HEROES come in all shapes and sizes - even hairy, four legged, and with a wagging tail.

Courageous canine Rauour was commended by vet charity PDSA this week, for rescuing a critically injured missing woman in blizzard conditions near Innerleithen last February.

The three-year-old red Labrador, from Selkirk, was trained by Search and Rescue Dog Association Southern Scotland, and alongside his handler and life-long companion John Romanes, works as part of Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team.

On February 28, 2015, the TVMRT were called out to find a missing person. An amber weather warning was in place and blizzard conditions had already set in around Innerleithen.

The team had been searching the area on foot, which included dense woodland and steep inclines, for a couple of hours before Rauour and John were dispatched to search an area on Leithen Water.

Rauour started searching deep inside a thick forest and two minutes in, he signalled to John by barking. He had discovered the casualty: a woman trapped in the hole of a tree root, with only her legs visible. She was unconscious and suffering advanced hyperthermia. 

The horrendous weather conditions, darkness and position of the victim meant that crews had passed by hours earlier without noticing her.

The woman was airlifted to hospital and made a full recovery, thanks to the efforts of John and Rauour.

Trainer, handler, and best pal John has volunteered with the team for seven years.

He said: “Rauour’s detection skills really came to the fore that night. His role as an air scenting search dog was more effective than a 20-strong team performing a line search on the ground. Without him finding the casualty when he did, the outcome could have been very grave indeed.

“It was of course a team effort, everyone worked extremely hard on the rescue mission that night.”

John trained Rauour - which means red in Icelandic - for a job on the front-line from a pup. 

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He would hide objects far and wide on morning walks, before taking Rauour out later that day or the next again day for him to track down. From a very young age, Rauour showed a knack for these ‘games’ and by 18 months old he was going out on search and rescue missions.

John said: “He has been on 55 call outs so far. We started training him at about six months and he loves it, he thinks they’re games - it isn’t like work for him.

“I have a special alert on my phone when I get a call-out text, and Rauour knows when it’s go time by the sound no matter what time of the night.

“We would never have been able to train him up to this standard if it wasn’t for all the help of so many people. A special shout out has to go to Rhona Morrison who has given up a lot of her time over the past while, hiding up hills and in bushes for Rauour track so he could train.”

The commendation was presented at the Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team’s Melrose base this week, as part of the charity’s annual awards programme which recognises those animals that are that little bit extra special. 

PDSA’s John Faulkner, who presented the award, said Rauour’s story epitomised the “value that animals bring to our lives.”

He added: “The work of search and rescue dogs across the country is absolutely vital – their skills are priceless and Rauour’s story serves as a reminder of just how lucky we are to have these dogs here to help us. This award was to congratulate Rauour for his great devotion to duty.

“And also demonstrates the prime example of the special bond between a man and his dog.”