Page 42 - Chiron 2024

The first Vehicle Search dogs
by Steven Yeandle
Ihave enjoyed reading about today’s Vehicle Search dogs in recent issues of Chiron Calling.
The articles took me back to the late 1980s when I was tasked to train
the very first VS dogs. A request to the Dog Training School at Melton Mowbray had been received from HQ N. Ireland through Army Dog Unit NI for dogs to be specifically trained for searching the outside
of a large number of vehicles at vehicle checkpoints within the province. The system at the time meant for every vehicle pulled over for searching left up to one hundred vehicles free to continue their journeys unsearched, the odds were stacked very much in favour of the terrorist. The idea was to pull over twenty+ vehicles at the same time for a quick search thereby lessening the chances of weapons/explosives going undetected.
I was tasked by the Chief Trainer to acquire two dogs from intake and proceed with the training of the new classification of dogs with immediate effect. My training Sgt at the time, Dave Wilson, gave me this advice, don’t wait for intake to send you down two dogs go and see what is available and choose the ones
you think will be best suited for the task. I took his advice went to intake and spotted two springer spaniels. Having owned and worked spaniels before joining the RAVC they seemed the ideal choice for the type of work that was required from them.
The two spaniels named Stick
and Dick responded well to training and soon got used to working in a harness attached to a short lead and had no problems detecting both explosives and weapons. As with today’s VS dog trainers/handlers
my main problem was finding large volumes of vehicles to search in one go but we managed with what we had, and they were soon ready to pass out as the very first VS dogs.
After Stick and Dicks training was complete, I was tasked with setting up and running the first VS course for two RMP
out and deployment. The OC of Dog School, Marsh Revel, had shown a lot of interest in the progress of the teams and requested to be at their
dog handlers,
if memory serves me right, they were Cpls Thompson and Perry. Stick
“I was tasked with setting up and running the first
VS course for two RMP dog handlers”
final training exercise which was to be held at the Top Camp Guardroom searching all vehicles coming into camp that
and Dick took
well to their new handlers, and it was not long before the new VS handlers were ready for passing
morning. I gave the OC a time to come to Top Camp and suggested
he bring his own car which could
be used as part of the search and as the carrier vehicle for a quantity of training explosives. What could have been an embarrassing situation if not found, my confidence in both dogs and handlers was justified when the cache was found and the OC was left pleased with what he had seen and both teams were ready for deployment to NI.
I don’t have any information of their progress/finds in NI but if nothing else their deterrent value would have been tremendous.
I myself was posted to ADU NI in 1990 and was reunited with Stick, who by this time had been teamed up with a new handler and attached to my section in Belfast, I even got a chance to work him while out on a UDR patrol in the city. Keep up the good work all VS trainers/handlers.
40 / Chiron Calling