Wexford k-9 Search and Rescue

05/09/2026

Meet Atlas! 🐾

Born right here at home—an unplanned, wonderful surprise where we proudly know the exact home of every single one of his brothers and sister are.

Atlas just recently turned 21 months old and fully operationally trained back in April.
Navigating some growing pains initially meant we took our time along with giving him a good solid puppyhood and Atlas has thrived..

Before he was ever taken outside to learn to search, Atlas completed 120 dedicated foundation training sessions entirely indoors.

A phenomenal amount of work has gone into him and that patience has truly paid off.

While he is wonderfully lovable and very boisterous (which is probably my fault!), when it comes to the job, Atlas is an absolute professional who takes his work deeply seriously.

His operational record already includes indicating on historical graves dating back 300 to 400 years to recent graves.

River training with a young dog always brings a learning curve and demands absolute operational discipline.
Before a dog ever steps foot onto a boat, they must be fully land trained and possess a reliable active indication—passive-indicating dogs simply do not work the water with us.
There are no casual trial runs or pleasure cruises to see if a dog "likes" the boat.
When they step onto that deck, it is strictly to work under strict protocols.

Atlas’s first time on a boat..
Fresh off a week and a half of intensive vent-and-line training on a flat collar and lead—where he developed a calm, steady passive indication without digging or barking—we took him out on the boat.
Every single time we passed under a bridge, Atlas dropped down flat. Standing right there on the boat with him, I thought he was just ducking to stay safe.
It wasn't quite fair on him after working static pauses, but once we reviewed the footage at home, the penny dropped Atlas wasn't ducking for the bridge at all—he was giving a textbook passive indication on a submerged target on clear fishing twine over a metre beneath the surface.

We had his very first proper active indication out on the water on our next trip.

That capability also shone on dry land earlier this year, when Atlas stepped up to the Dublin Fire Brigade Training Centre.
With everything being entirely brand new to him, it had its funny moments: when we first stepped into the BA (breathing apparatus) rooms, his reaction was clear: "No way." My reaction was equally clear: "Yes, way!"
Later, walking up to the burn containers, thank goodness the gate was closed—otherwise he would have happily abandoned the search to join the new fire recruits training out on the yard!
I simply popped him on the lead, and he happily came with me.
By talking to him to build his confidence, letting him give his indication and reward on the first container, he was completely settled for the rest.
For the next container we started a few metres away, I asked him to sit, sent him in freely ahead of me and not a bother on him—he was absolute perfection across all four container burns, dealing with various accelerants and even crawling right under the bed in a bedsit set-up in the final container to pinpoint a tooth!

Atlas has a wonderful independent streak and a healthy, spirited spark that is essential for his career ahead.

Nothing has been reined in, altered, or taken away from him—he is a million percent himself.
Full to the brim of energy, serious about his work, and undeniably hilarious off-duty, that self-assured character makes him a brilliant, confident decision-maker in the field.

Backed by our uncompromising standards—trained strictly for human remains detection on pure samples only, never on bodily fluids, residue odours, artificial items, cross-contaminated materials, or animal meats like pig, and built entirely on pressure-free, play-rewarded training—he is a phenomenal young dog.

Video: Atlas at 5 months old

04/09/2026

Meet Riggly Riley Roo! 🐾

When people see Riley, they might not realise the journey that brought her here.
Arriving at 5 months old, she was a working dog who wanted more out of life than sharing a basket with the house cat and dog—she needed a job.

After 21 months of dedicated training, Riley stepped into history. As only the second lowland general-purpose search dog in Ireland (following Rocky, whose final search in Kilkenny seamlessly passed the baton as Riley's very first)
Riley was successful on her very first search.

Riley is a phenomenal land and human remains detection dog with some proven success on the rivers locating victims, boasting multiple points of entry into water and a historic trailing record of 7 days and 8 hours old.

She has also taken part in our ongoing contribution to the SSRA Scientific Forensic Projects in association with UCD College of Medicine.
She also achieved 100% success over two years at the Dublin Fire Brigade Training Centre—most notably tackling a full bed set-up container that had undergone a re-burn, successfully locating just a single tooth.

While she loves showing off her skills during public demonstrations, she prefers to keep her admirers at a respectful distance rather than being stroked by strangers.

Beyond her credentials, Riley has a massive, undeniable personality. She is a wonderful character with a huge presence—the undisputed little boss woman and a demanding taskmaster who would happily work 3 to 4 hours a day if she had her way.

