Beloved Northumberland mountain rescue dog dies just weeks after saving a life

Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team have paid tribute to a beloved member of their crew who left them all too soon - a mountain rescue search dog whose work recently saved someone's life.

English Shepherd Bramble was sadly diagnosed with leukaemia and died on her sixth birthday, just weeks after her very first call-out at a major search for a missing person in Northumberland. Bramble did her team proud when she brought the search, involving 16 different search and rescue teams, to an end after locating the missing person - an incredible achievement on her first job considering most search dogs may only find two or three people in their career.

Helping others was a family affair for Bramble, who qualified as a mountain rescue search dog in January; her sister Dottie is an operational search dog with Edale Mountain Rescue Team and her brother Stan is a therapy dog, while her mum Shona and auntie Fern are also both retired search dogs. The talented four-legged family have found eight missing people between them.

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Bramble's handler Andrew was by her side when she went to sleep. Team leader Iain Nixon paid tribute to their much-loved team member, saying: "Bramble was a fantastic search dog and we are all incredibly sad that she has died so suddenly.

"Search dogs are very much part of our team and her loss is felt by everyone. On behalf of the team and especially her handler, Andrew, we'd like to offer our thanks to Ayres Veterinary Hospital in North Shields for doing all they could to help Bramble."

A fundraising appeal has now been launched in Bramble's memory to support mountain rescue teams and help to train future search dogs. Each dog in the profession takes two to three years to train, with the volunteer time required equivalent to an investment of around £60,000.

Search dogs can prove invaluable in locating missing people, with a single dog able to cover the same ground as 20 trained human searchers. Their heightened sense of smell also gives them a great advantage at night or in adverse weather conditions, picking up on things that human eyes can't see and helping to find missing people when it's most important.

Half of the funds raised through the JustGiving campaign in Bramble's memory will be donated to Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England (MRSDE), the charity that trains new mountain rescue search dogs and qualifies them to operational status. The other half of the funds raised will be donated to the mountain rescue teams of Northumberland that Bramble worked with, Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team, and sister team North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team.

The money will support the costs of their search dogs, such as veterinary care and associated insurance, dog related PPE, equipment, and consumables, and lifesaving equipment issued to the dog handler. Donations can be given to the fundraiser here.