Our K9 friends have senses we don’t have, making them vital for search and rescue operations.
Dogs have a far better sense of smell and sound compared to humans.
They can trace a human’s scent from their footsteps on the path they’ve been on, and their hearing can also alert their police partner of any signs of life or movement ahead.
Their bodies are nimbler, so they can move through tighter, cramped spaces.
All that considered, they deserve all the credit for every successful mission they’re a part of.
A study shows that dogs have an overall success rate of 76.4% and effectiveness of 62.9% in search and rescue operations.
This was based using a standard effectiveness formula and basic descriptive statistics.
Constable Dan Berube and his K9 service dog Jynx proved these statistics right.
The Halifax Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) received a report of a missing three-year-old girl in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The police believed that she wandered near Highway 357 and into the woods. How she got there, they didn’t know.
The Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency team used all its resources for the search.
They sent out drone teams to patrol the area, hoping they could get an idea of which site to search.
But the most helpful resource they pulled for this mission was Constable Berube and Jynx.
The duo rushed to the scene as the rest of the forces were asked to clear the area.
Rescue dogs work better with lesser people around because it’s easier for them to pick up the particular scent they’re looking for.
At that point, it was now up to Const. Berube and Jynx.
The team was previously searching downhill, but the girl’s mother said her daughter was a climber, so there’s a big possibility she went uphill.
Const. Berube believed that parents knew their kids best.
As a parent, he knew that there are things parents know about their children, so he followed what the girl’s mother said.
They went through the muddy, steep hillside with many bushes and pine needles.
He was convinced no human could go there, but Jynx kept pulling him in that direction.
Every scent that Jynx picked up led to the girl’s house, and Const. Berube thought he was sensing the officers.
He pulled his K9 partner back around when he started picking up a different scent.
Jynx pulled him to an area uphill, and that’s when he heard a faint “hello.”
The three-year-old girl was standing in the middle of a bunch of pine brush.
They saw her looking lost but not scared. She saw Jynx and said “doggy” and asked for her mommy and daddy.
He told CBC News:
“I thrashed harder and my dog led me to where she was — and here she was in the middle of absolutely nowhere, a whole bunch of pine brush around her and she was just standing there. The first thing she said was, ‘Doggy.’ I just hugged her.”
According to Const. Berube, her curly hair stretched out and had two mismatched boots, and all he could do was hug the little girl and promise to take her back where her mommy was waiting.
He carried her downhill and back to her mommy’s arms.
Const. Berube said he couldn’t imagine if it were his child out there; he was lost somewhere and not home for dinner or at night.
He was determined to find the little girl and credited Jynx for his splendid job on that search.
The pair are true heroes!
Watch as Constable Berube recalled his search with Jynx in the video below!
Desperate search for missing 3-year-old ends with a wonderful word: ‘Doggy’
When a three-year-old wandered off in the woods, a desperate search began.
Thanks to Jynx and his dogged handler, the story had a happy ending.
Via CBC Nova Scotia
Read more: www.cbc.ca/1.5549092
Posted by CBC Saskatoon on Wednesday, April 29, 2020
