This is what we did this weekend

[jocoyn]

It was ultimately a DNR agent in a kayak who made the find but it was truly a combined multi-agency search.

Much of the contamination was familial- and this time we had a somewhat contaminated scent article but over all. There are two stories there. One Toddler Found and one Lessons Learned where he talks about the search dogs.

The boy was found alive and well by A DNR agent in a Kayak. Sorry for the long url.

Lessons Learned From Missing Toddler Search | WSPA

My part was an early negative scan with Grim of a nearby pond and mapping for the rest.

[Lilie]

Man, I can certainly understand not wanting to contaminate a search area, but that sure would be hard not to go and look for a lost baby.

I'm so glad they found that little boy.

Thanks Nancy, for all the hard work you and your team does!

[DanielleOttoMom]

I'm glad this story has a happy ending.
Thank you for your search efforts.

[jocoyn]

The dogs are trained to work through contamination but it is still tough, particularly when it is from the family AND when the only scent article you can get is contaminated with family scent.

We were in the middle of deploying air scent dogs when he was found.

[Courtney]

It's amazing this little boy survived...my gosh the dangers for him.

Nancy, whenever I hear about SAR dogs/teams it gives me chills. The fact that these dogs can be trained in this fashion still amazes me & the true partnership between handler & dog is so impressive. Also, a big thank you from me for what you do!

Growing up a little boy in our neighborhood went missing (maybe 6?) a SAR dog did find him. There was a picture on the front page of the newspaper of the little boy on a stretcher with his arms wrapped around the SAR dog also on the stretcher...this little boy was scared and did not want to leave this dog. I'll never fotget that...

[ladylaw203]

Why did the dogs not find him on an area search? Dogs should have found anything living and breathing. Scent specifics should not apply. Family scent is not a problem. We are individuals. What can be a problem is the fact that a child that young does not produce a lot of scent. Nothing like an adult.

[jocoyn]

The air scent dogs were working out their sectors radiating from PLS. He was 2 miles away and was found when the search expanded after exhausing the areas closer to the PLS and running hasty searches where clues refocused the direction of the search effort. He was missing approx 24 hours. There was also a several hour delay from the time reported missing until search dogs were deployed. We had additional air scent resources from a mutual aid team enroute when he was found.

Our air scent dogs use a scent article as it is but can work without a common problem when a kid goes missing, everyone comes into the woods. The SO is looking at more strategies to keep all the wll wishers out of the woods.

Actually that was one of the points he made in the video is the public gets mad when everyone and their brother cannot come out and look and we need more community education on this. My addition: Everyone and their brother has no special training, interferes with FLIR, interferes with mantracking clues, gets hurt, AND can be a criminal searching for an opportunity.

The area he was found was a river bottoms in steep terrain and unbelievably thick. And scent goes down at night as well. They were working the drainages on original hasties but had not acessed that area yet.

[ladylaw203]

Once law enforcement is notified, we establish a perimeter and shut it down

[jocoyn]

Containment should always be number one - solid search theory. Roads are easy - gets harder on hard to acess areas.