Memorials:
 Sara
: 1997-2006
Handler: Matt Dodd
Areas of Certification: Wilderness Search, USAR (Basic)
I’m not a great one for publicising my personal thoughts but I do support the idea of search dog memorials. So I have deferred to Sally for the task of drafting this document, and given that Sally was the mastermind behind Sara’s arrival in my life it seems fitting that she should lead her farewell.
In 1987 our lives changed dramatically with the arrival of a Flatcoat Retriever puppy. There was one litter in the country at the time, with one puppy left. The fact we wanted to use her for search and rescue tipped the breeders’ decision in our favour and reluctantly they parted with her on the condition she was left “intact”. This condition was to give us no end of trouble during her career as a search dog.
Our disaster dog had a number of disastrous habits such as inexcusable and creative escapology. Frequently impounded, she escaped from the time she was a young puppy until the last week of her life when terminally ill and with an intra-abdominal catheter and wads of surgical bandages she took herself off for a sojourn down the local creek! Matt was even humiliated on occasion by having to turn up to training minus his dog, but amazingly she was never on walkabout when a callout came. Her other bad habits were thievery (our hearts and all forms of food), bossiness (she was the queen bee) and gluttony. Her string of sexual encounters leaves a small trail of half-breed and pedigree pups around NZ and Australia. As a breeder she was poor, not a good mother (she was a career woman) and an even worse mate. Two of the sires actually died within days of the “coupling”. Don’t ask me how she managed that! All this sex and pregnancy did seriously impact on her training but the puppies were great fun. Sara’s grandson Sam is now in training. During his suitability assessment for search work he showed so many characteristics of his grandmother that Linda and Janelle laughed. The poor owner got quite nervous at the assessors laughing at his dog. However from our point of view it has been great to see various of Sara’s descendants demonstrate her drive, focus and loyalty.
Sara qualified for Wilderness Search in 2000 and was still operational at the time of her death. She was very lucky to have been active on over 30 searches around the South Island but mainly in the Nelson-Tasman region. Matt and Sara are credited with 6 finds. Her first find was a pair of intellectually disabled mountain bikers who thought she was a black pig crashing through the night. Her most injured find (and the one most independent of her handler) was a despondent 50 year old who had slashed both wrists and tried to drown himself before crawling into bush to hide. For Matt however the career highlight was finding a three year old West Coast girl who had been given up for dead. Carrying her back to an incredulous and elated family was a very special experience.
In 2002, while pregnant, Sara’s first attempt at the new USAR standard finally got underway but she failed miserably on the directability. No great surprise there - she was often more inclined to follow her own directions. Six months later she passed easily and joined the small list of USAR qualified dogs in NZ.
Sara loved her work. She became a founding member of NZ-RT2 and was valued and indulged by the team. Helicopters were a particular love. She would often go into a frenzy of barking and pirouettes in the drive when one flew over. “Here it is Dad. Its my helicopter coming for us”. Her bounce was legendary. A trademark for announcing finds both in training and operations. Once Janelle was the “victim” and not only did Sara bounce on her head but true to Flatcoat form Janelle received a good slobbering. She emerged hair in chaos, glasses askew and lenses dripping with saliva. Janelle announced through clenched teeth “I’ve been Sara’ed”. Such are the joys of search training.
Our special thanks for their contribution to Sara’s successful career must go to the early Christchurch crew (Linda, Emma, Janelle, Ian) who with patience and good humour nurtured Sara and her novice handler.
We miss Sara so badly. The silence that greets helicopters and homecomings at our Nelson house can be unbearable. This plucky little dog has left a hole in our lives and our hearts. We await the arrival of her grand-daughter with trepidation. How can she possibly be all that Sara was? Maybe we are in the end a one dog family.
Search dogs are addictive, time consuming, annoying and glorious. It’s very hard to say goodbye to them.
Sally and Matt
(* Photo courtesy Nelson Daily Mail)
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