One of the basic tenets when you have multiple dog teams is making sure the handlers work independent of each other. Otherwise, the handlers may unconsciously bias themselves. In Johnson County we had the "super baby" case. Toddler went missing from effectively a drug house. 3 dog teams were brought in. Note this was in the middle of August about 12 years ago. Two came in pretty close to each other time wise. Dog one hit a scent, crossed the road and went straight to a pond about across the road and about 50 yards out in a pasture. There was one toddler foot print at the edge of the pond. This brought all search efforts to a halt (bad idea, but that was on the Sheriff's department). Later I would be shown the track and it was not from that day. Dog #2 followed the exact same path. Hasty grid of the pond, nothing. Dog #3 was a lab know to be a really good trailer. Right as they got ready to start, a deputy mentioned what the other 2 dogs did. The dog initially started the same way, but turned at the end of the trailer house headed to the back fence. As we watched, for whatever reason, the handler pulled off the dog, and it veered back and took the exact same route as the other 2 dogs....48 hours, the baby was found sitting next to a stock tank about 2 miles due north of the trailer. Wearing a clean diaper......yeah. Never heard how the investigation worked out.
Burleson roughly 2004. Cocaine stung out diabetic with no shoes crashed his car along I-35. Best guess was he freaked out and ran. Canine got him to an apartment parking lot across the highway, and then lost. Area was "throughly" searched by various leo agencies. He was eventually found about 76 yards away in a bridge culvert entombed in mud.
..you know, the first place you should probably look.
*Bloodhound was an odd deal. This was down around Rusk in the middle of the summer around 2006 (don't hold me to the year). 75 year old, supposedly with Alzihmers disappeared (but no one other than a daughter seemed to know anything about the Alzihmers, the husband never mentioned it in his interview). She was annoyed with the husband about something, and did her usual walk it off. She was in good shape for her age, and was known to be content walking a good distance (Alzihmers patients in good physical shape are a royal pain to hunt for). Poof nothing. I don't remember how or why, but a Texas Ranger was involved and suddenly we had a TDCJ bloodhound on scene. Dog took the expected route, but before hitting a small highway, veered off across a pasture. Hit a fence and nada. The fenceline was fairly overgrown and no signs of vehicular traffic. Very little doubt she went that way, but might as well be an alien abduction. Last time I checked, she never was found.
