operational handler and dog teams.
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Training hours (combined local and national for operational and aspirational teams) to date for 2026.