Bloodhound Follows Nose to Lost Dog
Posted on July 25, 2007
Filed Under Dogs, Pets |
They say bloodhounds have the strongest sense of smell. And a trusty bloodhound named Lincoln proved that to be true when he helped find a lost dog named Bandit near Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
Bandit is a 16-year-old black lab who belongs to local Deputy Sheriff Bob McFetridge. Every morning, Bandit takes a stroll over to the neighbors’ house, Anne and Lee Perrigo, to take advantage of the dog treats they give him, as he’s been doing every morning for the past four years. But this time he didn’t return. Bob and his teenage daughters began to worry that Bandit was now a lost dog.
Their worries were confounded by the fact that their other dog and Bandit’s longtime companion, Shadow, a 13-year-old husky, had passed away two weeks prior. They were afraid Bandit might have wandered off and become a lost dog because he was missing Shadow.
So Bob called Boothbay Region Animal Control Officer Betsy Pratt to report his lost dog. Betsy organized a search party to locate Bandit. Her husband chipped in, as did the Perrigos, the last people to see Bandit as he walked off munching dog treats.
And Bob thought of someone else to add to the lost dog search party: Lincoln the floppy-eared bloodhound. Bob knew about Lincoln through colleague Kathy Williams, Lincoln’s owner who’s a police officer in nearby Wiscasset. Kathy has spent the past year getting Lincoln trained to become an official rescue dog.
Lincoln’s trainer Jean Conte has been preparing Lincoln for an AKC tracking degree. When it came time to search for the lost dog Bandit, Lincoln had only been working on warm trails, which are trails where the scent to follow has been laid very recently. He hadn’t spent much time working on cold trails, which are trails where the scent to follow has dissipated over time.
When the lost dog search party launched its mission, Bob rubbed a sock over Bandit’s sleeping area to give Lincoln a whiff. Lincoln then immediately took off for the Perrigo’s house–and he didn’t even know about the free treats they dole out!
From there, Lincoln led the party on a long excursion through mud and brush to search for the lost dog. Night fell, but Lincoln was determined to find Bandit. He led the party into a low swampy area filled with mud and briars, where they heard Bandit’s weak cries. Lincoln’s very first official mission was a success!
Members of the search party helped carry the lost dog back home. Bandit was exhausted, but safe and sound. And it wasn’t long before he was begging for food, one of his favorite pastimes. Along with stealing food off of people’s plates. Hence the name Bandit!
www.boothbayregister.maine.com
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