Toddler Safe After German Shepherd Tracks Her For Hours In Cold Dense Woods

Toddler Safe After German Shepherd Tracks Her For Hours In Cold Dense Woods

A volunteer and his 7-year-old German shepherd named after a goddess have been hailed as heroes for finding a lost toddler amid plummeting temperatures.

In Dorchester, New Hampshire, temps were passing 40 on route to an expected 20°F when a mother called 911 to frantically explain that her 2-year-old daughter and the family dogs were missing.

A hole where a wooden fence joined a metal wire fence told of clever canines and a curious child in tow.

At 3:15 p.m. on October 10th, the word went out to fire and rescue, state and local police, and volunteer teams, and soon 90 people were scouring the deep woods looking for the child.

“Everybody dropped what they were doing and came over extremely quickly knowing the temperature was dropping,” Sgt. Christopher McKee of New Hampshire Fish and Game told the Washington Post. “They are all volunteers, doing this all on their own time … the sheer outpouring of support was incredible.”

One man who showed up though made off with the headlines. Jeremy Corson from Concord, almost 40 miles away, arrived with Freyja, a trained scent tracking dog to lend a hand, a heart, and a nose to the search.

It is, Corson said, his 13th year of volunteering as a search and rescue personnel in these situations. He described the woods as very thick where one couldn’t see more than a few feet in any direction.

While Corson and Freyja hunted, the two family dogs returned home, worrying the rescue teams that time was running out. There were no more warm bodies or good company for the toddler, and the Sun was going down. On the bright side, it meant they were likely looking in the right area.

Corson told the Post that it isn’t as easy as it looks working with a rescue dog—just giving an old piece of clothing for it to smell and then running off into the woods.

“The dog and the handler are very much a team,” Corson said. “We do the human part of it, figuring out how the wind moves and how to move through the area — and the dog provides the nose … she brought us right into it.”

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That she did. At about 8 p.m., while Freyja went along nose to the ground, Corson heard a voice respond as he was calling out the toddler’s name. They found her and she was very happy to see them, thinking Corson was her father.

At home the mother was overwhelmed and “broke down.” All the rescuers were relieved and there was a sense of elation in the air. The toddler declared she was ready for night-night, though her parents agreed it was wise to take her to the hospital to check for hypothermia and other injuries.

Corson was extremely proud of his dog, and bought her a brand new ball as a reward.

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The comment section was awash with praise for the man and his dog.

“What a wonderful story. The bond between the dog and handler is amazing,” wrote one, while many others admitted it reaffirmed their love for one of the most famous of all working dog breeds.