As long as we're sharing dog stories, this is a nice one...
October 10, 2017
Family dog in 'protection mode' helps patrol chopper find toddler in Minnesota cornfield
Helicopter's heat-seeking device picked up the dog's movements, steering searchers to the boy.
By Paul Walsh
Star Tribune
A family dog in “protection mode” near a missing 2-year-old boy caught the attention of a State Patrol aircraft’s heat-seeking device and allowed searchers in central Minnesota to locate the child in the dark, authorities said.
The son of Kaitlyn Bottem was outside his home northwest of Richmond playing with siblings and wandered off about 6:15 p.m., according to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office.
The grandmother came out to check on the kids and couldn’t locate the boy, the Sheriff’s Office added. Authorities were notified after the family’s 30-minute search failed to find him and darkness was closing in.
Sheriff’s deputies were joined in the search by fire and rescue crew members, two law enforcement bloodhounds and the patrol helicopter.
Searchers “heard the dog barking at one point [before the boy was located], then it stopped barking,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Vic Weiss.
The helicopter picked up “a heat signature” below in a cornfield nearby, which turned out to be not only the boy but the family’s dog, Weiss added.
The blurry gray and black imagery revealed in the heat-seeking video shows the dog walking near the boy and at times sitting down before a sheriff’s deputy and a state trooper arrived at the child’s side about 9:20 p.m.
The lieutenant said the dog’s presence near the boy “absolutely, for sure” played a major role in leading searchers to the boy so quickly on an increasingly chilly night.
“The dog was in preservation and protection mode,” Weiss said.
Law enforcement brought “the boy back to his house, where he was reunited with his mother and was evaluated by the ambulance,” a Sheriff’s Office synopsis read.
The boy was “in good condition, although a bit cold and hungry,” the Sheriff’s Office continued.
http://www.startribune.com/family-dog-in-protection-mode-helps-patrol-chopper-find-toddler-in-minnesota-cornfield/450261893/
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