Dog owner hears of 4-year-old missing in SC woods – then puts his bloodhound to work
Two people were missing last week in the South Carolina woods for hours — until Lucy the bloodhound started sniffing.
“It was just a moment of joy, elation,” Ron Saunders said of finally finding the pair.
Saunders, the dog’s owner, said he wanted to join the search after receiving a neighborhood alert on his Ring doorbell app. The alert told him a woman and child had gone missing within a few miles of his Summerville home, he told McClatchy News.
The dog owner told officials that he had a certified bloodhound, a breed known for its keen sense of smell, the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office said in an incident report.
“I saw an opportunity that I could help, and I wanted to help,” Saunders said Friday in a phone interview. “I try to live my life that way.”
Deputies accepted his offer to help. With Lucy on their team, the first step was to have the dog sniff one of the missing boy’s shoes, Saunders said.
At first, Lucy led searchers to an area where K-9 trackers had lost the 4-year-old boy’s scent, the incident report from the sheriff’s office said.
Saunders said he continued looking in the area, and he noticed his dog react. Then he spotted a woman and child.
“When (Lucy) got up to that boy and realized that’s the scent we were following, she went crazy — just jumping all over him, just licking him to death,” Saunders said.
Emergency responders evaluated the woman and child, who had been missing overnight, according to the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office.
For her role in the rescue, Lucy got to enjoy her favorite treat: a piece of venison.
Dorchester County is northwest of Charleston.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Dog owner hears of 4-year-old missing in SC woods – then puts his bloodhound to work."
