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He’s a big fella with a stocky build. Big feet. Long ears. He lives in and works with the Moore County Emergency Management Agency (MCEMA) building. His name is Hoss, and he is a registered bloodhound, a search and rescue dog. His job is to find lost people to bring them home again with his handlers Hunter Case and Zack Means.

Hoss came to Moore County in April of 2022, a six month old fully trained search dog. He is funded by a federal grant and individual donations. Though other breeds can track, bloodhounds are especially suited for search and rescue. They can track scents that are two to three days old, and even track a scent from a vehicle. Their long ears help to concentrate scents, making it easier for the dog to track.

Both Franklin County and Bedford County have bloodhounds as well, for a total of five dogs and six to seven handlers. They all team up together for training and re-certification. Training is just as important for the handlers as it is the dogs. A handler needs to learn to read the dog’s signals, which tells the handler when the dog is on a scent, casting for a scent, or has lost the scent.

By picking up the direction of a scent, bloodhounds can narrow a search to a specific direction, giving searchers a feasible vector to investigate. It is possible for bloodhounds to pick up the scent of someone who is in a vehicle. Once a direction of travel is established, the dogs can be taken ahead to an intersection to check for a change in direction.

The three agencies work together on calls as well. Hoss has not only worked calls in the tri-county area, but has worked in Giles and Sumner Counties, and Cookeville. He has been out on twelve searches and is credited with four finds. Fortunately, over half the missing people are located before the dogs are physically deployed in the field. Hoss and his handlers are listed as a resource with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). 

According to MCEMA Director Jason Deal, in recent years bloodhounds have proved to be important in tracking and finding Alzheimer’s patients and autistic children, who often tend to wander. FBI National Crime Information Center (NCIC) reported 546,568 missing persons in 2022, with 65% of those being children. One in every sixty eight children is on the autism spectrum, and 50% of those will be missing at least once before the age of seventeen. This year there are an estimated 7.1 million adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s. 60% of those will go missing at some point.

MCEMA works with Paul Coley, owner and operator of Scent Evidence K9 of Florida in obtaining the trained dogs. Coley is a former FBI Forensic Canine Operations Specialist who now raises and trains bloodhounds for search and rescue nationwide. Coley also travels to Moore County for annual re-certification of the hounds and trainers.

With the state of Florida Coley has developed the “Bringing the Lost Home” program, which supplies agencies with Scent Preservation Kits. The kit is comprised of gloves, a scent pad, a glass jar, sealing tape, a label, flash drive, and instructions for collecting a scent. These kits can be used for loved ones that are at risk of going missing. They are available from MCEMA or the Moore County Sherriff’s office free of charge. They have a shelf life of over ten years. The kit could be a valuable starting point should the scent bearer become missing.

Director Jason Deal said that the agency will be purchasing a female bloodhound this spring with some of the remaining grant money.