A new recruit joins a team of bloodhounds built for searches

The North Dakota Highway Patrol's newest recruit has floppy ears, four legs, and an amazing knack for finding people. Beau, a 12-week-old puppy, is joining a band of bloodhounds who are in demand for difficult cases across the upper Midwest. They trail missing children, people with dementia, and criminal suspects. The agency uses drones and aircraft to aid searches, but bloodhounds remain an age-old, low-tech solution. “These dogs are just specifically bred to search for people,” said Trooper Steven Mayer, who handles Bleu, one of the dogs. Bloodhounds have about 300 million scent receptors in their nose, vastly more than humans and more than other dogs, Mayer said. Their big, floppy ears and folds of skin help gather odor for the dog to trail people, sometimes after a week or more, he said. The dogs have scented from a wall someone touched, the dirt a person stumbled in, and vomit on a car door. Highway Patrol began using bloodhounds about 14 years ago, moving away from dual-purpose dogs to singular-purpose drug dogs and trailing dogs. The state force receives about 70 calls a year for their services, including one to Montana last year to help find a man suspected in the killing of four people at an Anaconda bar. Beau was born in Texas but has since moved to North Dakota's largest city, Fargo. His early training is mostly potty and kennel training and basic commands, as well as socializing him to different places, people, and environments, said Trooper Dustin Pattengale, Beau's handler. He won't be ready for a full or certified trail until he is about 9 months old. North Dakota's dogs are something of a social media sensation for the Highway Patrol. Beau's name was picked in a Facebook vote. Recent videos depict him chewing a toy bear and another bloodhound, Lorace, gallivanting in new boots. “Everybody loves a dog, I mean, especially these little babies, these floppy-eared ones,” said Mayer, who hopes the dogs' visibility yields earlier calls for their assistance. “The more word we can get out about the program and the faster we get calls on it, the easier we can get out and be available to help people,” he said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.