This "says it all" about this gentle breed - The Bloodhound

And now I lay me down to sleep......

A child with his dog - Wonderful. A child with his Bloodhound that prays - Priceless!

Staged Child Abduction - Use of Bloodhound to Locate

"Bloodhound Focus" is a video of a Bloodhound Team running a trail. It shows Kali the Bloodhound being scented from the ashes from a paper towel that had scent on it from the missing subject. The Bloodhound then "ran the trail" 3 hours later. To view this video click below:

Virginia Tech Tragedy "What If" Scenario

Virginia Tech Tragedy - A “what if” Scenario/Dialog
April 17, 2007

As additional information becomes available on the Virginia Tech massacre, those of us in K-9 search and rescue continue to speculate in an attempt to learn from and apply this learning to future activations in which we may be involved. While there is certainly enough “Monday morning quarterbacking” taking place at this time, I certainly don’t want to add to that but do want to speculation on a “what if.”

When I first heard of this tragedy as it was unfolding and saw the police K-9’s it seemed to me that the use of “immediate scent/bit tracking dogs were, of course, the proper resource. Then I heard the college was not in lockdown and that out of the some 25,000 students, 11,000 were arriving on campus and heading for their classes that early morning. It seemed to me the chances of immediate scent tracking were becoming less possible by the minute with all the students moving around the campus. This is assumption on my part as I do not know if scent discriminating trailing/tracking dogs were in use. As the two hours passed between the first shooting and the second on campus, I started to speculate on a “what if.”

Being familiar with a number of Sheriff’s Department Bloodhound handlers/deputies in Virginia and one Lt. Detective Bloodhound handler from our trips to Virginia for yearly recertification for our Bloodhounds, the thought started to materialize that if a qualified scent discriminating Bloodhound team (or other breed) would have been deployed this tragic and worst mass shooting incident in our history could possibly have been foiled. Let me explain.

The first incident involved two victims being shot in their dorm at 7:15 AM. The shooter would have left shell casings as he apparently was not concerned (my assumption) with covering his tracks. A Bloodhound could have been scented off those shell casings and, with backup of swat team members and police/swat team K-9’s, could most likely have trailed the shooter to his dorm where he apparently went during that two hour period between his first shooting spree and the second where 30 additional students were shot and killed. As we know from our training in scenting a Bloodhound from a shell casing that has been loaded and fired by the shooter, his scent would most likely be on the spent shell casings. During our practice on this scent presentation scenario the Bloodhound has been able to run the trail on the subject after being scented on the shell casing.

Now, I know as a Bloodhound handler I am bias but I am also trying to be objective. Yes, the hound can lose the trail at times and yes, you want to have police bite dogs from a protection standpoint. If swat teams and their K-9’s are in tow following the scent discriminating Bloodhound team you do have that element of protection when the Bloodhound starts to indicate he is getting close to his subject. That is where the Bloodhound team falls back and the swat team takes over with their K-9’s. If it is possible that a resource (a mantrailing Bloodhound) could foil the worst mass shooting disaster in our history it is a “what if” I would bet on.

Immediate response is the key in these activations and I realize that qualified Bloodhound teams are few and far between in most areas of this country as compared to police dogs but here we have Virginia, a state and area that has more qualified Bloodhound teams than almost other states. Just maybe the Bloodhound team, as the resource it can be, will become more prevalent and used more by law enforcement, not as a last resort but as an additional upfront resource when the circumstances apply.

I know this dialog probably serves a therapeutic purpose for me as we all begin dealing with this sad tragedy. If only the additional resource of a qualified Bloodhound team(s) would have been available and used the second shooting and carnage may never have taken place. Of course we will never know but we can learn from speculating on “what if” scenarios and as Bloodhound handlers can continue practicing on as many scenarios as possible, including this one. Wouldn’t it be interesting to practice/work on the above scenario with a swat team and their K-9’s!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Virginia Tech students, faculty, families and all who have been touched so deeply by this tragedy.

