National Missing Persons Day

February 3rd marked National Missing Persons Day. I had the opportunity to be a special guest on a blog for hautedogpetphotography.com

They ask me to recount one of my more memorable searches - the rescue of a Fort Worth woman by my trusted hound, Hogan. The following is the story I presented to them.

July 31, 2016, it was a hot a humid day. One of those over the top kind of heat that graces Ft. Worth, TX around this time of year. At approximately 03:20 pm I received a call from the missing persons unit of the Ft. Worth Police Department. It seems they had a missing person’s case of an elderly woman who had gone missing from her home around 2 o’clock that very afternoon. It seems this missing person had been diagnosed with some type of dementia and wondering from her home was something that would happen from time to time. The temperature outside was approaching 104 degrees and the heat index even hotter. FWPD was requesting I bring a search dog in hopes of assisting them in the location of this missing women. I gathered items I would need for a search, loaded Hogan up in my vehicle and headed to this location. Hogan was an AKC registered bloodhound that I had worked with since he was six weeks old. He was approaching the age of 8 and at this point in his lift we had worked several missing person’s cases most with excellent results. I arrived at the location around 4 o’clock. At this point our missing lady had been gone for at least 2 hours and in this high heat it does not take long for bad things to happen. I meet with the officer in charge, gathered a scent item from the home and prepared to start my work. Looking over the home I found the back yard area secured and the most logical way out would have been from the front yard. I looked up and down the street as we were in the heart of Ft. Worth, just south of downtown and very near to I-35W, which is a very busy intersection that would surely mess with any human scent that may still be in the area. I asked for assistance from the Ft Worth officers that were assigned to this case. I had one to follow me along and flank my position to keep us safe. I also had two officers in patrol units to assist us as we needed to block of intersections. Once we get Hogan started we do not want to interrupt his work as this could create a distraction that we may not overcome. I took Hogan to the front yard. Put his harness on him. His head popped with interest as he knew this was it! It was time to work. Presenting the scent article to him I gave hid his start word. “Hunt,” I announced and off Hogan went. He moved quickly with a lot of purpose and intent. First down one street and then turning up between houses. So we popped out of an ally way to be next to the I-35W service road. Hogan turn back up near a 7-11 store and preceded to make his way under the interstate as he continued to move west. As we preceded down the street one of the patrol units moved past us to keep traffic at bay as we worked down this residential street. Suddenly Hogan’s head popped and at that very time one of the patrol units announced over the radio that he spotted a women that is matching the description of our missing person. A quick check reviled that this was her! Out missing lady who had been wondering out in this heat and not really sure of where she was. For the past hour there was no luck in locating her. However once Hogan got started he worked just over 1/3 of a mile and found the missing women in just over 10 minutes. Thanks to his efforts someone is alive and safe as results can always turn tragic at any time.

Hogan continued to serve the public, but sadly passed away on 09-18-2018. In his life he found runaways, missing persons, and fugitives. His work assisted in a conviction of an armed bank robber, and he worked at many safety fairs as we would visit with school children about staying safe should they ever get loss. His memory will always be one of both love and service as he was not only my partner, he was my Pal!

Hogan's memory lives on and GL continues to work with his other hounds - Journey and Reign - to track missing persons across Texas.