Someone is missing. A search dog can help but Time is of the essence!
I have noticed a wonderful trend lately in the success of dogs assisting in the location of missing persons. Trailing Dogs through out the United States have had success in the location of missing persons they are searching for when called upon within the first hour of the authority's getting the call that someone has gone missing. It is true a persons scent is at almost every crime scene or point last scene, however a trailing dog is used in less the 1% of all cases. Run-a-ways, missing elderly, fugitives of justice, all stand a greater chance of being located or in finding evidence of the missing’s path of travel when a qualified search dog is deployed shortly after the call out comes and we are aware of the situation. More interesting is the common link in the success of these dogs, is almost all of the finds by the dogs have occurred when the dog has been called out within an hour of the police learning of the missing’s situation. Police agencies that do have the luxury to have a trailing dog in their department have found that the proper utilization of these dogs do work when uses appropriately.
It is true that dogs do have amazing olfactory systems and evidence seems to suggest that scent can last for several hours and in some cases possibly days. However unlike the days of old there are now many other factors that make a dogs work in our world much more difficult. Vehicles, section land, cell phones, concert roads and an abundance of people in a given location all make up for distractions and land that allow scent to blow to areas that can be difficult for a dog to work out from.
We watch a golfer that makes an effort to sink a 10 foot putt and we are expected to remain completely silent, but we wish for a dog to work through a multitude of distractions in all sorts of situations, we want it completed asap, but call outs often occur more the 12 to 24 hours and in some cases more. Police agencies often do not wish to retain in their canine unit a trailing dog. So often these agencies will have an SAR group or independent handler available with a dog that is very capable of providing this work. Most often this work is provided free of charge to the agency as a form of personal community service. It would do these agencies a great deal of good to learn from the other agencies that do retain trailing dogs in their department. Where this dog’s handler may get a call within 20 minutes to an hour and are on scene ready to help with the search. Other agencies will look down every avenue to find their missing person before making the call requesting assistance. This is the sort of mentality that we must work on changing.
As a handler that will come at any hour when requested, I will tell you I had rather get a call asking for assistance at 1 am, get up and get called a second time as I am driving to the point last seen telling me that the missing person has been located. I am able to take assurance that this agency is doing all they can as quickly as possible. I also know they are offering me the best chance for my dogs to do their best work. Time only allows for the missing to possible get further away, allows for environmental factors to effect the scent and allows more distractions to come between the dog and their target.
So in closing for anyone who may work a missing person’s situation please remember that your trailing dogs should be the first resource not the last resort. We are here to save lives however time is of the essence.
