A three-year old fox red Labrador has been honoured by the PDSA after he located a critically injured woman who had gone missing in dangerous weather conditions.
Rauour – which means ‘red’ in Icelandic – was trained by Search and Rescue Dog Association Southern Scotland, and now works with Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue. The group was called out on 28 February last year, having been warned of a vulnerable missing person. After an unsuccessful search by foot, Rauour and his handler John Romanes were dispatched to a different area.
Within two minutes, the super dog had the scent, and Rauour found the casualty trapped under a tree root, suffering with advanced hypothermia. Thanks to Rauour’s speed, she received medical treatment and made a full recovery.
John said, “Rauour’s detection skills really came to the fore that night. His role as an air scenting search dog was more effective than a 20-strong team performing a line search on the ground. Without him finding the casualty when he did, the outcome could have been very grave indeed.”
Rauour has now been awarded a PDSA commendation, as part of the charity’s animal awards programme.
