Police Smell a Winner in Bloodhound Use

Famous dog heroes usually have the sleek good looks of Lassie or the plucky fluffiness of Benji.

Max, though, looks like Walter Matthau.

But then, he's the real thing.

"Sometimes when he's sleeping, I just stare at him like you would your own child," said Orange County Sheriff's Reserve Lt. Don Hanson. "I think, 'That dog, my dog, goes out and saves lives.' "

Max is top dog on Orange County's bloodhound team, garnering the toughest assignments. He has won at least a dozen awards, including the Sheriff's Department Medal of Lifesaving for finding a missing Alzheimer's patient.

In the last four years, bloodhound use has increased on the West Coast, particularly in Southern California, said Dennis Slavin, a Los Angeles County urban planner and bloodhound handler for the South Pasadena Police Department.

Until about 10 years ago, the jowly hounds were used mostly in rural areas.

But in Orange County, which employs four bloodhounds, the dogs' assignments include an increased diet of crime-related jobs, such as bomb investigations and arson. Mostly they search for Alzheimer's patients, lost children, escaped inmates, missing hikers and suspects.

Four years ago, when rookie California Highway Patrol Deputy Don Burt Jr. was shot to death, Max was brought in to track the killer, who was sentenced last week to life in prison.

Bloodhounds are ideal dogs for following a scent. The percentage of their brain devoted to smell is greater than in nearly any other breed. Once they sniff a "scent article"--clothes or anything that contains the dead skin cells that dogs can detect--bloodhounds are eager to find the source. Their facial wrinkles help trap scents, and their plentiful drool moisturizes whatever gives off aromas, which makes them easier to pick up. Their large ears also help stir up smells.

They don't get their name from their ability to sniff blood. In the 9th and 10th centuries, only royalty, the "bluebloods," were allowed to own them.

The dogs have long necks, which they can hold near the ground, even when moving rapidly. Their large lungs make them tireless runners, and their innate stubbornness makes them single-minded on a trail.

"With bloodhounds, you don't go much into the obedience stuff, because you don't want them to lose their drive," Hanson said. An obedient dog will have the bad habit of looking back at his handler for cues about what to do next, he said.