A Northern Ireland rescue pooch is now the top qualified volunteer searcher in the British Isles.
Floss, who recently added mountain rescue to her list of accolades passed a gruelling two day assessment in the Mourne Mountains with her furry colleague Axel.
The pair's new qualifications bring Search and Rescue Dog Association - Ireland North's (SARDA IN) doggy rescue team to six hounds covering four specialist rescue areas.
They have:
2 Mountain Search Dogs
2 Lowland Search Dogs
2 Collapsed Structure Search Dogs
1 Drowned Victim Search Dog
The group's training officer, Neil Powell told Belfast Live: "Training for this discipline takes a minimum of two years followed by a two day assessment conducted by external assessors from Search and Rescue Dog Association (Scotland).
"This now means that Search and Rescue Dog Association - Ireland North's resilience has increased to having six qualified Search Dogs available across four disciplines - Mountain, Collapsed Structure, Victim Recovery and Lowland Areas."
Here's Axel in action:
But they are also nosing ahead of other volunteers groups, as Floss is now has more certificates to her name than any other volunteer rescue dog in the UK or Ireland.
"One of our new Mountain Search Dogs, Floss is now the highest qualified search dog in the UK and Ireland having already qualified in Collapsed Structure with the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) and Lowland with the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue (ALSAR)," Neil added.
"SARDA IN is a member of Northern Ireland Search and Rescue (NISAR) from the Department of Justice, which oversees all the Search and Rescue teams in Northern Ireland. SARDA IN are the only recognised search and rescue dog team in NI."
Floss’s handler, Raph O’Connor, said: "We had two full days of search assessment in steep mountain terrain in the Mourne Mountains, it was gruelling for handlers and dogs.
"Floss worked tremendously well as always, she is such an exceptional search dog with a high drive. Many thanks to all our dogs bodies as we could not practice without there loyal support in all weathers. This is the ultimate achievement for Floss."
The group has thanked Daren Streatham and Pete Chrichton from Search & Rescue Dog Association (Scotland) , who assessed Floss and Axel during their grueling two day mountain search dog assessment at the Tollymore National Outdoor Centre .
Keep up-to-date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.
Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.
Click here to get it from the App Store or here for Google Play .
