Adopted from Dogs Trust Shoreham in 2018, Davey the six-year-old springer spaniel has actually served with Lancashire Fire and Rescue for almost 5 years.
During his very first global implementation, Davey invested 10 days in the city of Antakya in the Hatay province looking for survivors with UK International Search and Rescue (UK ISAR).
Alongside his handler and Lancashire Fire and Rescue canine group lead, Lindsay Sielski, Davey became part of Red Team One dealing with the ground.
They got here within 72 hours of the earthquake with Davey searching around 40 structures each day. He assisted to discover 3 survivors and offered essential intelligence for the remainder of the group about where to focus their rescue efforts.
Davey is the only rescue dog within a group of 8 dogs certified to work worldwide with UK ISAR.
Another rescue dog from Dogs Trust, a labrador from Loughborough rehoming centre called Bailey, is following in Davey’s steps and is likewise standing out throughout his training.
Also there as part of the UK ISAR group was Victoria Phillips, Dogs Trust veterinary cosmetic surgeon supervisor, who volunteers with the search and rescue group as veterinary assistance. Victoria’s function is to look after the rescue dogs like Davey who are trained to find individuals captured up in catastrophe zones.
Speaking about Davey and the rescue objective, Lindsay said: “Our dogs and the work they do is so essential in the harshest of environments. Hatay was an attack on the senses with the sound, sights, smells, dust and shattered glass all over, however the dogs weren’t sidetracked from their function of discovering individuals alive.
Davey sleeping (Image: Dogs Trust)
“We worked 18-hour days throughout which Davey browsed relentlessly. He situated a female casualty on the very first day of searching who went on to be effectively rescued.
“Davey is an extremely unique search dog. He is so nimble and his mastery is remarkable. He doesn’t get excessively thrilled on searches, he doesn’t provide incorrect responses, he works easily and systematically – it is lovely to witness. He has the wonderful on-off switch. He comes home at the end of the working day with me as part of the family and is a various dog.
“Search dogs like Davey play such a vital role that not only protects the health and safety of all fire and rescue teams, but they also protect our mental health by searching in areas we can’t. Davey and the other three dogs deployed to Turkey carried out their work flawlessly.”
Davey came to Dogs Trust Shoreham in March 2018 as a one-year-old child after his owner might no longer look after him. One month after being handed into Dogs Trust’s care, Davey was a search dog in training in Lancashire.
Lindsay holding Davey at the airport with veterinarian Victoria Phillips (Image: Dogs Trust)
He effectively finished 12 months training to end up being a live casualty search and rescue dog. His every day job with Lancashire Fire and Rescue includes searching collapsed structures throughout the UK and he likewise deals with Lancashire Police looking for susceptible missing individuals.
Assistant supervisor operations at Dogs Trust Shoreham, Vicky Grylls, identified his prospective quickly.
Vicky said: “Davey was an active, fun dog who loved a tennis ball so we knew straight away he could be ideal as a service dog. We could see he was a quick learner and we were aware Lindsay was looking for a dog to train up. Davey was a perfect fit and has been a total star ever since. We are proud to have played a small part in his amazing journey. Davey is a very special boy.”
