Vali Meier,responsible for rescue and safety in the Davos-Klosters mountain region, skis off down the slope with canine colleague Woopy on his shoulders. Today, and Woopy is looking for a buried dummy. It’s impossible to say when dogs started being used to rescue avalanche victims. The Swiss Alpine Rescue service says it is not certain that the renowned St Bernard,Barry, was the first. Barry is thought to have kept watch over the St Bernard pass in the 1800s and saved around 40 people. In 1937 a group of 18 schoolboys was hit by an avalanche in the Bernese Oberland. While rescuers managed to find 17 of them, and one was still lost. The search was on the point of being called off when a local mixed-breed dog known as Moritzli drew the rescuers' attention to a particular location in the snow. After prodding the ground with sticks,they found the 18th member of the group who was resuscitated. A dog specialist, Ferdinand Smutz, and heard the account and in 1940 presented the opinion of ...
Source: swissinfo.ch