Avalanche Dog-Special: Labrador Ivy at Work on the Avalanche

Some stories touch you in a special way. For us, these are the stories where dogs and humans work closely with total trust together, and in this way, can incredibly enrich or even save lives. We have already presented the beautiful Alaska and Lou, who work as therapy dogs. Our Mantrailing special it is about detection dogs for people and in our mountain rescue dog special we reported about Merlin, who works as an avalanche dog. This time it's about Ivy the Labrador who is an avalanche dog and her owner Egon Kaufmann, who works as a volunteer Avalanche and Search Dog Handler for the Tyrolean Mountain Rescue. He tells us about Ivy's career and an operation that took place in the Tyrolean Kalkkögeln on December 17, 2019, in which Ivy saved a human life in an unforgettable way.

Labrador Ivy – training as an avalanche dog

Ivy, a black female Labrador, came to me at 8 weeks old. She spent her first two years of life growing up with Nico, a black longhaired shepherd, Nico was also an avalanche dog.

Even at this young age Ivy’s training as an avalanche and search dog in the Tyrolean Mountain Rescue had begun. Countless hours of practice had to be done in the first weeks, months and years. In April 2019, Ivy was then able to achieve the rescue mission qualification.

Ivy the Labrador – an avalanche dog in action

At 9:45 sharp on the 17^th December 2019, there was a call at my school, the alert came by pager. "Avalanche at Axamer Lizum". I reported in by radio to the Tyrol control centre as ready for action, because as usual, Ivy was at my side with my backpack and rescue equipment were already packed. Due to a delay, I could only be picked up by the helicopter at 10:12. The flight to the accident site took another 20 minutes. I was told in the helicopter that there was definitely a person without an avalanche transceiver lying under the masses of snow. In addition, no other search teams were allowed on the avalanche peak, due to the danger of after avalanches being very high.

So, it was clear that only Ivy could help to locate the buried victim as quickly as possible. After this time, survival was almost out of the question.

Ivy the Labrador – The rescue

When we arrived at Axams, we first had to land in the carpark. Ivy and I had to be flown onto the avalanche by rope, because the terrain was very steep. When the airrescuer set us down on the avalanche, I sent Ivy to search, it took less than two minutes for Ivy to start digging in the snow. I could hardly believe it when I sensed the body of a human at the site, on the third probe. Together with my dog handlerfriend Manfred Prantl, we immediately started digging up the avalanche victim. First,we came across the climber's backpack. Then we recognised the hair and immediately knew where to find the head and mouth for first aid. Manni and I felt shivers down our spines when the victim signalled to us to uncover his mouth. With all our strength, it was then possible to expose the entire body of the victim. 

Since the avalanche site was so exposed, a "crash recovery" was carried out. The avalanche victim was flown to the clinic and, after a night in hospital, was discharged the very next day.