The latest recruit at Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is a young English Springer spaniel. Mac is three years-old and has just been unveiled as the newest search dog in Scotland.
He will join his four-legged colleague Diesel.
Dog handler and Crew Manager Gary Carroll who also trained Diesel said: “It’s a great feeling to be able to now announce Mac as a fully qualified search and rescue dog.
“We’ve had him since he was eight-weeks old so to get to this stage is a real proud moment.
“But it’s not just me that’s been involved, my wife, my family and the Fire Service have really helped us and got us to the stage of qualifying.”
Mac was born in Suffolk and reared by Gary in Aberdeenshire. Gary explained what training looks like. He said : “Training starts very quickly, for instance with Mac, we allowed him to play with his toys by himself for months and then one day we take the toy away and hide it.
“Naturally, he’s annoyed and wants it back but the toy is only returned when he barks – that’s how we build his play drive.
“It’s really important for him to have a high play drive because in reality, searching and finding is just a big game to him.
He added: “If he searches, locates live human scent then barks he’s rewarded with his toy.
“There’s a few different ways to achieve this outcome, but for Mac it was started in the house – my wife would hide in different places and then reward him for finding her.
“That’s then progressed further and we get to the stage we’re at today.”
Diesel will now be joined by Mac on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook follow them by searching @SFRSdog.
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