SAR Dogs Otago Inc.

SAR Dogs Otago Inc, is a voluntary organization dedicated to the training and deployment of Search Dogs in a variety of Search and Rescue environments.

Search and Rescue in New Zealand is the responsibility of the Police who have small, specialised SAR Sections. Frequently, the Police are cal in volunteers to assist in SAR operations, especially as the skill level of the volunteers increases.
Volunteers are drawn from a variety of sources including Tramping Clubs, hunters, and Red Cross Emergency Relief Team. Search Dogs are one of the volunteer resources available to the Police.

Members of Search Dog groups must be willing and available to be called upon to assist in a SAR operation in any capacity, whether or not Search Dogs are required.

There is a high level of dedication required by all SAR volunteers. SAR team members must be fit and active, be comfortable in the bush and mountains in adverse conditions, and have the skills to not only look after themselves and their team members in these conditions, but to operate effectively as a searcher at the same time.

There is considerable training involved. Volunteers are not expected to pay for training, but are expected to make time for training. This frequently involves giving up weekends and even annual leave from work in order to attend training.

Search Dog handlers have an even greater commitment. In addition to the commitment required to be an effective search team member, they are exected to undertake additional training to enable them to act as team leader.
On top of all the personal training, there are many hours a week required training the dog. It takes anywhere between two and four years to train a dog to an operational level.

Search dogs are operating and being trained in most parts of the country.
If you would like to be involved, please contact a handler local to your area. Click on the map below in your area. (If there is a contact, the cursor will change to a hand in most browsers)
If there is no-one listed below in your immediate area, then the Search Dogs Otago Training Officer should be able to supply you with a local contact.

Application information for SAR Dogs Otago is available from Application Info

Local Search Dog Contacts

Search Dog groups also often require volunteers to act as the lost person for the dogs to search for. If you are interested in helping in this capacity, then you should also contact the nearest person local to you.