Celebrating World Red Cross Day, ARISTOPET also wanted to acknowledge the great social and humanitarian work carried out by the team of rescue dogs Els Tres Pins (Catalonia).
As they explain on their website, it doesn't matter what their breed, mix, or size is. Any dog can be useful to become one of the rescue dogs; any dog can save a life.
More than 280 rescue dogs have been trained over 25 years at their school, including all of the Red Cross's dogs. This team is the only Red Cross team officially approved at the national level.
The Els Tres Pins rescue group was created in 1984, although it wasn't until 1986 that the group became operational and already had 6 rescue dogs specifically trained for this task. In those early days, the group was not yet affiliated with the Red Cross.
For about twenty years now, the Els Tres Pins school has had its own group of rescue dogs. It was after training the first two dogs dedicated to rescue for the Red Cross of Gironella -Red and Cross- that a collaboration link was established with the humanitarian organization, which was formalized in 1994 with the signing of a first cooperation project between both entities. In 2000, this project was expanded, and the Els Tres Pins group became an active and direct part of the charity as a group of fully integrated volunteers within the Red Cross of Catalonia.
The Els Tres Pins training school has a history of more than 25 years dedicated to dog training. It is one of the schools in Catalonia that enjoys the status of a training center for dogs from other institutions and/or organizations. In addition, it is affiliated with the Royal Canine Society of Catalonia. Apart from this activity, we also offer different tracking and rescue courses for already qualified trainers.
In this video, you can see how SITO, a German Shepherd, works with his handler in a canine rescue through tracking:
The purpose of this Search and Tracking Dog Group is to locate lost people in different situations. To achieve this, it is essential that the team formed by the dog and the handler is well trained. Similarly, it is necessary that the intervention be as quick as possible, as the scents that rescue dogs follow are present in the terrain for a limited period of time. This last point is of vital importance for a successful search.
From ARISTOPET, we congratulate the entire team of Red Cross Spain, and the hundreds of rescue dogs that work with them, making the world a better place. Congratulations!
