One man and his dog make speedy rescue team
Published: February 15, 2007
When Paula Renwick’s husband creeps home in the early hours, he has been out all night with his “other woman”.
But the 27-year-old primary school teacher doesn’t mind, for she knows husband Paul has been out trying to save lives - and the “other woman” is his four-year-old border collie, Skye.
Paul, a 29-year-old PE teacher of Manor Close, Moorside, Consett, County Durham, recently became a qualified search & rescue dog handler with Skye in double quick time.
He began training Skye 14 months ago, and it normally takes at least two years to train a dog up to the high standard expected of mountain rescue search dogs.
Paul, a member of the Teesdale and Weardale Search and Rescue Team, who can expect to be called out with Skye on average once a week, said: “We work as a team, but Skye is the intelligent one, she keeps me right.
“But I am also lucky to have a very understanding wife. She was expecting our second son, Ethan, who is now six weeks old, when I was out training with Skye.”
Paula and Paul have another son, Coby, aged two-and-a-half, and Paula said: “I joke that Skye is Paul’s other woman, he spends more time out with her than he does with me, but what the search and rescue team does is extremely worthwhile.”
One of Paul’s most memorable rescues involved another dog.
He explained: “I was winched down a quarry in Weardale to rescue a huge Alsatian which was stuck on a ledge. I pulled her back up and her teeth were inches from my nose - but luckily she did not bite.”
Skye now joins three other qualified search dogs in the team, and is one of only seven dogs and handlers available throughout the North-East.
Team leader Dave Bartles-Smith said: “This is a great achievement for Paul and Skye. They have both worked very hard, often putting in more than 10 hours a week of training. It was especially difficult for Paul’s family as his wife was expecting their second child through most of the training period.”
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