Vreni, the first avalanche rescue dog certified in Romania

The city of Caransebes can boast an avalanche response team complete with the first avalanche rescue dog to have earned his certification in Romania. It's actually a female Belgian Malinois, "her name is Vreni, and she's 20 months old. This is the first dog born, trained, tested and certified in Romania for avalanche search and rescue. She is trained for intervention in disasters, avalanches, for searching people gone missing in wooded areas. So far we participated together with Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and police crews in two missions in the Caransebes wooded areas," the dog's owner Cristian Brecica, a mountain rescuer who is a member of the "Gugulania'' Rescue Dog Association and a volunteer of the Caras-Severin Mountain Rescue Service, told AGERPRES.

Photo credit: (c) Paula NEAMTU / AGERPRES PHOTO

Vreni is the third canine to have passed the relevant tests, but she's the first dog certified in Romania. She is the proud holder of Certificate No. 1 awarded following a testing session that ran in the Bucegi Mountains, at Padina.

Before earning her certificate, Vreni diligently trained in the Fagaras Mountains with French experts. Such a dog can make a decisive contribution to finding and rescuing victims.

Photo credit: (c) Paula NEAMTU / AGERPRES PHOTO

"Until not so long ago, the mountain rescue work was done by humans alone. Yet for some years now, dogs are valuable additions to the teams and through the job they do they prove they are very good at it. And certified dogs know what they have to do, they are of real help to the mountain rescuers while on mission. In at least two cases I know about, such dogs could have been extremely useful, had we had them at the time, and maybe the two victims would still be...