JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JSO’s K-9 unit played a crucial role in locating a missing 9-year-old boy just a few hours after it was reported that he had left his home on the Northside Monday afternoon.
K-9 Patriot, a bloodhound, helped bring the boy back safely to his family. Patriot’s tracking depends on following the scent of the person he is searching for.
The dog’s handler explained how they found an important lead early in the search.
“When [the boy] was running away, one of his shoes fell off,” Officer Anthony Yannuzzi explained. “That’s the perfect thing we can use [because] it’s uncontaminated, [and] only has the child’s scent on it...so I let Patriot smell his shoe and he took off from there.”
The officer said they combined following Patriot’s scent with talking to neighbors who had seen the boy earlier. This approach led them through several yards for more than an hour.
Due to the heat, K-9 Patriot began to tire, and Officer Yannuzzi was preparing to give him a break. However, something changed that plan.
“As we’re walking back to the car, his head snaps and goes diving into a bush a couple of houses down, and the kid was hiding in the bush,” Yannuzzi said.
The officer shared that the boy was initially scared of the dog, but by the time they emerged from the bushes, the boy was petting K-9 Patriot.