Those members of the team available met on Dunnet head at 19:00hrs. David A placed a cadaver scent and David B put a casualty out for an open area search. The team were joined by a prospective new member and her 7 month old dog.

Search 1 -  Human Remains - Polly and her handler John were tasked with searching a series of ruined buildings and the land between them. Accompanied by Safety Buddy david B they started their search. Polly worked well covering two of the buildings before picking up a scent at a distance of approximately 20 yards and moving to a third building where she gave a clear indication on an opening in the floor of the third building. Team Trqainer David A confirmed that this was the correct location for the sample he had placed earlier in the evening. The total search time for the three buildings was approximately 10 mintues.

Search 2 - Open Area - TeeDee and David A were tasked with locating an adult female missing for a couple of hours who was last seen walking up a path onto the summit of a small hill halfway across the headland. The search commenced where the path levelled out to cross the flat summit area. TeeDee set off at a steady pace and after approximately 1 1/2 minutes hit a scent and took off across the headland arriving at the casualty about 1/2 a mile from the start point and giving his usual standing bark indication in a total of 2 mins plus a few seconds. His Handler arrived a couple of minutes later wishing that he too had four legs instead of two.

Puppy training - The team retired to the car parking area where they had left the vehicles and our prospective new recruit ( four legged that is) played some simple games finding her favourite toy dropped in long grass. Trainer David A gave her owner a series of short drills to try with her over the next couple of weeks. For her first session this young bitch showed that she was having fun finding her toy and showed that when she could not see it she knew her nose was the next best tool. Let's hope this keeps going. Well done on day one.

Tracking Trainee Stroma was back today having recovered from surgery on her ear and will return to training soon.