Help as a ‘Dog’s Body’
Dog’s bodies are always needed
- People are always needed to act as ‘missing’ or ‘lost’ persons.
- Search Dog training would be impossible without the assistance of our “Dogs Bodies”.
- These people, aptly named, go out in all types of weather and lie on the sides of mountains, in ditches, in hedgerows and even up trees for hours on end, so that we can train our dogs to search for missing persons.
What you have to do
Each handler will give you full instructions as to what is needed for their individual dog. Initially you will be asked to act as body for experienced dogs. These dogs will find you and return to the handler to indicate their find. Likely all you will need to do is keep still until the handler joins you after which they will instruct you as to how to reward the dog. As you become an ‘experienced’ body, you will start to take a more active part in training. You will be rewarding and encouraging the novice dogs by play or food reward when they find you, and handlers will ask for your feedback on how the dog behaved. You will start to learn how the search dogs are trained.
Please bring with you:
- Walking boots
- Outdoor warm and waterproof clothing (please remember this is Ireland)
- Sun protection
- Insect repellent
- Packed lunch, flask of tea etc.
- Mobile phone
- Something to read or listen to (with earphones) while you are waiting to be found
- An enthusiastic, but patient temperament!
SARDA will provide:
- Bivvy gear
- Radio communication equipment
Requirements and recommendations:
SARDA Ireland operates as a Mountain Rescue Team under Mountain Rescue Ireland. All members are required subscribe the ethos of Search and Rescue, giving of your time freely and willingly in the interest of others. You will need to be over 18 years of age, physically fit, enjoy outdoor activities and provide your own transport, outdoor waterproof clothing and walking boots as footwear. It also goes without saying that you will be a person who likes dogs and is comfortable interacting with them.
Interested in becoming a dogs body or dog handler?
All applicants start out as dogs bodies in SARDA Ireland. If you would like to be a permanent dogs body, then excellent! We are always looking for people to do the important job of hiding for our dogs.
If you are interested in becoming a dog handler and training your own dog for search and rescue, you must first be a dogs body for a minimum of 6 months, and wait for a place (or places) to become available on the team (depending on capacity and charity needs). As places are made available by the Training Officer (supported by the committee), body members can then put their name forward to be considered for selection.
The bodying period gives you time to get an understanding of the commitment required to a search dog to SARDA Ireland’s standards, which will help you decide whether or not training to be a SARDA dog handler is for you. Bodying also teaches members a lot about the mechanics of search and rescue dogs, so it is always worthwhile.
If you are interested in applying to join SARDA Ireland, please fill out this form.
Note that we have approximately 2 intakes per year, where we invite a number of applicants along to a national training weekend (depending on capacity and charity needs). Please be patient as there is typically a waiting list due to demand. Any further queries on joining can be emailed to joinus@sardaireland.com.
