Police dog wins Crufts award for saving life of missing man

A police dog who saved a man's life in Perthshire has been presented with a special award at Crufts Dog Show.

Cocker Spaniel Mac and his handler PC Andy Inglis were awarded the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Police Dog Action of the Year after finding a man who had been missing for 17 days.

Victim detection dog Mac accompanied Inglis on a 30km five-day search for the man, who it was initially thought might have died.

The man was found alive, but extremely weak, under a fallen tree and tarpaulin after Mac ran down a steep embankment and alerted rescuers.

Inglis and Mac received their award in the main arena at Crufts held in Birmingham on Sunday.

Inglis, 50, said he was "really proud" of Mac, who lives with him in Larbert with his wife, three children, and the officer's other police dog, a German Shepherd called Arlo.

Inglis said: "The nature of my job is I'm expecting to find someone deceased, so when they're alive, it's a completely different emotion.

"Dogs are naturally inquisitive so even though he's not trained to find a living person, he did it by instinct."

Following an investigation in March 2025 to find a high-risk missing person, the man was believed to have travelled into a glen in Dunkeld.

The extensive search involved methodically covering ground and going through overgrowth, felled trees, brambles and bushes.

On their fifth day of searching together, five-year-old Mac ran down a steep embankment towards a waterfall.

Inglis noticed a change in his body language and could tell Mac was trying to alert him to something that would not usually be in that area.

The man was extremely weak, struggling to walk and hadn't drunk any water or eaten for days.

Inglis alerted his colleague and the two officers carried him for 90 minutes, supporting him to a path to allow a full rescue.

Inglis said: "My motivation is there's a family who wants to know what's happened to their loved one and I don't want another dog walker to find someone this way.

"Mac's favourite toy is his ball, so that was his reward. As we carried the man to safety, in Mac's mind his job was done so he walked ahead chewing his toy."

Chief Constable Jo Farrell said the award was a testament to their "professionalism, determination and exceptional teamwork."

She said: "It gives me immense pride to congratulate Andrew and Mac.

"Due to their life-saving work, hope was restored to a family during what must have been an unimaginably distressing time.

"Police dogs and their handlers share a unique bond, and together they demonstrated the highest standards of operational excellence."