The use of Trailing Dogs is a practice that dates back for many years, with the first recordings dating to Scotland in 1837. Bloodhounds were and still are, frequently used to track lost and missing persons. From a fugitive of justice to a lost child, or a confused alzheimer patient, trailing dogs can be used to get the missing individual back home safely. The reason for this training is to teach the dogs the art of mantrailing. Bloodhounds are taught to use their nose and natural instinct to follow a trail and I.D. the person they are looking for. In short we teach dogs how to play a great game of hide and seek.

 

Using volunteers and individuals performing community service, we set training exercises and trails for dogs to follow with their nose. Giving the opportunity to repeat this process, over the course of time, the dogs advance in its skill in trailing the person it is seeking.

 

Over the years several scent dog teams have assisted in many high profile missing person situations. Trailing Dogs have assisted in trailing fugitives such as Eric Rudolph and Alberto Morales. They have searched for missing persons such as Laci Petersen and Alie Berrelez. They have also helped to locate missing victims of the Space Shuttle Columba Disaster and Hurricane Rita in Southern Texas. Bloodhounds have helped in the location of missing hunters, runaways and other persons known to have committed crimes.

 

Studies by the FBI have shown that "human scent is unique as fingerprints, and that well trained dogs can differentiate one person’s scent from all others, and can follow that scent and match that scent to a person or item." Scent evidence is the collection and/or preservation of human scent, used in association with a canine team to link an individual to an object or location, or to determine if there is a scent match to an individual subject, object, or location. Scent evidence is present at virtually every crime scene and yet is utilized in less than 1% of all investigations. Case law for scent evidence has found that it is admissible in both Texas and Federal Courts. Scent can be obtained from virtually anything that the missing person had contact with. A scent article can be made from an item touched by the missing person, such as clothing, a child’s toy, a bullet casing handled by a suspect, or even a foot print of a missing person.

 

All of our canines are trained and then tested in the art of mantrailing. Handlers are trained to respond with a high degree of professionalism and at no cost to the requesting agency. Handlers are also trained to work in high stress situations and are well versed in incident command procedures. All the canines working have been proven reliable and have been tested and trained under the finest law enforcement K-9 trainers in the United States. All of the handlers have been trained in CPR, first aid, radio communications, and the use of topographical mapping tools. To be eligible for callout the K-9 dog and handler team must be rigorously trained and tested under real life conditions to a high degree of accuracy including testing. Testing includes being able to accurately search an area and give a determination that the area is either clear or make a find of the missing person. Each handler must maintain a record of training and make this log available for review as needed.

 

The purpose of the community service program is to help both Mission Ready Dogs as well as future trailing dogs to get as much experience as possible to further their education and advancement. We strive to educate the public in the use of the canine nose and their ability to follow and discriminate scent and to remain ready to assist any local or federal police agency when they need assistance in the location of a missing person.