Lake Iseo, my favourite Italian lake, is being used for training water rescue dogs. The fearless canines are dropped from a helicopter to carry out rescues. Fifty dogs were being put through their paces at the Lake Iseo last week. The dogs are larger breeds such as Newfoundlands and Alsatians as they have to weigh at least 30 kilos. According to the Italian Dog Rescue School some dogs can even tow a dinghy with up to 30 passengers for between 300 to 2000 metres.

Lake Iseo

This reminded me of the statue of Bamse, a heroic canine member of a WW2 mimesweeper who is commemorated with a statue in Montrose in Scotland.

Bamse statue, Arbroath