THE rescue squad which sprang into action when first news came through of the Turkish earthquake disaster is training two new recruits in the Forest.
Arden and Lady, two bright young border collies, are in the charge of Dave Sleeman from Newnham on Severn and Paul Blewitt of Steam Mills.
When fully trained – it can take up to 18 months – they will join Rapid's team of nine dogs dedicated to seeking out live people trapped under rubble.
"We start off by training them to love a squeaky toy," explained Dave. "Then we 'attach' the human element of a live human to the toy and begin to hide both under increasingly large amounts of material.
"Eventually we take away the toy and the dogs can sniff out humans only. Very crafty!"
Dave and Paul dropped everything they were doing the moment they heard about the Turkish disaster and joined international rescue teams together with fellow rapid member Mike Holyhead of Mitcheldean.
They found themselves in the hopeless situation of knowing few survivors would be located, such was the scale of devastation.
"We found one 40-year-old man alive, though," he said. "He was one of the very lucky ones."
People were wandering around in such a state of shock that they could do little to help themselves.
"One moment they were in a beautiful city, and the next moment is was just a pile of rubble," he said.
Dave said he and Paul had been to several disaster zones with Rapid while Mike had been on the Honduras mission after Hurricane Mitch and the Colombian earthquake relief mission.
"We always need funds to keep equipment up to date," he said. "And we are always interested to hear from would-be recruits who want to undertake disaster relief training.
"And of course we always need volunteers when we are away to man the Gloucester office and handle press and TV inquiries and that sort of thing. It is very worthwhile work."
Anyone who feels they can help should contact Rapid on 01452 883233.