Rescue team get new leash of life

Dog first to join mountain support charity in 25 years

HOLME Valley Mountain Rescue Team (HVMRT) have announced the arrival of their first dedicated search and rescue dog in 25 years.

Willow, a two-year-old Border Collie, passed her final assessment this past weekend in Dartmoor after undergoing intensive training that started a little after she had been born.

Willow, a female, would undergo training twice a week, and specifically on Sunday mornings and Thursday nights.

Willow’s arrival has been welcomed by all members of the team who have battled to operate for nearly three decades without a working search and rescue dog.

Kevin Robinson, the 44-year-old deputy team leader at HVMRT told The Examiner’s sister website YorkshireLive that operating searches without a dog was stressful.

Mr Robinson said: “It was difficult to work without our own dog. But we have excellent support from the whole country.

“The difficulty was the delay spent waiting for a dog that is travelling from another area.

“The time it takes for the dog to arrive. It can happen while you are looking for vulnerable person and you do not want any delay in resources. With Willow, it will be a lot quicker now.”

And Willow has been described by HVMRT as ‘excellent.’

Mr Robinson, who has worked for HVMRT for 14 years also confirmed to Yorkshire Live that they are expecting another dog soon.

He said: “We have another dog. Her name is Neve and she has been training for six months already”.

And HVMRT is grateful for the volunteers who make the training possible.

In a written statement, they said: “This training can’t happen without the dedicated volunteer ‘bodies’ that lie in all sorts of weather, normally in challenging terrain so that the ‘find’ is realistic as possible for the dogs.” Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team often have to help the police search for missing people, and Mr Robinson told Yorkshire Live it can be extremely difficult.

He said: “It is emotionally difficult. Especially when you search for people who do not want to be found, who want to harm themselves.

“And we have to try and find them before they harm themselves.”

And Willow’s arrival, is likely to make things easier.

It was difficult to work without our own dog... with Willow, it will be a lot quicker now