Backed by uncompromising standards—trained strictly for human remains detection on pure samples only, never on bodily fluids, residue odours, artificial items, cross-contaminated materials, or animal meats like pig, and built entirely on pressure-free, play-rewarded training—she is a master of her craft.

Turning 5 years old this month.
she has a massive personality packed into that little frame.

02/09/2026

Meet Rocco Irish Kennel Club Search Dog of the Year (2022). 🏆

When people see Rocco, they often just see a dog with extremely high energy who is completely ball-mad and let's be honest, he is as daft as a brush.

But what has he actually achieved?

Rocco’s operational record spans across complex river and water recovery operations—where he is quite literally the best teacher you can have on a boat, reading the water and telling you exactly what's happening beneath the surface.

On land indicating on recent to historical graves dating back 300 to 400 years.

He also played a role in our ongoing collaboration on the SSRA Scientific Forensic Projects in association with UCD College of Medicine, now after completing our fourth year.
Rocco’s work has helped rigorously test everything from mapping scent cones and detecting targets at varying depths in different mediums and tidal rivers.
To locating fragments as small as half a child's tooth burned in controlled fires using various accelerants.

Every achievement is backed by uncompromising standards:
our dogs are trained strictly for human remains detection on pure samples only..never on bodily fluids, residue odours, artificial items, cross-contaminated materials, or animal meats like pig.

For river work our dogs have to be fully trained before they step onto a boat and they have to be able to give an active indication (bark)

Combined with entirely pressure-free, play-rewarded training, this builds confident, independent thinkers.
When it's time to work, Rocco puts his absolute heart and soul into every training session and search.

When he's off the clock He is so affectionate and lovable, completely obsessed with his balls and toys…always making sure to bring one of his balls to bed with him. 🐾💤

Rocco’s favourite past time is helping to clean the van-as I’m putting things out of it Rocco’s putting them back in..not very helpful.

Worth his weight in gold..

31/08/2026

Navigating the River Slaney & Raven's Point

We are absolutely thrilled to officially welcome Michael Gately to the team!
Michael brings a wealth of invaluable knowledge to our agency as a new boat member.
Even better, he has already jumped straight into handler training.
With years of experience working with hunting dogs and a wonderful, gentle nature, our dogs took to him straight away during our land cadaver training session last week.

Today’s training run was a phenomenal day on the water. Setting out from the Wexford Boat Club, we navigated all the way down to Enniscorthy and back up, studying the intricate river channels.
Building on the route guidance Johnny previously shared with us, getting out on the water allowed us to truly read the river firsthand.
From there, we headed out to Raven’s Point, focusing heavily on understanding local channels and shifting sandbanks.
Thank you Michael..

The River Slaney is nothing short of breathtaking.
Taking in the magnificent views, the stunning wildlife and the sheer abundance of swans along a section of the water makes every single training hour profoundly rewarding.

After wrapping up on the water, we headed back to the boat club for a well-earned cup of tea and a fantastic chat with our good friends Johnny and Philip.

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to Johnny and Philip.
Their incredible support and guidance-both past and present-mean the world to our team as we continue our water and land operations.

Here’s to many more productive days on the water!

29/08/2026

We are thrilled to announce that research conducted by Wexford K9 Search and Rescue and the UCD School of Medicine received the Best Presentation Award at the International Conference on Forensic Sciences (ICFS)!

Presented by UCD student Natalie Oon, the study evaluated operational cadaver dogs' ability to detect submerged human hair under varying water depths, submersion durations and weather conditions.

Last year Natalie won best poster out of 120 students.

We are especially proud of our canine members, Riley and Rocco, whose operational performance helped demonstrate that human hair is a reliable and robust training target for aquatic operations.

27/08/2026

27/08/2026

Atlas at 21 months old our youngest operational cadaver dog, coming in hot and locking into a dead-still sit because he knows it's time to work.

This is what zero pressure and 100% positive, reward-based training looks like.
Obedience is always the last thing we do and the little obedience we use isn't drilled for hours it's taught entirely through play.
We learn each other's body language, likes, and dislikes through play, so it never feels like work..it’s just a game we share.

Even his teenage defiance stage was part of the process and honestly, I love that stage.
They need that grit and independence for this line of work, raising confident dogs who know how to make their own decisions with confidence out in the field.

Aside from a safety lead attached to a life jacket when working on a boat, lines and vents their actual search work is completely free from start to finish.

They have to think for themselves.

Not one ounce of force has ever gone into getting him here just trust, play and a dog who loves his job.

