85 years

They both retrained, both saved lives

Roger

Born into the narcotic detection dog training centre in Taiwan, Roger, a very energetic labrador was deemed a failure

The reason? The official report was damning. Failing to focus, unable to respond to commands and unable to concentrate on the job in hand. He was just too friendly, too fun-loving, too excitable, and he was more interested in food and playing with his toys. (Typical Labrador, particularly the food bit!!)

His concentration levels were well below the required standard. It would have been so easy to find this lovable Labrador a new civilian home, and being a Labrador retriever with a delightful temperament, this would have presented no problem.

There was, however, salvation on the horizon. It was recognised that Roger was enthusiastic, smart, curious, and determined, and that he just needed the right challenge that suited his temperament.

A second chance

Just the qualities required for search and rescue dogs.

Taiwan is in an earthquake-prone region. Now I live on the island of Crete and have experienced severe earthquakes firsthand. They are very alarming, but even the ones that I have personally endured are fairly minor compared with the Taiwanese versions, where buildings collapse.

So Roger was transferred to Search and Rescue

He was specially trained in what is known as rubble-pile search and rescue.

He regularly refused to leave the ground that had already been searched, and sure enough, below the collapsed building was usually a body. Whilst the priority is obviously finding the living, finding the dead brings closure for the relatives of the deceased.

Distinguished career

Roger is a veteran of the 2018 6.4 magnitude earthquake.

In 2022, Roger received certification from the International Rescue Dog Association, the first Taiwanese dog since 2019

In 2024, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake occurred, the biggest for 25 years. For a quake this size, the low fatality rate of 13 dead and 1450 injured can partly be attributed to Roger and his fellow canines. Within minutes, Roger had found his first survivor.

Working involved coping with aftershocks, landslides and rock falls,

Roger not only saved lives, which in itself made him a hero, but his fame rose to new heights when his handler was being interviewed on national television, and Roger enthusiastically grabbed the interviewer’s microphone. His reputation was further enhanced when he was filmed totally destroying a toy given to him as a reward

As a side note, one of Roger’s successors is Wilson, a very small Jack Russell terrier who, on his first mission, found two survivors.

As search-and-rescue dogs in Taiwan retire at 9 years of age, Roger is now enjoying his retirement; he’s certainly earned it.

During his service, Roger saved lives and was repeatedly labelled a “Hero of Taiwan.”

Irma was a pioneer of search and rescue, saved lives and was awarded the Dickin Medal.

Both worked under extremely dangerous conditions.

We live in a world where a footballer earning £250,000 a week can be called a “hero” for scoring a goal,

Hmmm. Enough said.

Irma

There are two types of dogs that find people buried under collapsed buildings. Cadaver dogs and search and rescue dogs. Obviously, search and rescue teams attempt to find live victims, whereupon cadaver dogs try to find the deceased. Each dog has its own way of indicating that it has found one. This varies from dog to dog. Some bark, some stand very still, and others scratch the ground. The individual handler will recognise their dog’s signal. Having said that, there is one dog in history that indicated the presence of both living and dead bodies, and, if reports are correct, she never got it wrong. She would give one of two very distinctive barks, one for alive and one for dead. She was a German Shepherd Dog simply known as Irma, to give her the correct name, Crumston Irma.

The Blitz

In the Blitz, which started on 7 September 1940 and lasted until 11 May 1941 (8 months and 5 days), the damage done to British towns and cities was horrendous. The civilian population were the target and over 40,000 died; however, thousands more were dragged alive from the wreckage of their homes, partially due to the ability of specially trained dogs. One of the biggest threats was the doodlebugs, a particularly unpleasant type of munition that flew towards the target, and then the engine cut out, and the thing just nosedived silently to the ground. It was a particularly evil device that appeared to have only one purpose: to terrify the civilian population, as it failed to discriminate between civilian and military targets.

Margaret Griffen was the owner and handler of Irma, who was originally a messenger dog. It all sounds so primitive now, but then, with the war at its height and phone lines hit, the only way to communicate sometimes was with dogs, especially as they could traverse terrain impassable to a human. Along with her companion Crumstone Psyche, also known as Psyche, was also retrained as a search and rescue dog. Between the pair of them, they participated in the discovery of the bodies of 223 people, of which 21 were found alive. This exposed the unique talent of Irma, who was able to differentiate between the living and the dead. Whilst it is critical that the living be found, it is also very important that the dead be recovered, thus giving closure to relatives.

Lives saved

Among the most notable rescues was that of two sisters who were buried under rubble, and despite the scepticism of the human rescuers, Irma refused to give up on the missing girls. For two days, she persisted, and finally, the girls were found alive. On other occasions, despite the humans deciding that the victim was dead, Irma had given her distinctive barks to indicate life, the human rescuers were always wrong, and as always, Irma was correct.

For her service, Irma was awarded the Dickin Medal in January 1945 and is buried at the PDSA animal cemetery.

Margaret Griffen, her handler/owner, received the British Empire Medal.

When it comes to saving lives, there is something here that we tend to forget. I recently watched the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, the man who rescued 669 children during World War II. Not only did those youngsters live, but as they grew up, married, had children and grandchildren, and I believe there are now great-grandchildren, it is now thought that up to 5,000 people are alive today who would never have been born thanks to one man.

Whilst I am not putting rescue dogs in the same category, it is accepted that there are now many thousands of people alive today who would never have been born without the efforts of Irma and others like her.