The Fort William Mountain Festival is proud to announce the recognition of two special novice search and rescue dog teams from Search & Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) Scotland with the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture – Special 20th Anniversary Award, sponsored by Burns Pet Nutrition. This unique one-off award in celebration of the 20th Fort William Mountain Festival programme acknowledges the outstanding contributions of search and rescue dog teams to mountain culture throughout Scotland.
In a remarkable achievement, Rogue, a Belgian Malinois bitch, and Bowie, a Border Collie, along with their husband-and-wife Handlers, Paul and Sam Noble, from Braemar in Aberdeenshire, have earned this esteemed award after both teams passed an extremely challenging external assessment in just one year of intensive training. Typically, it takes two years to fully train search dogs and their handlers before their first official rescue call out.
In March 2023, the duo of Sam and Bowie clinched the Madras Trophy, an accolade bestowed upon the best Novice Search Dog Team deemed outstanding. In April 2023, shortly after passing their external assessment Paul and Rogue undertook their first call out, making history as only the second SARDA Scotland dog team to find a missing hillwalker on their first official search call out. This was even more impressive as Rogue had to retrain using a muzzle, something that normally takes a year, and Paul underwent brain surgery a few months prior to the final assessment.
SARDA Scotland, a Scottish charity dedicated to training dogs and their volunteer handlers to search for missing persons, supporting Mountain Rescue Teams and the Police in their search and rescue efforts, commended the Novice Search Dog Teams for their remarkable achievements.
Stu McIntyre, Training Officer, SARDA Scotland, said: ‘SARDA Scotland is delighted to congratulate Sam and Paul Noble and their dogs Bowie and Rogue on receiving the prestigious Fort William Mountain Festival 20th Anniversary Award. This is fantastic recognition for their outstanding contributions to Mountain Culture.
‘As an organisation with deep roots in the Lochaber area and having two presidents who have received Scottish Awards for Excellence in Mountain Culture, most recently with our current president Dave ‘Heavy’ Whalley in 2023, this award for Paul and Sam seems even more fitting.
‘On behalf of the entire SARDA Scotland team, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Sam and Paul. Their unwavering dedication and service to SARDA, Mountain Rescue and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service is an inspiration to us all. We are proud to have them as part of our SARDA family, and we look forward to their continued contributions for many years to come.’
Sam and Paul Noble, who joined SARDA as novice dog handlers after the Covid pandemic lockdowns, surpassed all expectations. Both seasoned mountaineers and members of Braemar Mountain Rescue Team, as well as Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) observers, they bring a wealth of experience to SARDA. Paul, having summited Everest twice, demonstrates their commitment to mountain culture.
Sam and Paul Noble said: ‘We are honoured to be awarded the special 20th Anniversary Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture by the Fort William Mountain Festival.
‘Mountains are our life and we’ve been fortunate to complete many routes and summits that have been difficult. Becoming a search dog team has been, in some ways, a similar challenge. Ultimately it requires absolute commitment, with major highs and lows during the journey. Getting back up again when you’ve been knocked down is perhaps the hardest part.
‘SARDA Scotland is a tight group, very much a family and we are proud to be part of it and call ourselves Search Dogs and Handlers. We thank our committee, trainers, and colleagues for nominating us for this award and recognise that we follow in the shadow of previous recipients, Hamish Machines, our founder and David Whalley, our president.
‘And of course, most important of all, without our Bowie and Rogue’s trust and love, our lives would feel a lot emptier.’
Anna Danby, the Fort William Mountain Festival Coordinator, said: ‘The Fort William Mountain Festival are very proud to honour SARDA, their dog handlers and, of course, our K9 friends for all the outstanding work they do throughout the year. We wished to recognise the contribution that SARDA make to Mountain Rescue with this special one-off award as part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture. Both Sam and Bowie and Paul and are wholly deserving recipients of this award, and their unique story was a huge factor in them winning. We thank both SARDA for all their help in choosing these amazing recipients and Burns Pet Nutrition for their sponsorship.’
Rebecca Wilkinson, Sponsorship Officer, said: ‘We are so proud to be a part of the Fort William Mountain Festival on its 20th Anniversary and celebrating with a special award to two SARDA Dog and Handler Teams. As a company that is a supporter and sponsor of SARDA Scotland, we always strive to make a difference to the lives of pets and humans whenever possible, which is why choosing to support the festival was such an easy choice. This event is a great way to recognise the contribution to the community and the incredible work of the search and rescue handlers and their dogs.’