Our Training

All operational members of Chiltern Search Dogs are required to pass a Search Technician's course to the standards prescribed by the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue. This ensures that they are proficient searchers in their own right before they are allowed to search with a dog.

The search dogs themselves are trained to the standards laid down by LSDogs, the umbrella organisation for Lowland Search Dogs in the UK.

This training prescribes operational levels for lowland search dogs and the skills required to achieve these levels. To achieve certification at each level the search dog and handler must attend an assessment day. On this day they are assessed as a search team in their ability to find missing persons by two qualified assessors, at least one of whom is from an outside LSDogs team.

Only once they have completed this training and passed the assessment can they be used operationally.