Bloodhounds Track Invisible Trail Of Skin Cells

If you’re lost, pray for a bloodhound. Human search and rescue crews will use their eyes and ears to find you. But it may take them days.

A bloodhound uses its nose to trail the 40,000 dead skin cells you shed each minute - cells which are as unique as your fingerprint. The dog may find you in minutes.

“They’re the only breed of dog whose testimony is allowed in court,” said Mike Henslee of Northwest Bloodhounds Search & Rescue.

Like aficionados of any dog breed, Mike and Betty Henslee have filled their home with bloodhound paraphernalia. Daughter Cherie Drake’s nursing school graduation photo includes dog Vannah.

But the Henslees and their bloodhounds answer a higher calling. When summoned by the Department of Emergency Services, they and other members of Northwest Bloodhounds Search & Rescue respond, often in the wee hours of the night.

On the spur of a moment, this volunteer contingent will meet law enforcement officers from city, county and state agencies almost anywhere in the Inland Northwest.

They help locate lost hikers and hunters. In some states, they track escaped convicts. Sometimes, they look for a missing child.

Last summer, they searched for Rachel Carver, 9, who disappeared the morning of June 14, 1995.

“We were called out that evening,” said Dan Drake.

Drake’s dog Vannah, Leonard Terzenbach’s bloodhound Reba and Bob Fisher’s dog Jed learned Rachel’s scent from items Cherie Drake found in the girl’s bedroom.

The men and their dogs headed to Rachel’s school because her uncle, Jason Wickenhagen, said she was last seen there.

“Of course hindsight is 20-20, but we noticed when we brought the dogs over to the school they indicated the tracks were pretty slim,” Dan Drake said. “It was the same at Joe Albi Stadium and at the river near there.”

Vannah and Reba seemed more interested in the area behind Rachel’s garage and in the alley behind Rachel’s house.

“The police said they had already been through there,” said Cherie Drake.

And at the time, the house was not considered a crime scene. In fact, Cherie Drake waited with Wickenhagen at Rachel’s house while the dogs were searching the school yard for Rachel.

“He even asked if we wanted to check the boxes in the garage, which the police had already done,” Cherie Drake said.

Rachel’s body was later found in a box at Riverside State Park, where Wickenhagen dumped it after killing her.

One officer at Rachel’s house, Drake said, commented that in other states dogs are called in right away to rule in or rule out what is the crime scene. The procedure saves time and taxpayer money.

Some experts estimate a dog’s sense of smell is anywhere from 10 to 100 times better than man’s. For bloodhounds, the estimate is 300,000 to 3 million times better.

Air-scenting breeds follow human skin cells riding on the air. Ground-scenting breeds follow skin cells left on the ground, buried in the ground or floating in a slick up from a body submerged in water.

“Bloodhounds are made for (the work),” said Cherie Drake. “Their long ears drag on the ground, dragging up the scent; then the scent collects in their wrinkles and draws continuously to their nose so they can concentrate on that particular scent.”

Tales of the bloodhound’s scenting abilities abound. In Oregon, for example, one bloodhound followed a 3-year-old trail of skin cells to a body buried in a 10-foot grave.

“They are not called bloodhounds because they follow blood,” Mike Henslee said. “They are called bloodhounds because it used to be that only royalty in England could own them.”

Luckily, that’s no longer the case.

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MEMO: Mary Sagal’s background is in journalism and wildlife biology. She has also worked at a veterinary clinic. She lives in rural Spokane County with her husband and their mixed-breed and Siberian husky dogs. About Dogs appears the first Sunday of the month.