Heroic K-9 tracks down 3-year-old Ohio boy in less than 10 minutes after he was reported missing
SIDNEY, OHIO: A K-9 is being hailed as a hero after the dog managed to track down a missing three-year-old boy in just under 10 minutes and reunited him with his worried family.
Deputies from the Shelby County Sheriff's Office were called to a residence on 15045 Sidney Plattsville Road at around 12.47 pm on October 9 after receiving a call about a child who had disappeared from the home, according to a press release.
Deputy Frank Bleigh and K-9 Bandit were tasked with finding the missing toddler, and thanks to some incredible tracking by the canine, the case was solved in under 10 minutes.
Almost as soon as they started their search, Bandit picked up the young boy's scent and tracked him down to a location that was about a quarter of a mile away from the home. It is still unclear how he managed to get out of the home and make it that far, or for how long he had been missing.
"Deputy Bleigh and K-9 Bandit started the search at the front of the house and within 10 minutes Bandit had located the child," a statement on Facebook read.
"This is exactly why we have dog units, watching this track you could tell very well that Bandit had the scent of the child and was well on his way to finding him."
"I would like to thank Frank and Bandit for a job well done and it was so amazing to watch this unfold," the statement posted by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office read.
This is not the first time that a K-9 has tracked a missing person in record time. We had previously reported that authorities located a three-year-old boy with autism who they had been searching for for over two hours within 30 minutes after K-9 bloodhound officers joined the hunt.
Three-year-old Aedric Hughes had somehow managed to unlock a door at his family residence in Pace, Florida, and wandered into a nearby wooded area in September, and deputies from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's office searched for him for over two hours without success.
Then, during a second attempt, a team of bloodhounds was brought in to assist, and the canines took less than half an hour to track down the toddler, who was underneath a dense bush about 200 yards from his house.