Absolute fantastic fun to work with..lovable and boisterous super little dog

23/08/2026

Wanted: Experienced Dog Handler (County Wexford)

We are looking for a reliable, experienced person to join us as an operational handler for our growing cadaver dog unit.

To be clear: you won't be training the dogs.
I handle the training; we need someone who can learn how to handle them correctly out in the field.

What is required:

✔️ You must have a strong, proven background working with high-level detection or working dogs.

✔️ You need to be based locally-preferably in County Wexford.

✔️ You need to have good free time to commit, as we will be starting work on land and moving up to specialised boat and water deployments.

This isn't suitable for beginners.
It requires someone who already understands working dogs, has the time, and wants to step into serious operational search work.

If you have the right background and are interested, please message the page directly or email [email protected]

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03/08/2026

SSRA Forensic Scientific Project..

Just wanted to share a little update of what we’ve been achieving this year with the hair trials, though I won't give too much away yet since student Leila is still working on the final results and scans.

To give some context, last year on the tidal Slaney River both Rocco and Riley picked up the scent from the bank when the hair was 17 meters away.
Incredibly, using our three-square grid, both dogs indicated within the exact same 3-meter square.

This year has brought completely different conditions.
We’ve had an intense dry spell, with temperatures way up above average and very little rainfall, leaving the river lower than I've ever seen it.
The hair was submerged during high tide and exposed during low tide for just one day short of two weeks.
Where this happened, the Slaney is tree-lined in places, but at these specific spots-both for the 17-meter and the massive 48-meter indications there are no trees at all.
The banks feature quite long shrubbery, but it's completely open, meaning there is no dense canopy or overhead vegetation to obstruct, filter, or mask the scent dispersion. Under those extreme open conditions, Rocco gave an absolute massive indication from 48 meters away from where the hair was.
We worked Rocco again on Friday just to check and while it wasn't quite as far as 48 meters, it still highlights just how far scent can travel when the air and terrain are completely unobstructed.

We also worked the final three hair samples that had been constantly submerged for three weeks (which are now being taken away for scanning), Rocco had 100 % hit rate throughout the trials.

Trainee cadaver dog Apollo (Rocco’s daughter) stepped up for some training, handled brilliantly by Michaela.
Apollo was kept on the line for this exercise and she worked beautifully.
She brought us straight down to find the first three samples and she done fantastic.

Just wanted to share a separate shoutout for Michaela, who is doing a fantastic job with Apollo.
She is sticking rigidly to training plans and putting a massive amount of work in.
Every single time she finishes training, she sits down, types up a detailed report, sends it right off to me, along with videos of the session.
It takes a lot of discipline and time to train Cadaver Dog.

30/07/2026

Meet Trudy 🐾

Trudy came to live with our operationally trained cadaver dogs Rocco, Riley, and Atlas last week.

At just five months old, Trudy is set to train as a cadaver dog herself.

Because she’s so young, giving her a proper puppyhood is just as important as the work ahead. Right now, we're right in the thick of the bonding stage and while she knows her name, sometimes everything else in the world is just way more interesting than listening to me.
I put the feelers out for a young springer spaniel weeks ago and someone contacted me last week in regards to Trudy.
She was in a veterinary clinic in Dublin because her previous owner was facing having to put her down.
We never truly know what anyone's circumstances are, but one thing is completely clear Trudy has had a lot of love. Someone has clearly played with her and she has massive, massive ball drive (which they certainly don't develop on their own!).
She is already quite obedient, sitting and giving a paw, she's stunning and she has settled in brilliantly with the other dogs, who all really like her.

We never rush our dogs-they go into intensive foundation training and it's all done entirely through play, choice and freedom.
Play is the most important thing, so it's strictly positive, choice-based training.
The dogs are never forced to do anything in fact, when they're working pipes or the wall they're not even attached to me.
It's all freedom based.

The cadaver dogs have big strong personalities as
You need a very strong, determined dog to do this work and they all have their own unique strengths.
Rocco is a phenomenal river dog at seven and a half (though we'll let him decide when he chooses to retire!)
Riley is a phenomenal land dog and while they are all-rounders, Atlas is developing strengths in both land and rivers.
We're in no rush with Trudy; we'll take our time to see what her strengths will be.

She has a fantastic home life, plenty of freedom and a wonderful future ahead of her. We can't wait to see what's next.

Pic: playing with Kaiden
Just what we hoped for she’s as mad as a brush, a ball of energy and ball obsessed