My name is Fred Lestéros and I run Svenska Hundenheten, a unit specialising in search and rescue in aquatic environments.

The demand for our expertise, both in Sweden and abroad, in locating missing people in water is so great that we now need another dog. In Sweden alone, an average of 100 people go missing in water areas every year.

So, for those of you interested in supporting this dog financially so that I can bring him into the team, as well as purchasing the necessary equipment for training and insurance, you can contribute any amount here on this page. He has excellent potential to become a truly valuable asset to me and Svenska Hundenheten, and for those of you who would like to follow the puppy’s development from the start to becoming a fully-fledged water rescue dog, that opportunity is now available.

Twenty years of research underpin the methods and training that Svenska Hundenheten’s dogs receive, making them Europe’s best cadaver search dogs.

What inspired us to launch this campaign was that one of our former clients, Tone Tellefsen Hughes, felt she wanted to help us after she lost her husband at sea in 2024. 

Tone felt so strongly that if she had known about our work, her husband would have been found sooner. 

So she has decided to donate two-thirds of the cost of the puppy to kick-start our campaign. Tone says, ‘The four weeks my husband was missing were the worst weeks of our lives, and if we can spare others that pain, it feels as though we can turn our grief into something good!

Here are two links on YouTube in Swedish and one in English where Tone describes her story.

https://youtu.be/1TL_n0K1NiQ?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/B5rSSYyINRM?feature=shared

Warm regards, Fred Lestéros at Svenska Hundenheten.