Who We Are

Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs (BSARD) is a volunteer Lowland Rescue search dog team on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to assist Search and Rescue teams, the Police and other Emergency Services. Our primary role is to assist in locating lost or missing vulnerable people within Berkshire and its surrounding areas. BSARD was formed in 2002, and became a registered charity (No. 1102479) in the UK in March 2004. We are dependent on sponsorship and donations to exist and carry out our work.

The team is made up entirely of volunteers who (together with their dogs) undergo constant training and must meet rigorous standards in order to obtain operational status. Most of our dog handlers and support personnel dedicate their spare time to the search and rescue team on top of working full-time jobs.

Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs is currently the largest Lowland Rescue dog team in England, with 22 operational members, and 28 dogs (12 dogs that are qualified and operational, and the rest either in training or awaiting requalification). Whilst the majority of our dogs are working breeds, all types of dog are considered on their merits and must pass an initial evaluation before being accepted into the team for training.

Being a specialist dog team, we are often called out to provide support to neighbouring counties as well as working closely with Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue (BLSAR) who provide search control services and specialist foot search teams.

We are a member team of Lowland Rescue, who are responsible for coordinating Lowland Search teams as well as setting the standards to which we must comply. We are also official partners with Thames Valley Police with whom we work closely.

Presentations

We would love to come and speak to your group about who we are and what we do, and regularly present to cubs, scouts, rainbows etc. We can cater for all age groups, so please CONTACT US if you’d like to arrange for us to come and give a talk. We can even demonstrate how our dogs work if there is a suitable space at, or near, your meeting venue.