The National Search And Rescue Dog Association
Maple Barn, Canterbury Road, Molash, Kent CT4 8HF
Stuart Kenny
My Story...
My Training...
Stuart joined the dog team back in 2007 with his wife Jo Kenny, back when the dog team was known as SARDA Meridian and prior to the team joining NSARDA and becoming what it is today known as – NSARDA Kent.
The dog team has always been associated with and for many years fully integrated with Kent Search And Rescue.
Jo had a border collie by the name of ‘Bryn’ who she rescue from Battersea in London and went on to train and qualify him as an air scenting search dog.
I was very jealous and wanted also to become a dog handler. I initially trained and qualified as a Dog Support.
Then when the first ever search dog that qualified in Kent to NSARDA Standards – Venka (Hovawart Bitch) – had a litter I was lucky to acquire Sky (Hovawart Bitch), whose official Kennel Club name was ‘Spicemill Atlanta Night Sky’. All of the dogs on the litter were born on the 4th July so American focussed names it was.
Sky qualified as an air scent search dog and worked with me operationally for nearly 7 years, until she got an injury on a live search and soon thereafter she had to be made non operational. Then she was stood down and retired once it was know that she would have to have a major operation on one of her cruciate ligaments. At the time of the Operation she was 9 going on 10 years old. My girl made it close to her 12th birthday but unfortunately she also ended up with a spinal condition, which ultimately led her to lose movement with her rear legs.
I was then lucky enough to get another Hovawart, who I named Scout (Male) whose Kennel Club name is Lowenheart Kinder Scout.
His mum Abby is an operational air scenting (non specific) search dog with Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England, based in Yorkshire. As such search was in his blood. He was selected for me by the breeders Mark & Becky-Leigh Harrison, based on some key attributes displayed when he was a puppy.
I brought him home in November 2018 and training started very quickly with play to determine his favourite toys and also to work out his favourite reward. He does like food my Scout so he any food will do but I focus on gravy bones and peparami as his super special treat.
We signed up and went to outdoor obedience classes as soon as he’d had his jabs and we were able. He quickly got through his Bronze and Silver awards. There is also a significant requirement for other obedience in order to get accepted into a Member Association so we worked on all of those too eg 10 minute sit / stay.
With thanks to my friends Dick & Claire, who have their own small holding, I was able to expose him to Sheep, Chickens and Horses and very quickly established he was not interested. This was great as our dogs also have to be stock tested so I knew at an early stage this would not be a problem.
He was accepted into training before he was 1 and off we went. Unfortunately this was late 2019 and very shortly Covid hit in the March of 2020 and training was impacted. Training did continue in a different manner but it continued nonetheless.
He learned the find sequence and then we set about the long road to building stamina and the ability to be able to take on a rather demanding assessment, which involves 4 searches (minimum) over 2 days, each lasting up to 2 hours and having to find anywhere from 1 to 5 bodies on average. You do not know where you are going to search and how many people have been placed out of sight in your search area or search route. You are given a map, work out how you are going to search you area with your Dog Support / Navigator then off you go and tell the Assessors who follow you everywhere when you completed your search. You cannot miss anyone in order to pass and there is much more that is looked at and scored besides.
So on the final weekend of March 2023, Scout and I went through the assessment process and we were extremely pleased to pass.
As of April 2023 we are now an operational search team deploying to searches with Kent Search & Rescue.
In 12 Months we have to retake the full assessment process again to demonstrate we have gelled further and improved as a team so that we can gain ‘Senior’ status. Currently we are ‘Initial’ Status. Thereafter we will have to successfully re-assess every 3 years.
Scout is my second search dog. I originally qualified Sky, another Hovawart by the name of ‘Spicemill Atlantia Night Sky’. I got her in 2008, she qualified with me in 2010, retired in 2017 through injury at the age of 9 (somewhat unfortunately early) enjoyed retirement and passed away in the Summary of 2022. Sky was a wonderful search dog and I miss her a lot.
NSARDA is a charity-based Association representing Member Associations
The purpose of NSARDA is to:
- Promote on a National level the charitable work of the Member Search and Rescue Dog Associations of the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland;
- Promote the development of Search Dogs, Dog Handlers and Dog Supports / Navigators to locate high risk missing persons;
- Support handlers to achieve a greater understanding of training of Search Dogs.
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My Story...
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