to search, additional infor-

mation can reveal itself. Canine Search Solutions

teams responded to a total

of 24 cases this year. This

included 20 new searches

and 4 older cases that were

revisited. Cases this year

took us to Wisconsin, Indi-

ana, Illinois, and South

Carolina. All Law Enforce-

ment handlers made the

long trek to Beaumont, TX

for their NNDDA certifica-

tion.

We are excited to have the

added tool of a scent spe-

cific trailing dog. K9 Talia

assisted on her first search

of a missing/suicidal per-

son. The track was four

days old and the informa-

tion K9 Talia provided was

accurate to where the per-

son was eventually located.

In addition to our ongoing

commitment to the miss-

ing, each year we make a

concerted effort to con-

tinue working cold or old

cases. We maintain the

belief that if we continue

2015 CSS Search Efforts

My little “Boda” was a

black and white Treeing

Walker Coonhound and

Lab mix that I was so

blessed to find at the Sioux

Falls Humane Society in

2006. At six months of age,

he was ready to work as

soon as I brought him

home. His love for people

was evident in his ever

present wagging tail that

shook his entire body,

along with his ability to

track people. He was truly

a special dog. I am deeply

thankful for the eight years

I had with Boda and the

utter privilege and honor it

was to walk fifteen steps

behind him on tracks.

One of his best known

tracks was on the first day

of college (SDSU) here in

Brookings, SD. An armed

thief had driven a stolen

car into a tree on campus

and taken off on foot. Boda

circled around the vehicle

before taking off strongly

in one direction, towards

an area where about

twenty police officers were

already on scene. It

seemed Boda was ap-

proaching the suspect’s

friend’s house. After more

LE discussion, they wanted

Boda to confirm that the

suspect was going to this

house. I put Boda back on

track and he took off

again, made a turn around

some bushes and up the

driveway. Turning up the

right driveway was confir-

mation enough for law en-

forcement. Boda received

lots of love and attention

from LE, DCI officers and

me. Boda had a blast with

the track and with all the

attention afterward.

I lost Boda to a terrible

accident last spring and I

still miss him every day.

My new Treeing Walker

Coonhound “Dooley” re-

minds me of Boda often.

Boda must have passed on

his tracking ability and

watches over Dooley when

we are tracking, because it

feels very comfortable and

familiar just as if I were

still walking fifteen steps

behind Boda.

Rest in peace, Boda.

Canine Search Solutions

Special points of

interest:

CANINE SEARCH

SOLUTIONS RE-SPONDED TO A TOTAL OF 24 CASES

CONGRATS TO ALL THE HANDLERS

AND K9 PARTNERS WHO RECEIVED THEIR CERTIFICA-TION THIS YEAR!

TWO NEW HANDLERS JOIN CSS!!

January 2016 Volume 4, Issue 1

Inside this issue:

New Tool to Use in

Searches

2

ARF Fundraiser 2

CSS and MPD

Mounted Unit Train

Together

3

New MPD

K9 Handler

3

Meet the newest

K9 Teams

4

K9 Gildon

Remembered

5

New Handlers

Join CSS

6

EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN HUMAN REMAINS DETECTION

Remembering Boda By Sandra Vernlund

BODA

learn both about how the

HRD dogs contributed to

that case, as well as to other

cases throughout Carren’s

career.

Afterwards, there was a meet

and greet with some CSS

K9s, which was well-received

by everyone. Feedback from

attendants was very

positive, and many

expressed that they

enjoyed learning about

the dogs as well as the

In February, Carren Corcoran,

Theresa Christ, Alyssa Palmer,

and Linda Zapata conducted a

presentation about the use of

HRD dogs during the heart-

wrenching Jeannette Zapata

case. Those who attended were

able to learn about the Zapata

case and hear it from Linda’s

perspective. It was clear that

everyone was touched by what

Linda had to endure throughout

her life regarding her own

mother’s homicide. This was a

very unique opportunity to

Zapata case.

All funds raised went to

support ARF, a German

Shepherd Rescue. Please

visit their web site to learn

more:

www.arfrescue.com

ARF FUNDRAISER

Page 2 Canine Search Solutions

To learn more

about Kevin

Kocher’s

tracking

method, visit his

web site:

www.inbti.com

trailing dogs can provide vital information of where a person may have trav-eled. Talia has been trained using Kevin Kocher’s method, and Carren Cor-coran has guided Wade and Talia through that process. Carren holds a special place for Talia because she is also the mother of her new HRD dog, Moxy. Talia is excelling at her job and has already been deployed on cases.

