Allegheny County Sheriff's bloodhound helps find woman with dementia who wandered from care facility

By Abby Kirkland / For the Post-Gazette

An 8-year-old bloodhound and his handler, Allegheny County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Belback, helped locate a 65-year-old woman with dementia who had wandered away from a personal care facility in O’Hara on Wednesday.

Belback and K9 Officer Ranger responded after the O’Hara and Indiana Township police departments contacted Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus’ office requesting help in locating the woman.

Using a blanket from the woman’s room at the personal care home, Ranger was able to identify her scent and tracked her for nearly 3 miles. 

“Their scent is kind of like a fingerprint,” Belback said.

Many police dogs are trained in tracking — keeping their nose to the ground to follow crushed vegetation, ground disturbances and human odor. Ranger is trained in “man trailing,” which means identifying an individual’s unique scent and following it through the air.

“Bloodhounds are used to trailing animals. We just shift that to humans when we are doing training,” Belback said.

After an initial sighting of the woman on Hart’s Run Road, the dog’s nose led him and his handler down the middle of busy Hart’s Run and Dorseyville roads, which were closed to traffic. Ranger stopped at Glen David Drive to rest and to allow traffic to resume.

Police from O’Hara, Indiana Township and Fox Chapel continued on the tracking path and found the woman a short distance away on Fox Hall Drive. She was not injured and was transported back to the facility.

“Everything worked out as it should have worked out. It was a good collective effort across departments,” Belback said.

“What made this search really unique is that [the woman] was able to travel such a long distance — almost 3 miles — in such a short amount of time.”

Ranger and Belback have been partners since the dog was 18 weeks old. Ranger has participated in searches for dementia patients, adults and children with disabilities, and criminals.

Ranger returned to work full time in August after receiving treatment for hard palate melanoma, a rare type of cancer in the mouth.

“I noticed a small lump in his mouth. We caught it early,” Belback said.

After surgery and chemotherapy, Ranger receives a vaccine every 6 months to ensure that the cancer does not return.

When he’s not working, Ranger lives with Belback and his family. But it’s not easy for him to relax. When he’s playing with other dogs, he is a “Group A leader,”  according to Belback.