Police defend decision to turn down dog offer in search for Christos

Victoria Police has defended not using search dogs in a bid to find a missing Melbourne grandfather in the state’s alpine region, citing the difficult terrain and detrimental weather.

Christos has spent five nights in the Mount Hotham area after disappearing from Dinner Plain on Friday afternoon, with hopes fading he will be found alive.

Search Dogs Australia founder and trainer Julie Cowan, whose dog Obi helped find missing boy William Callaghan at Mount Disappointment in 2020, told Neil Mitchell their dogs can search off lead up to 300 metres from a handler, unlike police search dogs.

“The police dog is on a lead,” she said.

“That would be detrimental to both the handler and the dog trying to scale the area.

“We train … to make ourselves ready for a situation like this but we have to understand that the chain of command makes a decision.”

NEIL MITCHELL: “Are you saying that your dog could have helped?”

JULIE COWAN: “Well, look, they’re trained for that sort of situation and environment. They’re off lead. They can work up to 300 metres away from the handler, and they will self-preserve.”

Ms Cowan says she contacted police and offered assistance from Search Dogs Australia earlier in the week. She received a response from police last night.

“He [the police officer] informed me that dogs were considered early in the piece but they felt the terrain and the weather were detrimental to a dog working”.

In a statement, Victoria Police acting deputy commissioner Russell Barrett said when Christos was reported missing on Friday it was too late in the evening to consider using dogs, due to the poor visibility.

“Their use in the search has been considered every day since but rain, strong winds, poor visibility, and high risk terrain has resulted in it not being viable for our dogs to be used,” he said.

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