MEET TALIA Talia is the newest tool to be utilized by CSS, and she is not trained to find human remains! In fact, Talia is a scent specific trailing dog, handled by Wade Gummin of the Madison Police Dept. Over time, we have come to realize that some cases are quite fresh, meaning persons may only be pre-sumed dead for a short period of time. In those cases, scent specific

WLECHA Meritorious K9 Tracks of The Year

Left: K9 Falko and Officer Rose Mansavage Right: K9 Slim and Officer Carren Corcoran

Officer Carren Corcoran with her partner K9 Slim and Officer Rose Mansavage with K9 Falko each tracked sus-pects on separate robbery cases. However, both turned out to be related. The suspect, a former Wisconsin Badger football standout and his brother, robbed local busi-nesses on different days. Both businesses were located downtown where there is a high volume of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Both handlers used only the area where the suspect had stood for the specific scent. Both tracks ended in a different parking lot, with the dogs pro-viding a car pick up indication. Later on, video footage captured the suspect vehicle in each parking lot. This case highlights these amazing dogs’ capabilities when tracking people. Both K9s were awarded the WLECHA Meritorious Tracking Award. Way to go, K9 Slim and K9 Falko!!

In July of 2015, members of the Madison

Police Mounted Unit, Canine Search Solu-

tions cadaver dog handlers, and a scent spe-

cific trailing dog conducted a combined

training. As a result of the Nejay Redd case,

all wanted to improve working relationships

utilizing both the dogs and horses as tools

in searching for missing persons. The train-

ing consisted of desensitizing all the dogs to

working near the horses and introducing the

odor of human remains to the horses. A

track was done using the scent specific trail-

ing dog, with horses flanking the handler.

The track was followed by a small mock

search, where both dogs and horses worked

together to locate human remains.

Everyone benefited from the afternoon and

another training will be scheduled in 2016.

CSS and Madison Mounted Unit Training

MPD Recognizes Citizens and

Officers

CSS Handler Selected

for New MPD K9 Position

Please consider donating to the following organizations:

Capital K9’s

www.capitalk9s.org

American Belgian Malinois Rescue www.malinoisrescue.org

Madison Mounted Horse Patrol

www.madisonmounted.org

Congratulations to Jason Baumgart, who was selected to be the new Madison Police Department K9 Handler. In March 2016, Jason will be sent to Shallow Creek Kennels in Pennsylvania, where he will meet his new partner and begin their training. After 6 weeks of training, Jason will return and continue training with the MPD K9 Unit until they are ready to hit the streets. Jason is very excited about his new venture and is looking forward to being able to work two dogs. Check the CSS website for updates on Jason’s new partner.

Volume 4, Issue 1 Page 3

The Madison Police Department issued several recognition awards to the handlers who assisted in the Nejay Redd Case from 2014. This was ex-tremely important, as both civilians and officers were utilized to solve this missing person case. The following were all recipients of recognition: Theresa Christ, Shelley Rogers; Teri Clyse; Offi-cers Alyssa Palmer, Jason Baumgart, and Carren Corcoran. Thank you for all your hard work!

Interested in learning more about Madison Police Mounted Unit?

Check out their web site:

www.madisonmounted.org

Looking to Donate for a Good Cause?

K9 Training Log Books Available for Purchase

Sharolyn Sievert of Central Lakes Search and Rescue re-cently created, K-9 SAR Train-ing Log Book to document your K9 trainings. If interested in purchasing this tool or to see several other books she has au-thored, check them out on Ama-zon.com.

Eric Peterson of South Da-

kota retired his long-time

partner K9 Eve in 2015

and acquired a new part-

ner, K9 Ninja, a Dutch

Shepherd. Eric did a lot of

research and selected

Ninja from De Las Flores

Kennels and is excited to

have her as his new work-

ing partner. Ninja is doing

great and really enjoys

her new job. Eric and

Ninja plan to certify in

2016.

Sandy Vernlund has two new partners, K9 Dooley, a Tree-ing Walker Coonhound and K9 Jet, a Belgian Groenen-dael, which belongs to the Belgian Shepherd dog breeds. Dooley is being trained to be a trailing dog and Jet is specializing in Hu-

man Remains detection. Both dogs were res-cues and are ex-celling at their job!! Sandy hopes to certify both sometime in 2016.

after retirement, Chris

plans to continue work-

ing dogs. She continues

to instruct the Kevin Ko-

cher trailing method and

plans to continue in as-

sisting in Canine Search

Solutions trainings.

Thank you, Chris, for all

your dedication and ser-

vice!

