A FOUR-LEGGED mountain rescue team are to appear on primetime television this weekend.

Members of the Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs will be the stars of the show on the BBC’s Countryfile programme today (Sunday, August 18).

Presenter Sean Fletcher travelled to the country to visit the team and the dogs, and find out more on how they can save lives.

The scenes, which were filmed more than a fortnight ago, will be broadcast on BBC One at 7pm.

For the show, Sean met owner John Leadbetter and his 15-week-old border collie pup Jura, and got to see how the little life-savers were trained up.

A spokeswoman from BBC Countryfile provided a sneak-peak into the episode.

She said: “Sean was shown how to train Jura to respond to some basic sit commands.

“He also met Christyne Judge and her experienced dog Bute who demonstrated how good the fully trained dogs are.

“Sean ran off into the hillside and tucked himself down out of sit and waited to be found by the dog.”

The programme will also see the presenter venture across the county to meet the Dales ponies making light work of lugging timber in the Lake District.

The spokeswoman added: “Sean also spent time with logger George Newton and his two Dales ponies, Charlie and George, pulling timber from the forests.

“He also met Katy Dainton from Forest Research, and looked at how she’s using one invasive beetle species to kill another, the great spruce bark beetle, which is destroying valuable spruce trees.”

The show will also look back through its archives on some of the other working animals that have been featured on Countryfile in the past.

They include some laid back donkeys Matt spent time with on the Isle of Wight, and runner ducks that gave Anita the run-around in Norfolk.

Viewers will also get the chance to see the mallards that John saw munching their way through acres of pond weed at Blenheim palace.

  • Those who won’t be able to watch the hour-long programme live will have the chance to see it again on BBC iPlayer after its broadcast.