By PAM ZIERK-MAHONEY
A newly qualified ski patroller will grace the slopes of Mt Buller this season – now all grown up, Chilli the patrol dog will once again be greeting visitors, now fully accredited as a Therapy Dog.
Introduced in the 2025 season as a young puppy, Chilli has undergone further training through Therapy Dogs Australia over the summer period and graduated in late April – just in time to return to Mt Buller for the opening weekend.
Owner and handler Tess Hoinville explained that therapy dogs are different to service or companion dogs – they are specially trained to be around people, particularly crowds, and can work with psychiatrists or other clinicians.
“But our role is to set Chilli up for community engagement and involvement while we’re out on the slopes patrolling,” Tess said.
Last year, Chilli was just meeting and greeting skiers, snowboarders and visitors in general.
“Because she was a puppy, we were really focusing on socialisation and not doing much, just client or guest interactions because she was still teething and biting - still a little bit silly.
“So, it was really important not to overwhelm her when there were good opportunities and she was in a really playful mood.
“There were a few times that we met people out on the snow, but we were definitely focusing on teaching her how to move around the mountain, how to ride chairlifts, how to walk between our legs while skiing, whereas this season, now that she’s accredited, that’s when we can start utilising her for what should be her purpose.
“What our intentions are this year is to help us respond to clients in a ski patrol setting that are particularly stressed or that could really use a distraction during the rescue process.”
Tess and her partner and co-owner of Chilli, Aaron, will both return to the mountain this season as ski patrollers – and will have Chilli as their offsider.
“I’ll have standard patrol duties as well because we don’t need Chilli to do our job, but it’s sort of an additional resource that we can call upon when the need arises,” Tess said.
“It’s going to be a learning curve that the patrol team and our patrol director will help navigate throughout the season as we start going to clients on snow, but at the end of the day we don’t want to hold up a rescue process.
“If someone is injured, the best treatment is to get them back to the medical centre, but if there’s someone that maybe just needs a bit of an extra boost; if it’s a kid that has, you know, fallen down and hurt their knee but they don’t need to go to the medical centre and they just need help with a bit of confidence getting back on their skis - maybe that’s where Chilli and I could come along to give them a little interaction.
“And then that child could follow Chilli, perhaps skiing down the slopes; there are little ways that we can help with a dog that, you know, boost someone’s confidence,” Tess said.
“Whether it’s in a social setting, or if it’s confidence boosting or just a distraction, that’s how it works.
“It’s going to be a bit of a trial.
“Chilli will be learning every single day, but yeah, I think we will have Chilli with us most days, progressing with her training, making sure that she remembers everything that we went through last year.
“Then we’ll take her out for a bit of exercise and a bit of engagement and some meet and greets, but then she can either be at one of our patrol huts where she can have a rest and then come out when she’s required.”