After 24 years of service

in the Madison Police

Department, Sgt. Chris

Boyd retired in 2015.

Chris was instrumental

in molding the Madison

Police K9 Unit. Her skills

were often used in sev-

eral of Canine Search

Solutions searches as

well as trainings. Even

Chris is available to

consult with for a mul-

titude of dog trainings.

She does it all, from

obedience, SAR, to Pa-

trol K9’s.

Contact her at:

K9boyd@gmail.com

608.692.6261

Meet the New K9 Teams

Congratulations, Sgt. Chris Boyd

Page 4 Canine Search Solutions

Shelley Rogers, a long time CSS handler, has added an-other working partner, K9 Piper. Piper is a female Golden Retriever who was whelped out of Shelley’s other HRD dog, K9 Skyler. Shelley and K9 Piper certified in the fall of 2015 and look forward to searching together!

Teri Clyse and her Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees cross, K9 Oakley, also cer-tified in the fall of 2015. K9 Oakley joins Teri’s working team with her other HRD dog, K9 Fynn.

Sharolyn Sievert of Cen-tral Lakes Search and Rescue acquired a new partner that specializes in live finds. K9 Levia is a Rhodesian Ridgeback that loves her job and has already been used to find a person!

Congratulations everyone with new K9 Partners!!

We look forward to working with the new dogs!

Keep up the good work

K9 GILDON 2006-2015

K9 Gildon was an incredible tracking dog and a steady, quiet, work horse. K9 Gildon

served the Madison Police Department for 9 years alongside his partner, Sgt. Jeff Felt. K9 Gildon’s joy for the job will be greatly missed. May he rest in peace.

Search for Lincoln Hilt

K9 Rowdy, responded to the call to

assist. K9 Rowdy began working

the waterway, while K9 Eve

worked the shoreline. Both dogs

gave indications in the same area

and the information was conveyed

to the search leaders.

Due to inclement weather condi-

tions, divers were not able to be

utilized that day and responded

back on Monday. K9 Rowdy was

called to assist again in case

there had been a change in

area; however, he continued to

indicate in the same area. Based

on K9 Rowdy and K9 Eve’s indi-

cations, divers were able to lo-

cate Lincoln’s body later that

day.

A sad search, but thankful the

dogs could find Lincoln.

Six year old Lincoln Hilt went

fishing with his brand new fish-

ing pole on the Missouri River

in South Dakota on Easter Sun-

day. Lincoln was last seen at

approximately 7:25pm on the

dock over the river.

Brookings County SAR were

contacted to assist in locating

Lincoln. Eric Peterson, with K9

Eve, and Sandra Vernlund, with

Volume 4, Issue 1 Page 5

Page 6 Canine Search Solutions

Introducing New and Upcoming CSS Handlers

Kathleen Kelsey has been a search and rescue handler since 2003 and has worked both live find dogs and cadaver dogs. Kathleen has been a certified han-dler with FEMA Urban Search and Rescue in Missouri as well as Mclean County EMA. Kathleen brings years of experience having participated in approximately 23 searches all over the United States. Kath-leen’s partners are K9 Zach, a male Ger-man Shepherd, whelped in 2008 and cer-tified in Cadaver through several na-tional organizations. K9 Phavor is a male Labrador Retriever whelped in 2011 and certified in Disaster Live Find through FEMA. And lastly, Kathleen has a new partner in training, K9 Redden, a male Dutch Shepherd whelped in 2015. He will be trained in live finds focusing on disaster work.

Josh Bower has been with the Madi-son Police Department since 2013 and has been assisting with the K9 Unit. Josh has expressed lots of interest in working his own dog. Josh was able to attend a CSS training day, where eve-ryone was informed that Josh was there to see the dogs work and to get an idea of what breed he wanted as a partner!! Needless to say, he chose the “pointy-eared” type. Through the help of ARF Rescue, he was able to acquire Kyon, an 18-month-old, male German Shepherd. Kyon has shown great drive and Josh is looking forward to beginning Kyon’s training!

K9 Zach

K9 Phavor

K9 Redden

K9 Kyon

Canine Search Solutions in 2016

As we look forward to this new year, CSS would like to see all the new dogs get their national certification in order to provide more dogs to the cause.

We plan to revisit more old and cold cases of missing persons in the Midwest.

These cases will be challenging; however, we believe that if we continue to work them, we might be able to bring someone’s loved one home.

CSS will be conducting a fundraiser for the Law Enforcement United Madison

Police team in March 2016, check the web site for further information.

www.caninesearchsolutions.com

A huge thank you to all who have supported and continue to support Canine Search Solutions.