Thursday was a GOOD day

[k9sarky]

Thursday started off normal,but about noon our K9 Rescue squad was called out. I'm a member of 4 Rivers K9 Search & Rescue here in Western Kentucky. We're an all volunteer unit that have day jobs,but we had 5 members with K9's able to respond. It was a 2 hour drive to Madisonville,KY.
There we met with their D.E.S squad and drove to the search site. A 70 year old man with Alzheimers had been missing since Wednesday morning,last seen by some oil rig workers entering a remote wooded area. Me and my dog Dixie were furnished with a scent article and were first K9 team deployed. We started a perimeter search of the field and Dixie hit some scent into the woods on an ATV trail. Once in the woods she was covering a good bit of ground seeming to have some scent but not really hitting a fresh track to follow. My backup searcher and I called out several times without any answer from the victim. After 10-15 minutes of searching around some deep gullies Dixie hit a track heading along side a branch gully heading away from the creek bed. I commented to my backup that I hoped this was what we were looking for. He then called out for the victim and GOT A REPLY. Well we were somewhat stunned. At this point we had only been searching about 30-40 minutes and made the find.
The victim was in very good condition,confused of course and somewhat dehydrated. He was barefoot except for wearing one sock. We took him to a clearing where a 4X4 truck met us and drove him out to the staging area. EMT's checked him out and took him to the hospital for observation.
The prior searching had gone on for the previous 24 hours. Needless to say there was much excitment when we radioed in the find. The local D.E.S had done a great job on the initial search and had covered a lot of gound before we arrived. But I'm still very proud of our K9 team of volunteers. Working people who give up their personal time and money for training and equipment. And to travel where needed. I'm also pretty proud of Dixie! It was a very good day.