Ron (Lindy) Lindblom
K9KAL
www.bloodhoundscents.blogspot.com
Mid-Michigan Working Dogs – K-9 Search and Rescue
Tri-State K-9 Search and Rescue
www.tristatesearch.org/index.html

Kent County SAR, K-9 Unit

Currently I am a member of, and K-9 Coordinator for, the Kent County Search and Rescue K-9 Unit in Kent County in the state of Michigan. I handle two Bloodhounds. You can view the Kent County SAR website and view pictures at the following links:
Kent County SAR K-9 Unit
Kent County SAR K-9 Unit Pictures

 

7-Year-Old Boy Found

Search ends as dog sniffs out missing 7-year-old
Thursday, November 23, 2006
By John Tunison
The Grand Rapids Press
ALPINE TOWNSHIP -- In a matter of a few minutes, Kali's nose accomplished what 60 searching police and firefighters could not.
And she works for liver treats.
The 5-year-old bloodhound quickly made a happy ending Wednesday out of a terrifying scenario for any parent -- a child missing in frigid temperatures. Montez Parham, 7, was cold and frightened, huddling in an apartment building hallway for nearly three hours after losing his way home, when Kali went to work. She picked up his scent in the huge York Creek Apartments complex off Alpine Avenue and made a beeline for the boy's location.
"They lock everything else out except the scent they are searching for," said Ron Lindblom, Kali's handler with Mid Michigan Working Dogs. "This was a very short search and a very good result."
Investigators knew they had found the boy -- dressed in only a T-shirt, boxer shorts and tennis shoes -- when Kali lifted her paw at him.
"The dog identifies a find by giving us that sign," Lindblom said. "We gave her a treat and now she's happy."
The discovery -- and a subsequent joyous reunion between Parham and his family -- capped a frenzied, intensive search that began when his father, Tony Lee, awoke at 8:15 a.m. to find Montez missing from the family's apartment at York Creek. He called police, who already were nearby after a worker at the Alpine Avenue 7-Eleven store called authorities more than 30 minutes earlier to report a boy in the store.
"I'm just glad he's OK," Lee said after learning Montez was safe. "My whole chest was tight."
Police think the boy, off from school, left his apartment about 7:30 a.m. to head for 7-Eleven, but later could not find his way back in the massive complex. Montez was found at 10:30 a.m. as the bloodhound briefly passed the unit where he huddled, but a resident there emerged to say a boy was in the hallway.
Outside doors to the York Creek units are locked, but police think Montez entered the hallway as another resident left earlier in the morning. The unit is only about 400 yards from the family's home.
"He's a child that got up in the morning, didn't have to go to school and probably went for a hike," Kent County sheriff's Lt. John O'Rourke said.
Kali is the same animal that found a 47-year-old woman who fell unconscious in a Spencer Township cornfield in September. She was reported missing five hours earlier.

Sniff out dirt like a Bloodhound

While this is not a commercial site, I have two of these "Roomba" cleaning robots and they work as hard on the trail of dirt, cleaning the floors and carpeting, as a Bloodhound works "on the trail finding a person" and - they do it all automatically!

Let "Roomba" sniff out the dirt like a Bloodhound sniffs out the person it's trailing! Also check out the robots they build for deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq! Click on the link below to see how.

Underutilized Resource

With thousands of persons in this country going missing each year it is unsettling to see how many times the mantrailing Bloodhound is not utilized. Some law enforcement agencies have "trailing" K-9's as a resource but so often they do not and the K-9 that is used is a police K-9 that usually has been trained to be a patrol dog. To use this type of dog to trail a victim many hours after they went missing would be like trying to use a Bloodhound as a patrol dog. The Bloodhound that has been trained in mantrailing is widely known as the best breed for the job. When a life is at stake all qualified resources should be used. Yet it seems the oft forgotten K-9 in law enforcement is the mantrailing Bloodhound.

With many "private" K-9 search and rescue organizations deploying trained mantrailing Bloodhounds and offering their services free of charge, why is this resource often ignored when a person goes missing? While politics does enter into this, I submit it is a lack of education as to what this resource is capable of doing. This is the reason for this blog - to stimulate discussions, opinions and most of all, knowledge and education on this subject.

In the recent past, we had a mother of two children who went missing before the holidays. While the local K-9 search and rescue organization offered it's services to local law enforcement, it's services where not utilized. <<She was later found murdered and left beside the freeway>> and no one knows whether trained Bloodhounds could have assisted in the search to find her. No one will ever know as these resources were ignored.

