Treble Cone Search Dogs

Matt Gunn and Blizzid, Brendan and Millie

New Zealand has the third highest number of avalanche fatalities per capita in the world. With increasing numbers of people venturing into the mountains for their recreation this statistic looks likely to continue. Many people find themselves able to ride the terrain in the backcountry without being aware of the hazards. Most of these people do not wear avalanche transceivers, their best chance of survival if caught in an avalanche is a locally based operational Avalanche dog team, equipped and ready to go. Response time is the critical factor.

I have been working in the ski industry for 16 years, as a ski patroller for 13, four at Ohau and 9 at Treble Cone. Over this time I have witnessed many avalanches and been involved in a number of searches of various scale. These experiences motivated me towards getting and training a dog. As I live in Twizel during summer we are the closest avedog team to Mt Cook, meaning we are on call year round.

Blizzid is a 7 year old Boarder collie bitch with a working life is approximately 10 years. After starting our training in the summer of 2000 on the tussock lands around Twizel, we then made the transition onto the snow at Treble Cone that same winter. We obtained operational status in avalanche search techniques in 2001. This means we have passed a Police assessment and are placed on their emergency callout list. Since then we have been involved in one full scale search and five smaller searches, with Blizzid proving herself to be very capable. In all situations we were able to rule out the possibility of anyone being buried, this is of huge value as it means, not only peace of mind for the ski area, but minimizes further risk to searches as the search can be called off much more quickly, not to menton saves the company and the tax payer considerable amounts of money.

A search dog team is just that... a team. It is the handler's job to get to the site safely, quickly while maintaining the dogs energy levels. Once on site the handler then establishes that the site is safe before then assessing which way the wind is going before planning a strategy for the search. Search techniques are based on establishing which way the wind is blowing then deploying the dog across the slope down wind of likely burial areas. Typically the dog will search across the slope until it finds the scent, then it will turn sharply and head straight up the slope to the point in which the scent disappears under the snow. At this point the dog will then start digging and barking, staying on that spot until the handler reaches it to take over the digging, or marks the spot for others to dig while the handler re-deploy the dog to continue the search.

Although most breeds suitable for search are very keen to work and satisfy their owner, all handlers rely on rewarding their dogs to get the most out of them. Blizzids reward is a tug of war with a toy that she only ever gets to play with when training or searching. She has been trained in such a way that she thinks that her toy is under the snow with the buried person.

Over the past three seasons I have also trained Brendan Kearns and his dog Millie. Brendan is also a ski patroller at Treble Cone, he and Millie became operational in August 06. Although we receive a small allowance from Treble Cone, this doesn't come close to covering the costs of training and operating a searchdog, and as we are both on call year round, and as such require equipment, I took it upon myself the gain sponsorship to help in our cause. To provide us with an identity and remain connected to Treble Cone I created TC Searchdogs. The agreement I have with Treble Cone is this... they have agreed to allow Brendan, myself and the two dogs to wear our sponsor's logos on our vests while we are at work. We are also free to promote our sponsors while at work. In the past we have been on TV numerous times on such things as, One Weather, FREEZE TV, National Geographic and an Australian travel show, as well as featuring in local newspapers. Currently we are sponsored by... Pet Protect Insurance, Hills Science Diet, R&R Sport and Adventure Outfitters.