Hey, little buddies! Do you have a favorite pet? I do. He is a big Labrador Retriever named Mosby. Today I’d like to tell you about an adventure I had with him a few years ago.
At that time, I was a reserve deputy for a local Sheriff’s department. That means I was a volunteer. I was a real deputy sheriff, but I didn’t get paid and I didn’t work a regular schedule like most deputies. My job was to help the department train their police dogs and use Mosby to help track down bad guys when they needed us to.
One night the sheriff’s office called me and asked if Mosby and I could come and help with a case. A bad man had taken a woman out of her home and dragged her out into a field in the dark. Her neighbors had heard her screaming out there and called the sheriff.
At a time like that, there is no time to be wasted. The longer a trail gets cold, the harder it is for a dog to sniff out. So quickly I put on my uniform, strapped on my pistol holster and handcuff case, and Mosby and I rushed out the door. We jumped into my truck and roared down the road to Rustburg.
I met a deputy named Will at the trailer park where the woman had been taken (this is called kidnapping). He went into the woman’s home and came out with some of her clothing for Mosby to sniff. This told him who it was we were looking for.
Will told me he was afraid that the lady had been hurt. He said this man had bothered her before and might be violent. The neighbors had heard her screaming out in a dark field west of the trailer park, so Will led Mosby and me over there and we began to search.
I always got excited in cases like that. When someone is in danger, there is that much more reason to get the job done quickly. This was a very serious situation and I tell you, my heart was pounding. I had strapped Mosby’s tracking harness on him as soon as we left the truck, so he also knew there was something important going on. He was panting with eagerness as I walked him along an old fence row in the field. Some deputies had been out searching before we arrived, so there was fresh human scent on the ground and Mosby had to sort through all that and find the right person’s trail. We walked about a quarter mile along the fence row, Mosby sniffing eagerly but not seeming to have a real trail.
We turned and started back the same way, then Will called to me. “Here’s a gap,” he said. I led Mosby to the gap in the fence row and told him to track. And suddenly, we were off! I can always tell when Mosby is really on a trail because instead of sniffing in all directions, he puts his head down and starts charging ahead, dragging me behind him. When he is on a trail, especially a hot or “fresh” trail, he pulls like a plow horse and it’s hard for me to keep up!
Along we went through the tall pasture grass, our flashlights showing us shadowy trees at the edge of the field. Far ahead I could see lights. It looked like there were houses ahead. What I didn’t know was that Will knew where the man lived, and he suspected that he had taken the woman to his home. He didn’t tell me that at the time, though. He wanted to give Mosby the chance to track the man down. Then we would have evidence that could be used in court, that the man and woman had passed that way.
I couldn’t be sure that my dog was on the right trail, but there was no doubt that he was trailing hard and fast. He was pulling too hard to be just taking a walk. “He’s definitely tracking somebody,” I called to Will as he trotted along behind us.
We had gone about another quarter of a mile when we came out on a road and saw several houses. Mosby took a hard right turn and headed for a mobile home. Up on the front porch he charged, dragging me with him. He sniffed around the front door and the porch. Then he seemed not to know what to do.
“This is the man’s home,” Will said behind me.
Mosby and I stood, catching our breath while Deputy Will pounded on the door and shouted for anyone inside to come out. But there was not a sound from inside. Will led the way across the yard to another small building behind the mobile home. There was a light on inside and Will knocked on the door.
A man came to the door and there he was, the man Will suspected of kidnapping the lady we were looking for. Will asked him who else was in the house. He asked if the man had seen the lady who had been taken. The man denied it. No, he knew the lady but hadn’t seen her tonight. No, there was nobody else in the building with him.
Will wasn’t satisfied with his answers, but we took Mosby and told him to track again. I walked him down the road between the homes, but he didn’t seem to care any more. He didn’t seem interested in tracking now. He had simply shut down.
Mosby was acting like a dog who had done his duty. I began to suspect that the woman had been in the building with the man we had seen, but was afraid to call out to us. Will seemed to think like I did, as he suddenly turned and started back for the building.
Again he knocked loudly on the door. He didn’t even wait for an answer before he shouted, “All right, I needed everybody in there to come out right now! Everybody!” And then they came. The man came out. Then the woman came out. Sure enough, Mosby had been right! No wonder he had lost interest when we left the building where his clever nose told him the person we were looking for was hiding.
And so the chase ended. Other police cars had joined us by now, as they had been listening to our trailing on the radio. Will clapped his handcuffs on the man and put him in the back of a police car. Another deputy put the woman in his car and drove her home. Then one of the deputies offered Mosby and me a ride back to the trailer park and our truck.
It was a happy pair who drove on the dark road home to a late bedtime. I was so happy! I had trained Mosby since he was a baby puppy, for a night like this. The whole sheriff’s department heard about it and a day or two later one of the deputies told me they were all singing our praises back at the office. Brave, faithful Mosby had saved the day.
I’ll bet you have a dog or a cat or another pet that you love, just as I love Mosby. What’s the most interesting thing about your special friend?
~Uncle Rick
