LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Apollo is one of the search and rescue dogs that Red Rock Search and Rescue uses when they are looking for a missing person.
Whether it’s in our rural mountains or down in the resort corridor, Red Rock’s Search and Rescue’s K9s are training regularly to find someone who is lost.
“We train twice a week with the dogs. There are two types of training sessions. There’ll be a trailing session and there’ll be a human remains session,” said Kent Nickels, K9 team captain with Red Rock Search and Rescue.
When the volunteer organization first started in 2012, they were mostly working in wilderness areas. Today, those search areas have widened according to Nickels.
“It’s more of the urban searches. More looking for dementia patients, special needs people, that sort of thing,” Nickels said.
Training at Fremont Street Experience
On this night, the training takes us to the Fremont Street Experience, where Apollo, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, has to pick up the scent of a man and find him. Before the search begins, Apollo walks the area where the missing person was last seen and does what’s called a scent inventory.
This is when the handler and K9 walk around. The dog is again given the scent he needs to follow. When his K9 vest is put on, Apollo knows it’s time to search.
Once he’s tracking, especially in a crowded place like Fremont Street Experience, Apollo moves in a circle.
“He’ll do a loop and he’ll reaffirm this is where the scent is,” Nickels said.
He’ll follow that scent, in this case, along the Fremont Street Experience by all the people and street entertainers and vendors, following his nose.
The search continues
The search led us into the Plaza Hotel and Casino.
Along the way, Apollo continues doing his search loo,p making sure he’s tracking the scent.
Once inside the plaza, his nose found the person, and he sat down.
“That’s the trained final response. That’s one that says he found his guy,” Nickels said.
After the missing person is found, a spotter who walks along with the K9 and the handler informs the command post.
Apollo is rewarded for his work.
Nickels says the urban setting is a very hard challenge for a K9.
“So the dog had to deal with the lights, the music, the sounds, all of the food smells, the gorilla entertaining and discern one person’s scent out of thousands,” Nickels said.
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