Meet Maali and Ginny – 2 hard-working canine recruits getting ready to be deployed when people go missing on the Isle of Wight.
These new WightSAR Search Dog Team trainees are making strong progress towards their final assessment. With the support of Wightlink for their mainland training sessions, Maali and Ginny, together with their dedicated handlers, train frequently both on and off the Island.
Once qualified, the dogs will join the WightSAR operational team, assisting in live searches for high-risk missing persons across the Isle of Wight.
Maali, an air-scenting ‘sprocker’ spaniel, can detect human scent from as far as 500 metres away – effectively covering the work of up to 20 human searchers. This makes her particularly effective in large search areas such as woodland.
Labrador Ginny is a scent-specific trailing dog, trained to follow the unique scent of a missing person, typically taken from clothing or a personal item. She can track that scent from the individual’s last known location while disregarding all others.
Their handlers, search technicians Jasmine Light and Catherine Fitton, are working tirelessly alongside them. Together they are enhancing WightSAR’s operational strength and flexibility.
Training to become a qualified search dog takes 2–3 years of continuous, focused effort, under the guidance of a trainer and national assessor from the National Search and Rescue Dog Association (NSARDA). Regular visits from the NSARDA trainer ensure steady progress, alongside training weekends on the mainland to gain broader experience.
During a recent Island-based NSARDA training weekend in June, the teams were joined by a local Police Search Advisor, helping to build real-world operational readiness. As the training intensifies, the dogs are being exposed to more complex search environments and missing-person scenarios, while integrating with WightSAR’s wider team to ensure seamless collaboration during live incidents.
Next up, Maali, Ginny and their handlers will attend a national training weekend in North Wales later this month.
Dean Terrett BEM, WightSAR chairman and founder, said:
“This vital search dog training project, reliant on frequent mainland travel and specialised expertise, would not have been possible without Wightlink’s generous and ongoing support, for which we are profoundly grateful.
“Their ongoing sponsorship has been instrumental in developing our search dog team – and that will ultimately save lives.”
Sam Woodman, Wightlink partnerships marketing manager, added:
“We recognise what vital work WightSAR does, often bringing happy conclusions to stressful situations, so we’re very happy to support their training programme – and it’s great to see Maali and Ginny doing so well.”
