A search dog helped save a distressed man from taking his own life on a remote hillside—just five years after his handler lost her own father to suicide on a mountain.
The death of her father in 2019 inspired Rhiannon Chalmers-Brown, 25, to join the local Mountain Rescue team. She now works alongside her Labrador, Dug, helping search for missing people across the mountains.
Ms Chalmers-Brown’s 62-year-old father, John, was found dead five hours after he was reported missing from his home.
“Those five hours were among the toughest that I’ve experienced in my life,” said Ms Chalmers-Brown.
After three years of gruelling training, Ms Chalmers-Brown and yellow Labrador Dug helped rescue a vulnerable man at high risk of suicide on Rhondda Mountain on Boxing Day in 2024.
Dug guided rescuers through dense woodland to the man, who was found disoriented and distressed but alive.
Ms Chalmers-Brown said the man had no “specific plan”, but had consumed “a lot of drink and drugs”.
She said: “When we found him, he was very confused. That’s one of the really useful things about having a dog.
Rhiannon Chalmers-Brown, 25, joined the local Mountain Rescue team with her Labrador, Dug, after losing her father to suicide on a mountain in 2019
Ms Chalmers-Brown and her yellow Labrador, Dug, helped rescue a vulnerable man at high risk of suicide on Rhondda Mountain on Boxing Day in 2024
Ms Chalmers-Brown’s 62-year-old father, John, was found dead five hours after being reported missing from home
“You can say, ‘Here, have a cuddle with this dog,’ and suddenly they have something positive to focus on.
“The man was in a terrible state, really upset. His face was wet with tears and his nose was running.
“Dug was just licking his face. He was sobbing into the dog, and Dug was trying to stop him crying.
“He is very much a therapy dog as well as a search dog. As soon as he reaches someone who needs a bit of help, he switches roles.
“Dug succeeded in breaking down the barriers with him. We managed to talk to him, help him reach a better mental state and get him somewhere safe.”
Ms Chalmers-Brown’s experience of losing her father also helps her support others when a search ends with the discovery of a deceased person.
John Chalmers-Brown was a happily married father of two grown-up children and a primary schoolteacher in Derbyshire. However, he had struggled with depression for years.
Despite medication, treatment, care and the support of his family, his mental health eventually became too much for him to bear.
Ms Chalmers-Brown said: “He was only missing for about five hours, but those five hours felt like five years.”
‘It might seem strange to say, but we were the lucky ones.
‘People can go missing for 24 hours, 48 hours, 12 days or six months, and their families have to wait and potentially never find out what happened to them.’
John was reported missing by his wife Debra, 65, after she became alarmed when he left their family home in Cressbrook, Derbyshire at around 4am.
A local search-and-rescue team was alerted and began searching the area around the house, including the surrounding woodland and mountainside. The search involved specialist search teams and dogs.
Ms Chalmers-Brown explained: ‘I can really sympathise with the families because I know exactly how they feel.
‘It gives me a different perspective. I know what it’s like to be waiting for somebody to be found and not know what’s happening.
‘There are also people who go missing and are never found. That’s the reality.
‘There are times when I think I should just give this up and remove myself from all of it, it is traumatic, and I choose to put myself in that position.
‘But if I didn’t have that understanding, I probably wouldn’t be doing it.’
John had left the house on foot but his family had no idea where he had gone.
Ms Chalmers-Brown said: ‘When I heard he had left the house and that he was missing, having gone on foot, I think I knew he was dead. I juut had that feeling.
‘But until you get confirmation, you’re always hoping and praying they’re wrong.’
John was eventually found around 300m from the point where he was last known to have been. He had taken his own life.
Ms Chalmers-Brown said: ‘The compassion and dedication of the volunteers who found my dad was so inspiring.
‘I wanted to be able to help families who were in the same situation and get some kind of positive outcome from something that had been so awful.’
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Dug was also called into action on Christmas Day in 2024 when a woman had gone out for a walk on her own and become lost as it became dark and her phone was running out of battery.
Dug’s work has already earned him a nomination for the Burns Bravery Awards, a new nationwide campaign celebrating the remarkable dogs that make an extraordinary difference to people’s lives
Ms Chalmers-Brown said: ‘The lady was actually quite well equipped. She had waterproof clothing, warm layers, food and drink, but she’d expected to get back before dark and her route had gone wrong.
‘She ended up in the Brecon Beacons, called for help and we responded as a team.
‘My job as the handler was to make sure the area had been covered, while the dog’s job is always to hunt and find whoever is hidden.
‘Once the dog finds the person, they have to come back and tell the handler.’
Dug was able to find the woman in just 12 minutes.
Ms Chalmers-Brown added: Different dogs have different indications they have found the missing person. Some will bark. Dug did a spin when he found her.
‘He always does this delightful spinning around on the spot, so I call it his “spin-dication”.
‘So he came back to me, did his little twirl and then ran back to the lady he had found.
‘She was so very glad to see him. Finding her was probably one of the best Christmas presents I’ve ever had.’
Dug’s work has already earned him a nomination for the Burns Bravery Awards, a new nationwide campaign celebrating the remarkable dogs that make an extraordinary difference to people’s lives.
Fronted by Strictly star Karen Hauer, the awards aim to shine a light on the incredible bond between people and dogs, from mountain rescue dogs to family pets.
Yellow labrador Dug caught Ms Chalmers-Brown’s eye as a puppy and she took him home and began the long process of training him to become a search dog.
‘I had this cute little fluffy yellow puppy and thought, “What do I do with it?” So I went onto YouTube and watched loads of videos about how to train puppies and took it from there,’ Ms Chalmers-Brown said.
In November 2024, after around three years of training, they successfully qualified as an operational Mountain Rescue Search Dog Team in the Brecon Beacons.
For Ms Chalmers-Brown , Dug’s nomination means more than simply recognition for his work.
‘When I heard about the awards, I first thought, “Dug’s not very brave”, she said.
‘He’s probably the least brave animal I’ve got. If he sees something he doesn’t like on the hill, he’s like, “Mum!”
‘But I think he represents something bigger. He represents the bravery of people who are going through mental health problems.
‘You can go through so much and still have hope somewhere. If a Labrador can be this happy, maybe people can be too.
‘I think you have to be pretty brave to go through what a lot of the people we find are going through.
‘Even when we find someone alive and get them somewhere safe, that isn’t the end of their journey. They may still have a lot to deal with afterwards.
‘We have people who go missing multiple times a year. Sometimes you get the call and think, “oh, not this person again. Do I really have to go and look for them again?”
‘But then you think, “what if this time they succeed? Could I justify not going to their family afterwards?”‘
Yellow labrador Dug caught Ms Chalmers-Brown’s eye as a puppy and she took him home and began the long process of training him to become a search dog
As for her father, Ms Chalmers-Brown believes he would have been supportive of her and her work with Search and Rescue
She said: ‘I think he would have been proud ad he would have absolutely loved Dug.
‘He would have loved playing with him and walking him.
‘I think my dad would have been really impressed, but I don’t think he’d have been surprised what I was doing.
‘He’d probably have just thought, ‘Of course she’s got a dog and she trains it. He loved animals, so I think he would have loved him.’
‘Labradors are good life lessons. They’re always happy.
‘And I suppose that’s what I try to do, to take something difficult and find something positive in it.
‘Why not be like that? Life’s hard enough without trying to be happy.’
For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit www.thecalmzone.net/get-support