A rescue dog from Dogs Trust Shrewsbury is helping find missing people after he qualified as a search and rescue dog.

Border Collie Goes From Rescue Dog to Rescuer

Dyno has been involved in eleven searches so far

Dyno was adopted by Matthew Massey as a six month old puppy from the Shrewsbury rehoming centre.

Matthew, who was already volunteering with Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA), wanted to give a forever home to a dog who could potentially become part of the specialist team – and young Dyno showed huge potential as soon as they met.

“Search and rescue dogs need to have a high work drive, be intelligent, energetic, love people and want to interact with them,” Matthew said. “They also need to love toys as they form a big part of the reward based training. It’s quite a long list but when I chatted to staff at the centre, they immediately suggested Dyno and as soon as I met him I knew he ticked all the boxes!”

After more than two years of training every other weekend, which Matthew fitted in alongside his job as a gardener, Dyno has now graduated, achieving the Search and Rescue Search Dog Standard accredited by the National Association of Specialist Dog Users which governs and trains dogs for the police and security services, along with the Ministry of Defence.

He is now a lowland search and rescue dog for SARA and is on call for West Midlands and West Mercia Police. Since graduating he has been involved in eleven searches for missing people.

Border Collie Goes From Rescue Dog to Rescuer

Dyno picked up things straight away

​​​Matthew has been thrilled with how Dyno has taken to his new life.

“He took to the training straight away and picked things up very quickly. We can be called out to help day or night, 365 days a year and although he’s a great family dog, as soon as his SARA jacket goes on he knows he’s working,” said Matthew. “He gets really excited and starts barking. The police contact us to either confirm that a person isn’t in a particular area or to actively search for a person. Our latest search covered a rural area of around four miles and it’s vital that Dyno is focused at all times to maximise the chance of the search being successful. He is turning out to be a real star. We’re very proud of him.”

To find out more about the dogs at Dogs Trust Shrewsbury waiting to find their special someone visit www.dogstrust.org.uk. Find out more about Dyno’s work as a search and rescue dog here: www.sara-wyreforest.org.uk.

 

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Nisha Kotecha is the Founder of Good News Shared. Having worked and volunteered for charities in the UK for over 10 years, Nisha is on a mission to highlight how amazing charities are.

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