Black Labradors Rua and Ra are the most advanced avalanche search dogs in the country - and that is not just their proud owner, Anna Easthope, talking.
Mrs Easthope (35) has been a ski patroller at Cardrona Alpine Resort since 2000 and on Monday she and her canine companions were awarded advanced search qualifications by LandSAR and New Zealand Police examiners.
There are three tiers to the qualifications - novice, operational and a new advanced level.
It is the first time the advanced qualification has been awarded in New Zealand and Mrs Easthope is also believed to be the only civilian dog handler in the country with two fully operational avalanche search dogs.
Another unusual thing about the Albert Town-based team is that Rua and Ra were both very young novices when they were first certified.
Rua (9) and Ra (2) are descended from a line of Southland Labradors. Rua is Ra's "aunty" and several of their relatives also have jobs as search dogs, Mrs Easthope said this week.
"I originally got Rua specifically for search and rescue work. I got her operational at about 8 months old, which was pretty young. Then with Ra, I got her operational last year when she was just on a year old.
Mrs Easthope grew up with a menagerie of pets in Hawkes Bay and obtained a business studies degree before working for several years for the Wellington City Council managing outdoor swimming pools. She developed a passion for ski-patrolling at the Turoa field.
She juggled her winter Cardrona job and her summer Wellington pool management job for several years before moving south permanently in 2004.
Now, she has a summer job serving customers at MT Outdoors sports store.
Rua and Ra travel to Cardrona every day and when not working or training, rest in their baskets in the ski patrol room. Ra has only attended mock searches but Rua was among the dogs that searched for the victim of a fatal Coronet Peak off-piste avalanche in 2009.
That search was unusual because a Queenstown search dog began circling an area but did not indicate the victim by digging, Mrs Easthope said.
However, the dog's behaviour was such that the search team checked the area electronically and received a faint blip from the victim's transceiver, allowing the man's body to be recovered.
"He was buried 6m down. We train dogs to scent down to 2m. After that the scent is just too faint," she said.
Mrs Easthope said both Ra and Rua will "indicate" a target by digging.
Ra will also bark, because Mrs Easthope is also training her for bush and wilderness searches.
"I have to stand back and let them investigate. It is a very vigorous dig once they are on to something," she said.
Training avalanche search dogs was time consuming. Not all cottoned on as quickly as Rua and Ra and many did not reach their prime until 5 years old, she said.
There were many skills to acquire before becoming operational, such as becoming comfortable with skidoos, helicopters, other dogs and people, and working in snow, she said.
"Dogs are like people. There are some dogs that are more motivated than others. Some are more switched on . . . Ra has energy in bucket loads and can cover a site very, very quickly. Rua's always been the calm, methodical personality and Ra is the polar opposite really. She lets it all hang out," Mrs Easthope said.
