Dog-scenting-dog? This Minnesota dog is training to find lost pets

CATHY WURZER: This is Minnesota Now. I'm Cathy Wurzer. If you have a pet, you've likely had an instance of your heart racing when your dog or cat accidentally gets out of the house. Sometimes pets come back, but other times, they run away.

And there's a group you might have heard of called The Retrievers. They're an all-volunteer group dedicated to bringing lost dogs back home. And soon, they'll have a new tool in their kit that will be a game changer. Right now, they're training a dog scenting dog, and she likely will be the first dog in the state trained to find lost dogs. Joining us right now is Micki Carlson, a case manager with the Retrievers and owner of Scout, who is in training to help find lost dogs. Micki, thanks for joining us.

MIKI CARLSON: Hey, thanks for having me, Cathy. Glad to be here. and spread the word about Scout and Rowdy.

CATHY WURZER: I want to ask about Scout, but first about The Retrievers, I've heard of it, but maybe some folks have not. How would you describe what you do?

MIKI CARLSON: Well, The Retrievers, it's a nonprofit. They've been around since about 2014. They are a wonderful group of all volunteers. And people call us when their dog goes missing, and we throw out the forces, so to speak. Last year, we had about 960 cases of lost dogs. This year, we're on track for about 1,000. And so, yeah, we basically get the case and then just take it till the end till we find their dog.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, I think people don't understand, Micki, that when dogs are out and they're running around, they're different animals, are they not, versus the dog that was in your house. And so they're just freaked out, and something else takes over. How do you work with that?

MIKI CARLSON: So they basically go into survival mode, where they're only thinking about food, water, and shelter. So anything else to them is a threat. So that's why we say don't chase, because where there are, they're content, and they're happy, and they're in a safe spot.

And if people chase them, they're going to chase them into traffic. They're going to chase them into an area where we don't know if they've gone. So that's why we say don't chase. We want them to get settled into an area where we'll be able to set up our trap and bring them home.

CATHY WURZER: Now, tell me about how you got involved in this group.

MIKI CARLSON: Yeah, if you asked me a year ago if I'd be doing this, I never would have thunk it. But my last dog, Lulu, had cancer. And she went into remission, and everything was fine, so we planned a vacation. And while I was gone on vacation, she passed away from cancer. And it was the last day I was coming home. And so I was mad and angry and obviously sad. And I thought, how can I channel this?

And I had heard of The Retrievers before. And I always just thought they were so cool. So I'm like, let's just apply and see what happens. And they accepted me after my interview, and it's just been nonstop since there. It's so rewarding. You think your life is content, and then you don't realize how content you aren't until you start doing this. It fulfills every part of my soul. So, yeah, it's just a wonderful experience.

CATHY WURZER: I can only imagine when you all find a dog and they're reunited with their owners, just how happy that is.

MIKI CARLSON: Oh, it's so great. So my first solo case was Lola, and she was gone for 63 days. And she went from city to city. She was in five different cities doing loops, and we could just never, ever get ahead of her. And when I finally, finally caught her, her mom came and their kid.

And the tears of joy from the mother, but the dog, too, like when the dog finally recognized her mom, she was just ecstatic. And I mean, my god. It's like a feeling that you cannot replicate that feeling of joy. It's so wonderful. So early in our conversation, you mentioned how The Retrievers works. And you said, you know, don't chase the dogs, which is our first instinct, right, to go find our dog.

MIKI CARLSON: Right.

CATHY WURZER: We call you the retrievers. How does your dog, Scout, fit into this? You're training Scout to trail or to track other dogs.

MIKI CARLSON: So a lot of times, we get cases where the dog's been gone for a week because, you know, the owners have tried everything they can to find their dog, and they finally call us. But if the dog's been gone for a week, it could be 25 miles out at this point. So what we'll do now with Scout when she's fully trained in is we'll be able to go from that last sighting and track or trail where this dog goes, which could lead us to the dog. It could lead us to the closest location where it currently is.

If there's sightings of her and we're not sure if it's the other dog, she'll be able to go to that sighting and sniff out and tell us if it is the dog we're looking for. It's just going to be a game changer for us.

CATHY WURZER: Any worry that the lost dog might look at, say, Scout and think, oh, my gosh, another predator or a friend? I wonder how the other dog thinks about this.

MIKI CARLSON: Yep, that's going to totally vary on the dog. If the dog is scared of Scout, then we just back away if we see the dog, yeah. So, well, It's obviously just a tool in our toolbox because we have so many more tools. But this one could be a game changer with, say, a dog dragging a leash, and the dog gets stuck on something in the middle of the woods. Scout will be able to go and find her right away. Yeah, it's really going to be a wonderful tool to have.

CATHY WURZER: Scout has got to have some bloodhound in her, I bet. How's the training going?

MIKI CARLSON: [LAUGHS] I adopted her from Safe Hands Rescue, and I've always only ever had black labs. So I thought she was mainly mostly black lab, but I did the DNA test on her and turns out, she's mostly bloodhound. [LAUGHS]

CATHY WURZER: Ah, there you go.

MIKI CARLSON: So that worked out absolutely perfect. I had no plan to have that happen, but it's wonderful. Yeah she catches on a scent, and you can see her go. So I knew right when I got her she was going to be great at this.

CATHY WURZER: How are you training her? I mean, she already has that God-given ability to track, right, with scent.

MIKI CARLSON: Right.

CATHY WURZER: But how were you trying to alert her to track a dog's scent?

MIKI CARLSON: So we're working with a group called Marne. They're out of the West Coast there. And the person that founded it used to be a police K-9 detective. So she's trained bloodhounds for years on how to find people and other things like that. So she kind of thought, what if I just trained dogs to find other dogs or cats?

And they have courses online because, obviously, I can't be out there. But I'm in a group class, and there's about eight of us on there. And we get together once a week and get our assignments and go through those. And then we send videos online where the instructors can watch those as well and tell us what we're doing wrong and right. And it's a great program.

CATHY WURZER: Well, dogs obviously have amazing noses, right? Once she's fully trained, how long of a trail will Scout be able to track in terms of a time frame?

MIKI CARLSON: Right. Well, the oldest scent trail that's been documented was 13 days.

CATHY WURZER: Wow.

MIKI CARLSON: So we don't promise anything over two weeks. We have a code of ethics and conduct that we stick by. And we don't make false promises to people. So we'll let them know. I mean, it also depends on weather and all that sort of thing. And but yeah, 13 days is about the longest we're going to claim we can track.

CATHY WURZER: Mm-hmm. And when do you think she might be ready to go out?

MIKI CARLSON: [LAUGHS] I wish she was ready now, but there are so many cases that need her now. My teammates are chomping at the bit. But the courses are about a year to a year and a half. And I believe that it just kind of depends on the dog. I'm shooting for the year mark because I'm an overachiever. But we'll see what happens here.

CATHY WURZER: How exciting. And she obviously loves doing this.

MIKI CARLSON: I know. Oh, my god. She loves it so much. And she has a seven-month-old puppy, so she needs some activity or she's going to shred my entire house. So it's a win-win, you know?

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] Well, Miki, I mean, what a great organization you're a part of. And I'd be curious to see how Scout does when she's all ready to go. So we wish you well, both of you. We wish you both well. Thanks so much.

MIKI CARLSON: Yeah, thank you so much, Cathy. Appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Miki Carlson is a case manager with The Retrievers and is training her dog Scout to find lost dogs.