What’s more adorable than a bloodhound puppy? How about TWO bloodhound puppies?
Pasco Sheriff's Office has added K9 Hemi and K9 Shelby, two adorable bloodhounds, to their team!
These boys are 11-week-old littermates who were born in Kentucky. In about 10 months, this pair will help locate missing people, including those who have wandered from home, as single-purpose tracking K9s.
Tracking missing people is one of the most frequent calls for K9s in Pasco. While many of the department's K9s are trained to track those who are missing, bloodhounds have heightened abilities and can track after significant delays, the sheriff's office said.
They can also decipher between scents of multiple people, giving them the ability to track through a crowd. These specialty K9s will be an invaluable asset in recovering missing citizens.
K9 Hemi is the partner of Dep. Bobby Lewis, who has another K9 partner, K9 Maddie, PSO’s first live find K9. K9 Shelby is the partner of Sgt. Brian Hernandez, who’s current K9 partner is K9 Doc, a narcotics detection K9. As both K9 Maddie and K9 Doc are single-purpose K9s, Hemi and Shelby are ideal partners for Dep. Lewis and Sgt. Hernandez, as they will be in training for nearly a year before starting to work calls for service.
In addition to K9 Hemi and K9 Shelby, PSO currently has two bloodhounds at the agency, K9 Buster and K9 Knox. Like all of PSO’s K9s, the funds for K9 Hemi and K9 Shelby were donated by community members.
