Archie the K-9 finds three missing children near Buena Vista, Colorado
A newly trained yellow Labrador K-9 named Archie located three missing children in the Colorado wilderness on his first mission.
Three children vanished from a campsite near Buena Vista, Colorado on September 26. The missing children, two six-year-olds and one nine-year-old from the Denver area, were discovered to be gone around 9 a.m. Family members and volunteers searched for two hours without success before notifying the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office around 11 a.m.
Archie deployed after traditional search methods yield no results
Rescuers deployed multiple drones, foot patrol teams, and a helicopter for two hours. They found nothing. Canine deputy Archie, a two-year-old yellow Labrador with the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, was then brought to the scene. Deputy Kendra Hoffman, who coordinated the response, noted that search dogs are typically not used if a person has been missing for several hours due to scent contamination. Archie, who is also trained in narcotics detection, was relatively new to the department. This was believed to be his first on-duty search.
Archie’s scent work leads directly to the children’s location
Handlers gave Archie a stuffed animal belonging to one of the children to pick up their scent. The dog picked up the trail almost immediately. He headed south and southeast away from the camp near the Midland Bike Trail, moving quickly into the wilderness. Archie led his handler and two deputies approximately 1.5 miles from the campsite to a sandy wash. There, searchers found the children’s footprints. All three children were located unharmed and in good health around 2 p.m., five hours after they went missing. They were reunited with their family. Remarkably, Archie and his handler, C.J. Meseke, had completed their training as a team only the day before this mission.
Handlers and officials praise Archie’s performance and future role
Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich praised the entire search and rescue team and Archie's contribution. Archie's handler, C.J. Meseke, was effusive. "He's the best partner I've ever had," Meseke said, describing Archie as a happy dog who loves having a job to do. After the long search, the sheriff's department posted a photo of the exhausted dog with his tongue out, captioning it, "all tuckered out after a long day of work."I see us using Archie a lot more now," she stated. Archie and Meseke are now expected to work together on many future missions.
