A DYFED Powys Police dog who found a missing mother and baby on the edge of a ravine on his very first shift, has reached the final 10 selection stage in the Amplifon Awards for Brave Britons 2021’s ‘Hero Pet’ category.

Two-year-old German Shepherd cross Max and his handler PC Peter Lloyd were on their first assignment together when they joined the search for the mother and her one-year-old child who had been missing for two days in a very remote part of Powys.

The pair were called into duty just before midday on August 1, 2020, when the force received a call reporting the mum missing and immediately launched a search. The woman and her one-year-old son had spent the night outdoors in a remote area.

Her car was found on a mountain road and that’s when Max’s tracking skills kicked in. After around 90 minutes, Max led PC Lloyd to the edge of the ravine where the woman was waving and calling for help.

Joining response, neighbourhood policing teams and specialist search officers, PC Lloyd and Max faced a huge task.

“They’d been missing for some time so there was big concern,” PC Lloyd said.

“There was a one-year-old baby, it wasn’t a warm day and at night the temperature had dropped considerably. She’d been out all night with the child. You do ramp up your search and give it that extra bit.”

Mother and baby were cold and tired, but otherwise unharmed.

PC Lloyd added: “His training is to search for open areas. We searched all sorts of terrain, ravines, valleys, lakes.

“Max remained focused throughout the long search and he proved invaluable when he reacted to the call for help which resulted in us locating them.”

The incident unfolded just five months after the duo first met. Their hard work and training paid off when Max picked up on a sound during the search.

“I met Max first when he was brought to us as a potential police dog,” PC Lloyd said. “He was untrained at that time and had very basic commands.

“What Max reacts to is listening to noises and voices. We were searching quite hard in a deep fern area and I thought I heard a little shout. He spun his head, he looked up the bank and was very focused on where the shout came from. I reacted to that and then he guided me to where he thought it was, and together we were able to locate them.

“You’d never expect to have such a great result from him on his first deployment. It was a difficult search, a long search. We're all so proud.”

With support from Brecon Mountain Rescue Team and a police helicopter, along with advice from a search expert, additional units were deployed to assist in searching the area, which included a small reservoir and woodland.

The woman was helped down and both she and her baby were checked over by a mountain rescue doctor and the ambulance service.

Inspector Jonathan Rees-Jones said: “The woman had not been seen or spoken to for two days, which was out of character, and her phone wasn’t working, so naturally concern for her safety was high.

“Thanks to excellent work between teams, the woman’s car was quickly found. Although this gave officers a location to search from, there was still a vast area to cover, given the amount of time she had been missing.

“This is where Max’s tracking skills really came into play. Despite only recently becoming licensed, and on his first operational shift, he immediately commenced an open area search.

“I must give a special mention to PC Lloyd and Max, who on their very first day since completing their training together covered a significant amount of mileage in the search, eventually locating them safe.”

Max reached the ‘Hero Pet’ selection stage out of 300 nominations overall chosen by the public. The other categories are ‘Act of Courage’, ‘Active Agers’, ‘Against All Odds’, ‘Charity Champion’, ‘Celebrity Hero’, ‘Coronavirus Hero’ and ‘Young Hero’.

Four finalists will be selected in each category and the winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on October 5. Falklands War hero Simon Weston chairs the judging panel and presents the awards.

Max won an award at the Daily Mirror Animal Hero Awards 2020 for his tracking skills.