Hopefully this blog will stimulate lively comments and discussions that will lead to a better understanding of this underutilized resource. If it can, then just maybe this awareness will have an impact on those that are responsible for utilizing every resource possible to locate people who go missing in this country. Just as the Amber Alert network is a wonderful resource, so is the properly trained trailing dog, and the breed that meets this task the best is the Bloodhound.

This web site is dedicated to Julia Dawson's memory.

Lindy


News Flash - Julia Dawson's husband Tim Dawson was found guilty of her murder on July 6th 2008 in a Grand Rapids, Michigan Court of Law!

Finally the family of Julia Dawson has some closure.

Mother Found

The missing mother I mentioned in my previous post has been found deceased, 15 miles from where her car was originally found when she disappeared three weeks ago. We will never know if the Bloodhounds could have been of help initially and possibly could have found her before she was murdered.

This underscores the need for more discussion leading to a better understanding of this underutilized resource.

Lindy

Trailing Demos at Kids Bike Safety Day sponsored by Alticor, Inc.

Doing K-9 Search and Rescue trailing Demos with our Bloodhounds and German Shepherds is always a treat.
(Click on any picture to enlarge it for viewing.)

Kali and Handler doing a Trailing Demo for Kent County Humane Society Fundraiser

We're always happy to help raise funds for a worth cause like the Kent County Humane Society
(Click on any picture to enlarge it for viewing.)

The Mantrailing Bloodhound

I will not stop till I find you! If you are lost, stay calm and stay in one place and I will find you. That is what I live to do -- with my handler!

(click on any picture for larger view)

There You Are!

Hot on the trail of a subject, Buford and his handler Bryan move stealth-like through the woods.
(click on any picture for larger view)

Use of GPS Tracking to assist in training exercise to evaluate K-9 team's accuracy in trailing the subject

GPS Tracking Log of 51 hour old trail run by Kali. Other K-9 handlers - please feel free to leave comments on trails or call-outs you and your dog have run 

You can run but you cannot hide! 

K-9 Handlers Search/Trailing Experiences

This is a place where K-9 teams/handlers can post information on actual searches and training exercises in which they have participated. Hopefully the dialog/comments in this area will be of interest and educational value to fellow Bloodhound/K-9 handlers, law enforcement/emergency personnel and the general public.

Important Information for First Responders at the Scene

We attend a yearly Bloodhound Trailing seminar/school put on by the Virginia Bloodhound Search and Rescue Association. We are also members of VBSAR. The two documents in the "comments" area give valuable information to "first responders and Search Managers" that can help greatly in the successful conclusion of a search for a missing or lost person. This information can be very useful to law enforcement, emergency service agencies and the general public.

To contact Mid-Michigan Working Dogs and utilize our services call your local law enforcement agency and request they call us.

Pager: 989-920-1577
Telephone: 989-261-7446

Team Ron and Kali

Making a find

Kali has her MT Trailing Certification from the American Bloodhound Club and her L.E.T.S. (Law Enforcement Training Specialist) certification. Kali and her handler are members of Mid-Michigan Working Dogs, Tri-State K-9 Search and Rescue and the Virginia Bloodhound Search and Rescue organization.

Bauer-Legacy's Hush Lil Baby (Kali)

This is Kali the trailing Bloodhound who also shows at dog shows. She would rather be out there trailing but is close to getting her championship.

"Dog tired" after completing a trail on a very hot day.

Ron and Kali doing the Trail at a Kiwanis Club Event

Whenever possible, we make our teams available for school and community events. Everyone just loves to see a Bloodhound "on trail" and to hear how it all happens. Because we are so passionate about what we do, we also love talking about how it's done and doing demonstrations at various events.

K-9 SAR Presentations & Demonstrations available for Schools and Community Groups

(Click on the letter to enlarge for reading)
Thank you letter for Kiwanis Club luncheon presentation and demonstration with Kali the Bloodhound trailing one of the members from the restaurant banquet room, through the kitchen, out the back of the restaurant, through the parking lot, down the street and back to the front of the restaurant. The person who had laid the trail was standing with two other people when the Bloodhound did her gentle "jump up" id of the subject, telling the handler the subject had been found. In this case the subject was Kiwanis Club member Dr. Robin Vaughan.