Watersafe UK Search and Rescue Team - Dog Section
The WUKSART dog section is made up of two Newfoundland dogs: Boris - the brains of the outfit (pictured left) and Tuggs who provides the muscle (pictured right). The dogs are used alongside our swift water rescue technicians who have each recieved additional training to be able to work safely with the dogs.
Newfoundlands or Newfies, as they are affectionately known are dogs bred specificly for swimming by fishermen in the Newfoudland region of Canada. Newfies are a large breed which can grow to over 70cm tall and weigh over 70Kg! They have webs between their toes to use as paddles when swimming, their coats are very thick and have a slighltly oily feel to it - this makes it completely waterproof and the bottom layers of fur will remain completely dry even during full immersion in the water.
Newfoundlands have an excellent temperament and have a natural instinct to look after humans. Testament to this is that the characrter 'Nana' from the original Peter Pan (the play and book) is a Newfoundland. Newfoundlands are very tolerant by nature and will happily play with adults and children alike - though their size does limit the amount of appropriate play.
The dogs thoroughly enjoy swimming and have an innate desire to rescue people - it has been said that if you don't want to be removed from the water you definitely should not go swimming with a newfoundland. The dogs love to get into the boats and enjoy jumping out again with thier handlers to swim to the aid of an unfortunte casualty. 
Our Search and Rescue Newfoundlands are not put into the water to replace a human rescuer. They are used as an aid to rescue and are not put at any further risk than we are willing to put our rescue technicians. It may help to think of the dogs as a hairy version of the red floating 'rescue cans' seen in Baywatch. Being such powerful swimmers they greatly multiply the range or capacity of our human rescuers!
One of our rescue dog handlers will be travelling to Italy in April 2011 to train with and gain experience from the team who use Newfoundland rescue dogs jumping from helicopters to rescue people stranded at sea - Pete will be bringing this valauble experience back to WUKSART.
Many tales have been told of the courage displayed by Newfoundlands in their adventuring and lifesaving exploits; I have no doubt that Boris and Tuggs will live up to the reputation and prove themselves to be a valuable part of Watersafe UK Search and Rescue Team.
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