Worthing search dog retires after 10 years of service

Springer spaniel Millie, 11, was deployed on her last call out on Sunday after serving with Search Dogs Sussex since 2014.

Millie is owned by dog handler Darren Yeates, from Worthing, who volunteers for the charity, which is part of Lowland Rescue.

Darren Yeates with his spaniels, Millie and Koda (Image: Submitted) Darren said: “Lowland rescue covers a bigger area than mountain rescue. Mountain Rescue is looking for people who generally want to be found or know they’re lost. They do more rescuing and less searching

“We do the opposite. We rescue people who don’t know they’re lost or don’t want to be found such as those who have dementia, mental health issues or those who might be suicidal.”

Millie with her owner and handler Darren Yeates (Image: Submitted) The team can only be called out by Sussex Police and is on call 24/7, 365 days a year. There are generally 30 to 60 call outs a year.

The team is entirely volunteer run with some 40 people and 15 dogs, five of who are qualified. All the dogs are pets, which means they live with their handlers.

It takes between two to five years for a dog to qualify, with formal training every week and “considerable training” around these sessions. Dogs must pass national assessments to qualify.

Darren said: “It’s a huge commitment and demanding. We’re being asked to look for someone potentially in need of medical help – if we don’t find them, they could die. We can’t afford to be nearly good enough.”

Sussex Dogs Sussex is entirely made up of volunteers (Image: Submitted) The charity prefers dogs between the ages of one and five and although, technically speaking, any dog can become a search dog, Darren said “you don’t tend to see a search pug”.

He said: “The clue is in the size of the nose – search dogs tend to have good noses on them and to be working breeds such as border collies, labradors, spaniels, vizslas, Belgian malinois and German shepherds.

“That said, we’ve had a search poodle before and some terriers.”

Darren has a second spaniel, Koda (R) who will be Millie's successor (Image: Submitted) When Darren bought Millie in 2013, he knew he wanted to work her but “didn’t think I’d fit in with the gun dog brigade”, which is why he decided to join the charity.

He now has a successor, three-year-old Koda, who will be taking over from Millie as she enjoys a retirement “full of tennis balls and walks on the beach”.