Lancashire service dog adopted from Dogs Trust returns from Turkey

Adopted from Dogs Trust Shoreham in 2018, Davey the six-year-old springer spaniel has served with Lancashire Fire and Rescue for nearly five years.

During his first international deployment, Davey spent 10 days in the city of Antakya in the Hatay province searching for survivors with UK International Search and Rescue (UK ISAR). 

Alongside his handler and Lancashire Fire and Rescue canine team lead, Lindsay Sielski, Davey was part of Red Team One working on the ground.

They arrived within 72 hours of the earthquake with Davey searching around 40 buildings per day. He helped to find three survivors and provided vital intelligence for the rest of the team about where to focus their rescue efforts.

Louise Crawford (left), Lindsay Sielski, and Davey (Image: Dogs Trust)

Davey is the only rescue dog within a team of eight dogs qualified to work internationally with UK ISAR.

Another rescue dog from Dogs Trust, a labrador from Loughborough rehoming centre called Bailey, is following in Davey's footsteps and is also excelling during his training.

Also there as part of the UK ISAR team was Victoria Phillips, Dogs Trust veterinary surgeon manager, who volunteers with the search and rescue team as veterinary support. Victoria’s role is to take care of the rescue dogs like Davey who are trained to locate people caught up in disaster zones.

Speaking about Davey and the rescue mission, Lindsay said: “Our dogs and the work they do is so important in the harshest of environments. Hatay was an assault on the senses with the noise, sights, smells, dust and shattered glass everywhere, but the dogs weren’t distracted from their purpose of finding people alive.

Davey sleeping (Image: Dogs Trust)

“We worked 18-hour days during which Davey searched tirelessly.  He located a female casualty on the first day of searching who went on to be successfully rescued.

“Davey is a very special search dog. He is so agile and his dexterity is phenomenal. He doesn’t get overly excited on searches, he doesn’t give wrong answers, he works effortlessly and methodically - it is beautiful to witness. He has the magical on-off switch. He comes home at the end of the working day with me as part of the family and is a different dog.

“Search dogs like Davey play such a vital role that not only protects the health and safety of all fire and rescue teams, but they also protect our mental health by searching in areas we can’t. Davey and the other three dogs deployed to Turkey carried out their work flawlessly.”

Davey arrived at Dogs Trust Shoreham in March 2018 as a one-year-old youngster after his owner could no longer care for him. One month after being handed into Dogs Trust's care, Davey was a search dog in training in Lancashire.

Lindsay holding Davey at the airport with vet Victoria Phillips (Image: Dogs Trust)

He successfully completed 12 months training to become a live casualty search and rescue dog. His every day job with Lancashire Fire and Rescue involves searching collapsed buildings throughout the UK and he also works with Lancashire Police searching for vulnerable missing people.

Assistant manager operations at Dogs Trust Shoreham, Vicky Grylls, spotted his potential instantly.

Vicky said: “Davey was an active, fun dog who loved a tennis ball so we knew straight away he could be ideal as a service dog. We could see he was a quick learner and we were aware Lindsay was looking for a dog to train up. Davey was a perfect fit and has been a total star ever since. We are proud to have played a small part in his amazing journey. Davey is a very special boy.”