An Angus man and his dog are in the hunt to become the North East’s first volunteer search and rescue dog pairing.
Scott Wallace from Montrose works with HM Coastguard as a rescue officer and he wants his golden retriever Oscar to join in three generations of the family protecting the shoreline.
The pair are called GOSAR Golf, Oscar, Search and Rescue and consist of Scott Wallace and his dog Oscar.
Mr Wallace’s father, Alex, also volunteered as a rescue officer along the Angus and Aberdeenshire coastline.
Another generation back, Grandad Thomson was a full-time watch officer for 31 years before joining HM Coastguard’s head office in Aberdeen.
Mr Wallace wants the dog team to help the coastguard and police in searching for missing people, and is seeking to raise the £5,000 it will cost to help Oscar through the training.
He said: “Having first-hand experience of searching the Angus coastline in the cold and dark, anything that can make this task easier and increase the chances of finding a missing person, returning a loved one to their family, is definitely worth investigating further.
“A single dog and handler can cover the equivalent area that would require a 10-man search team.
“With their being vast amounts of open farmland and wooded areas along our coast, I see Oscar only improving the chances of a positive find.”
The dog will have to attend the International Rescue Training Centre in Wales to determine his aptitude.
Once Oscar has been given the green light some distance learning will be required as well as assessments around Scotland with other search dogs and handlers.
Once accredited, their aim will be to become a declared search asset to each emergency service and be ready to respond to missing person search requests, covering coastal areas from Dundee to Peterhead.
Mr Wallace said Oscar loves nothing more than running on the beach, hiding in long grass or searching for his toys.
He added: “Every working dog does it for the enjoyment and reward. If he didn’t, we would not consider putting him through the intensive training required.”
Visit www.facebook.com/GOSARscotland for more information.