Sometimes it’s not what’s on our CVs or our academic qualifications that gives us that certain X Factor which propels us to success. Often it’s simply the ability to adapt, grow and have the confidence to challenge ourselves to step outside our comfort zones.
Tyndall’s goal is to attract and nurture people with diverse talents and excellent skills, enabling all to reach their full potential.
In celebration of the many talents that make up Tyndall, we are showcasing Louise Burgyone, EU Programmes Manager, from our EU Programmes Office. Her special hidden talent relates to voluntary roles working with dogs and her close bond with her German Shepherd, Lyla.
What is your hidden talent?
Dogs are a large part of my life. As a member of the voluntary Search and Rescue Dog Association Ireland (SARDA) and the South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA), I have had the opportunity to train and qualify my German Shepherd Lyla as a mountain rescue search dog. Lyla worked at the top of her game and over the past six years we spent hundreds of hours traveling and searching for missing persons across Ireland.
SARDA Ireland and SEMRA are voluntary 999/112 emergency search and rescue organisations. Specifically, SARDA are concerned with the training, assessment and deployment of Air Scenting Search and Rescue Dogs to search for missing persons. Our dog teams, which consist of the handler and their dog, search anywhere in Ireland and are effective in the mountains, woodlands, rural and urban areas, waterways and seashore. South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association provide a search and rescue service for those who find themselves in difficulty on the mountains of the South East of Ireland. The area of operation includes, but is not confined to, the Galtees, Comeraghs, Slievenamon, Knockmealdowns, Blackstairs, Slieve Blooms and Ballyhouras. Few people get to be as lucky as me and experience so many adventures with a dog of Lyla’s ability. Our last search was on the Reeks in Kerry in June 2022. Sadly, and somewhat unexpectedly, Lyla passed away in August at age 12.
Whilst I process losing Lyla and start to make plans to work with a new puppy in 2023, my partner and I are fostering a 9-month old Assistance Dog puppy for Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland (AADI). Mango is a gorgeous Labrador/Golden Retriever X and our role is to help him hone his obedience skills (i.e. lead training, recall, wait, stay etc.) We also ensure he experiences as many places and situations as possible in a positive manner. When Mango finishes his foster period with us, he will be assessed to see if he is destined to be an Autism Assistance Dog and will work every weekday with a qualified instructor for 6 months, to learn the specific tasks and skills required to keep a child with autism safe and calm. All going well, Mango will be placed with a family who have a child with autism in the second half of 2023.
What sparked your interest?
My initial interest in search and rescue was sparked by Lyla. As a working line German Shepherd with high energy and a massive work ethic, she needed a challenging job. My love of the hills and the countryside married well with Lyla’s need for purposeful work. Search and rescue work can be challenging but it is also hugely fulfilling and exhilarating.
I am fascinated with how animals use their senses in ways that are so different to the way we use our human senses. A dog’s first ‘sensor’ is their nose. It is interesting how a search dog can go into an area already covered by humans (using their eyes) and how that dog can quickly zone in on a missing person (using their nose). In this context, dogs ‘see’ with their noses. In SARDA Ireland we train search dogs to catch human scent on the wind and then work their way to the source of that scent. This ‘problem solving’ can be from the top to the bottom of a mountainside or through copse and woodland. Once our dogs make a ‘find’ they have to come back to tell us. This can be the most challenging and most rewarding part of the training. Our qualification process takes places over three days in the mountains. Our dogs must find and ‘indicate’ on every person who has volunteered to hide. Over 4-5 search areas, this can be up to 15 people. It is for this reason our team is very reliant on a group of hardy ‘dogs-bodies’. Our dogs are reassessed every 2-3 years.
My interest in fostering a puppy with AADI was sparked by research work I did when I was in the School of Public Health at UCC. At that time, I was on a project with the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and was drawn to the almost uncanny way an Assistance Dog can act as a bridge between a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their social and physical environment. Assistance Dogs are an anchor and a calming influence for children.
When I was working in the School of Public Health, I met Paul Galvin from Tyndall and was first exposed to research which I found deeply intriguing. Paul joined our interest group and went on to work with the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. In the CALIN Interreg Project, he and Marinara Marcato have done excellent work with Guide Dog 4.0. I ended up joining Tyndall in 2019 and some credit for this is most definitely down to meeting Paul, my love of dogs and their innate sensing ability. You can read Paul and Marinara’ s new paper on assistance dog selection and performance assessment methods here.
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What is your current role?
I am an EU Programmes Manager in the EU Programmes Office. I support Tyndall Principal Investigator’s (PI’s) and early career researchers in developing their EU proposals.
Before moving to research support, I worked in research myself, but I kept losing interest in my own ideas and instead was far more interested in other people’s ideas. I learned quickly that I prefer to work with STEM researchers over other disciplines because for me personally, the ideas are the most interesting and the most ‘world changing’.
How has your hidden talent complemented your role?
Search and rescue work and grant proposal development work can be very adrenaline fuelled at times. Ask any PI at Tyndall about the adrenaline aspect of proposal submissions!
I like supporting researchers to submit excellent quality proposals and in my voluntary work with SEMRA, SARDA and AADI, we work to very high standards of excellence in delivery of voluntary services. It is very rewarding to help researchers develop their ideas and craft a good proposal. Similarly, it is very rewarding to be able to work with dogs and help people who may be in difficulty on the hills or families of children with ASD who experience huge challenges in their daily lives.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to try your hidden talent?
It can up to 3 years to train a search dog from puppyhood, so you really need to be patient and committed. Assistance dogs are trained from 8 weeks of age and fosterers need to be able to dedicate time to the training and care of the puppy. However, the journey with a working dog is outstandingly worth it as are all the adventures you will have and the amazing people you meet along the way.
Working with dogs is wonderful but as any dog owner will tell you, because their lives are so short, some of the experiences are incredibly heart-breaking too. No pet owner wants to think about the time when we have to say goodbye, but that is the ‘contract’ we sign when we commit to owning a pet or working with animals.
If you want to find out more about SARDA Ireland, SEMRA or AADI then please visit their websites or email Louise directly.