International Rescue Dog Organisation

The International Rescue Dog Organisation (IRO), is a global umbrella organisation for national recue dog organisations with headquarter in Salzburg, Austria. The charitable organisation is supporting the cooperation in rescue dog work and is sending judges to international testing events for rescue dog teams, organises courses, trainings and competitions – such as the rescue dog world championship.

History

1988 after an earthquake in Armenia problems occurred with the coordination between rescue dog teams from various nations and the local authorities. This revitalised the idea for international exchange and the definition for standards for deployment and training of rescue dog teams and led to the foundation of IRO in 1993 at an international rescue dog symposium in Stockholm-Rosersberg.

Wolfgang Zörner, at that time chief of the Österreichische Rettungshundebrigade (ÖRHB), was elected president by the founding nations Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Austria, USA and United Kingdom and the office of the organisation was allocated in Austria. This was the beginning for a new international cooperation with a joint testing- and training standard. Already 1972 Richard Radakovic from Austria and William Syrotuc from the USA had founded the International Federation of Rescue Dog Associations (IFRA), which was forgotten soon.

Activity

Training

IRO is organising international testing events in the disciplines rubble, avalanche, area, tracking and waterrescue. Judges, who are trained and sent out by the IRO, evaluate the performance of the participating rescue dog teams. The criteria are laid down in the international testing standards for rescue dogs which have been elaborated by IRO together with the Fédération Cynologique Internationale, which is the s an international federation of kennel clubs.

At tests at the level A and B hiding persons have to be found with the help of dogs. Rescue dog handlers that pass the Mission Readiness Test (MRT) are accepted on the list of mission-ready rescue dog teams. For this also knowledge about the structure of international deployments, hierarchies and guidelines, worksite marking and information management is necessary. For a dog the training to become a mission ready rescue dog takes up to two to three years. Between the age of two and ten years the rescue dog is eligible for deployment.

Deployment

The majority of deployments is taking place in the home countries of the rescue dog teams: at avalanches, collapse of buildings or other accidents. Very often missing persons have to be found.

In the past rescue dog teams often deployed internationally on their own initiative which led to a catastrophe tourism that needed to be restricted. Today rescue dog teams only deploy as part of specially trained Urban Search and Rescue Teams (USAR-Teams) when the affected country has made a request after a major catastrophe. These teams which are often funded by the government consist of medics, technicians, rescue specialist and rescue dog teams and mostly deploy with their own equipment and plane. The International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) which was founded in 1991 under the roof of the United Nations is determining the frame conditions for such deployments and also classifies the USAR Teams that have to proof their mission readiness at the INSARAG External Classification (IEC). A re-classification has to be taken every five years. INSARAG is subordinated to UN OCHA, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Events

IRO is organising trainings and competitions where the rescue dog teams practice the search of mission persons. At the World Championships of rescue dogs every year the best teams are identified: in 2013 for the 19th time. Every two years experts meet at a rescue dog symposium to discuss current affairs and frame conditions of the search and rescue work. Since 2010 IRO calls for participation among rescue dog organisations to participate in form of presentations in the public in the Int. Day of Search- and Rescue dogs which always takes place on the last Sunday in April.

Organisation

IRO is a charitable association and is financed by contributions and donations. The office in Salzburg counts five employees. Judges and officials work voluntarily. The executive board of the IRO is elected by the meeting of delegates for a period of four years.

The organisation counts 115 member organisation in 39 countries:^[1]

Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Arab EmiratesUSA, Uruguay, South Africa

References

1. ↑ IRO Members, retrieved on 09 July 2013

External links

• Website of the International Rescue Dog Organisation
• Website der International Search and Rescue Advisory Group