On the evening of November 19th, OVSARDA was
called out to a search for a missing 22 year old female, who had stepped into
the woods behind a friend's house to walk her dog. She had previously gotten
lost in the same area a few days earlier but had managed to find her way home.
On this day, she had been missing for 4 hours already and was known to be
terrified of the dark.
OVSARDA deployed one search dog team, and one
navigator, to the search site. The Aylmer police had remained out of the woods,
trying to minimize the scent contamination. A scent article (a running shoe) was
obtained from the house and the dog was scented on it, then told to track. The
dog immediately turned and, nose to the ground, followed a path leading from the
backyard approximately 75m, then turned off the trail and plunged into the
woods. Initially the dog tracked off-lead but the bush was so thick that the
handler frequently lost sight of her, so she was placed on lead. They team
continued to track for 90 minutes, approximately 4 kms, when word was relayed
that the missing person had managed to wander out of the woods, approximately
800m ahead of the tracking dog, and onto a residential street.
The woman was scratched and frightened, but otherwise unharmed.
Her dog had had a wonderful time!
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