The last post on the schutzhund topic got me thinking about this. :-)

SAR is something I've wanted to do since I've had dogs - something really fun but rewarding too and would make use of what they're good at, especially for River, Opi and Raine.

Just wondering how on earth I could go about getting into it?

As far as I know, you have to be actively involved with a rescue team yourself first, before being allowed to start training a dog for it. The dog's training then takes about two years. (It's what I was told when I sold a pup who was destined for SAR.)
http://www.nsarda.org.uk/pages/how-to-be-a-handler.php

Not sure about lowland teams but for SARDA with the mountain teams you need to be a full member of the rescue team before they will consider you for a dog handler. - you obviously need to know how the teams work on call outs. In my area you have to have a probationary period before becoming a full team member. So you're looking at 18 months to 2 years. Then you have to get backing of Team Leader to be considered for dog handling & without that backing SARDA wont consider you. Some teams dont want dog handlers at all, i know of a few lowland teams this applies to.

Assuming all the above has been got through, the next stage is the dog. It's extremely rare for an adult fog to be taken into training. Most handlers will get pups, those pups are showing v distinct traits at a v early age, even from the point of entering the world.

Lots of assessments to do, many handlers never make the grade!

http://www.sardaengland.org.uk/

There'll be links on this site to regional and national teams.

It's by no means an easy road www.sarda.org will give you more info.

Ignore the link in last sentence, unless you're in Scotland. Im working on an iPod and it wont let me access that last bit to change it !

Where are you based, Nikita?  There are different organisations across the UK.

Lowland Search and Rescue is an area that I am very interested in myself and wanted to do it with my current dog but sadly he was considered too old to start the training. He's not an old dog at all but the younger the training starts the more use can be made from the training and experience. He was just turning 5 when our local group was looking for more volunteer dog handlers but they like to start the dogs as young as possible and 5 was too old to get value for money when considering the cost and time involved with training the dog and then having a reasonable length of working life.

Although I wasn't able to do it - but it's my plan for my next dog - I know someone who is currently undergoing training with a working cocker and absolutely loves it. You do have to be available for callouts and the training takes place often and at varied venues so can take up a lot of time and involve a lot of travelling.

If you want to know more I can probably put you in touch with the person I know :-)