Meet the team

Breed:- Human

DOB:- January - a long time ago

Sex:- Female

Favourite food:- Pasta

Lives for:- Dogs

Detects:- A good working dog

Rachael has been involved with dog training since 2013. Starting off in the agility world, she really discovered a passion for dogs and the special partnership between canines and humans. 

This teamwork was transferred over to the detection world once she started her career.

Rachael is an experienced handler and trainer in a multitude of disciplines, including conservation, explosives, tobacco and cash. 

She has a true affection for dogs and her work, and is a firm believer in positive training.... and there is always more than one way to train! 

  Having discovered a passion and fascination for the world of dogs and detection in her previous role, Rachael decided to embark on a new journey and focus primarily on the use of detection dogs for conservation purposes to assist in ecological surveys.

Rachael ensures that her dogs are rigorously tested before deployment and throughout their career. She does not take any shortcuts when producing an operational search dog.

Breed:- Human

DOB:- December 1985

Sex:- Male

Favourite food:- Pizza

Lives for:- A decent tune

Detects:- Nothing, pretty useless compared to a dog

Aran has been working with animals since 2010. After gaining a bachelors degree in animal sciences he started his career as a kennel manager at a local rescue centre. It was there that his love of dogs grew. 

He then moved into the detection dog world, firstly as a kennel supervisor, before training and working his way up as a handler and trainer in multiple disciplines, including explosives, conservation, drugs, tobacco and cash.

During this time he was head of conservation and truly helped to push and prove the use of dogs in detecting wildlife, creating the best practice techniques and methodologies. 

Aran now assists Rachael at Paws for Conservation, and is always striving for quality training and rigorous testing of dogs before they are worked operationally.

Breed:- English Springer Spaniel 

DOB:- April 2013

Sex:- Male

Favourite food:- Raw trachea

Lives for:- The ball

Detects:- Bat and bird carcass, Water Vole

Max is an enthusiastic and typically over zealous Springer. He is an accomplished agility dog who has now retired from the sport at a competitive level. He completed his career at Grade 6, just one grade away from the top.

He has taken to detection work incredibly well, though that's not surprising as Max always gives 110% effort and enthusiasm to any task he is presented with. We did have to teach him to steady his pace in the early days - he seemed to be misinformed that everything has to be done at 100mph!

His nose is phenomenal though and he has a fantastic work ethic. 

Max is top of the leader board within the team for the most bat carcass finds. Despite his incredible nose, Max is most famous for his goggles (Rex Specs). He wears them to avoid injuries to his overly large eyes! And he can suffer from hay fever.

Breed:- English Springer Spaniel

DOB:- August 2014

Sex:- Female

Favorite food:- Anything

Lives for:- The ball

Detects:- Bat and bird carcass

Willow is our failed foster dog, having come to us at 11 months old due to her high energy levels. Her previous family could not cope, she had rarely been outdoors and she was petrified of everything, particularly people. 

After lots of careful exposure and training she is now a well rounded detection dog who loves people and lives life to the full.

Willow has years of experience in the detection world. She had previously been trained as a tobacco and cash detection dog and she was very successful within this role. Her biggest single find was of 1.75 million illegal cigarettes in a self storage unit. Overall, she has found well in excess of 2 million illegal cigarettes. 

Although Willow loves tobacco searches, she isn't well adapted to working in small shops... 'bull in a china shop' comes to mind! So for this reason it was decided to retire her from tobacco and train her in conservation instead, where she is now flourishing. 

Breed:- Working Cocker Spaniel 

DOB:- November 2019

Sex:- Male

Favorite food:- Cat poo

Lives for:- Food... or socks!

Detects:- Bat and bird carcass, GCN

Stig is the naughtiest member of the team.

His hobbies include stealing absolutely everything and anything he shouldn't have, (generally underwear and socks), having no awareness of personal space and sleeping on any human's face.

Despite all of that 'character', Stig is exceptionally smart and has developed into a superb little search dog. He has a great pace when searching, has bundles of enthusiasm and is extremely thorough and methodical with his work.

In his first year of operational work he performed at 100% efficiency with numerous operational finds. The results of his second and third seasons are putting him up there as one of our top dogs for operational finds.

 Stig is now a fully trained and proven GCN detection dog after performing at 100% accuracy during independently assessed GCN trials in early 2023.

Breed:- Spaniel cross

DOB:- July 2019

Sex:- Female

Favorite food:- Sardines

Lives for:- The ball

Detects:- Bat and bird carcass, Dormouse

Nala is a rescue dog who joined us in autumn 2020. A live wire with no recall, and always wanting to be busy, she clearly needed a job to do. We started her on a neutral scent not long after she arrived, and she did not disappoint.

I am truly excited about her future as a conservation dog, her pace, drive and work ethic are just perfect. 

Nala is now a fully trained bat and bird carcass detection dog and is deployed onto wind farms to gain vital experience. She has so far proved to be 100% efficient.

Nala is also working on a secret project - her participation in this research project, if successful, will pave the way for new and effective search methods in a bid to save this particular elusive species.

Breed:- English Springer Spaniel

DOB:- January 2021

Sex:- Male

Favorite food:- Everything!

Lives for:- The ball

Detects:- Bat and bird carcass, GCN

Harley is our adolescent teenage boy. He is a rescue dog who had two failed homes before the age of one.

It was apparent from the day he arrived that Harley needed a job, and once we started training his confidence grew the more he developed.

Harley's work ethic is truly fantastic. He's showed huge potential and promise from the start, and that was proven during his first operational season in 2022 where he

successfully located numerous carcasses and performed at 100% efficiency during trials. This dog is definitely something special.

In early 2023 Harley participated in externally assessed GCN trials alongside Atkins global. He scored 100% accuracy during these trials.

Breed:- English Springer Spaniel

DOB:- June 2021

Sex:- Female

Favorite food:- Any food!!

Lives for:- The ball

Detects:- Bat and bird carcass, GCN, Dormouse

Flo is the newest member of the team.  She too is a rescue dog from the same rescue centre as Harley and, just like him, the previous owners could not cope with her high energy levels. Flo has been an absolute dream since she arrived. She lives with our colleague Aran. 

In her downtime Flo likes to steal Aran's toothbrush and complete hundreds of laps of the field whilst locating toys that have been missing for years!

She thrives in this environment and is a perfect pupil, always wanting to learn more. Flo graduated after achieving 100% in her efficiency trials and has had many operational bat and bird carcass finds during her first season in 2022. In early 2023 Flo participated in external assessment trials for GCN and scored 100% accuracy.