Training rescue dogs for avalanches in Svalbard

After a fatal avalanche hit Longyearbyen on Svalbard in 2015, a group of dog-loving volunteers decided to start Norwegian Search and Rescue Dogs Svalbard.

The volunteers had no previous experience and training in the field, but like everyone else in Longyearbyen, they participated in the search for missing people after the avalanche.

The group started training in 2016 and today the dog handlers meet two-to-three times per week to train the dogs together. Amongst their dogs are a Toller, a Hunting Labrador, a Border Collie, and a German Shepherd.

The organisation cooperates with the Red Cross and the Governor of Svalbard. Instructors from the Norwegian Search and Rescue Dogs come from the mainland to teach. In addition to the two certified equipages, six more are training to reach the top level of education as we speak.

As Norwegian Search and Rescue Dogs Svalbard is a humanitarian non-profit voluntary organisation, the need for sponsors is crucial in keeping the organisation active. Hurtigruten Foundation is a proud sponsor of the organisation and has now been supporting Norwegian Search and Rescue Dogs Svalbard for five years, but our collaboration is more than just financial support.

When instructors from the mainland visit Svalbard to educate the equipages, they are supported with free hotel rooms, meeting rooms and dinners by the Hurtigruten Foundation in cooperation with Hurtigruten Svalbard.

Voluntary work has a strong standing in Norway and especially in small societies, such as Longyearbyen, where every person contributing is needed to make projects come alive and stay active.

The volunteers spend a lot of time with their dogs through the training and they are driven by how personally fulfilling it is, in addition to being a very important contribution to the local society. The wild nature and weather on Svalbard is both arduous and unpredictable, so the search and rescue dogs are much needed when accidents occur.

Going forward Norwegian Search and Rescue Dogs Svalbard will continue to focus on recruiting and training new equipages to their organisation.