Welcome to our newest trainee


Meet Martha The newest trainee of Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team. Martha was born on the 28th September 2014. Her Dad is a working farm border collie and Mum used to be, but is now a family pet. Martha came to live with her handler Lisa Brearley and family on the 18th December. She has not been able to go out for walks yet as she is waiting to have her immunisations completed. Luckily this will be done for her to join her first official SARDA training weekend (Search and Rescue dog association) on the 15th January.
Martha first needs to start her obedience training. She has to learn to sit and down on command, walk to heel, come with distractions, stay for 5 minutes with the handler in sight and 5 minute out of sight, and speak on command. She also has to learn to ignore sheep. Martha needs to be able to do all of these before she can pass her first test and start to learn to find people. Happily she is progressing well and is eager to learn.
Martha has been to meet the team members at HQ and enjoyed all the attention she got. She is going with her handler to the annual fund raiser The Trigger Fell Race this Sunday to help her socialisation.
She has just started to be a little bit cheeky and thinks she can get her own way in the home by being cute. Her Favourite toy is a squeaky rugby ball and her tuggy toy. Martha loves to meet new people and will run up to them and sit at their feet until they fuss her. It brigs a huge smile to the faces of anyone who meets her.
We will keep you updated with Martha’s progress throughout her SARDA journey.