When we think of difficult life situations in which we are mostly disoriented due to fear and panic, there is still one thought that prevails, and that is to call your best friend.
This story is just one of countless proofs that the dog is exactly that friend. A friend who will act immediately, without thinking, and someone who will not give up on us regardless of obstacles. If we are ever lost, they will find us.
Fame and Recognition
Meet Küsse, a search and rescue dog who is widely known for his expertise in tracking and finding missing persons.
Küsse loves people, and his favorite thing to do is help them. Thanks to her talent, she was nominated for the title of Hero Dog, by the American Humane organization multiple times in the past.
Out of all the dogs who competed in the awards, she was the only dog representing the state of Alabama, and has gained half a million votes and many compliments for her skills.
Küsse’s Unrelenting Spirit
Küsse lives in Sheffield, Alabama with her owner, Corey Speegle. The two of them have a long history together.
Speegle has had her since she was just a small puppy and she began to train her to find things at a very young age.
The method he employed to do this was called recall or refind.
Speegle said in a statement: I say, ‘show me’ and she will return to me and lead me to the person. When she finds somebody, she gets her purple kong wubba… her favorite toy in the whole world.
The dog was trained to find a missing person and return to its owner to let her know she found them. In order not to lose Küsse while searching, Speegle uses a handheld detection module that is synchronized with her collar, which can keep track of her for 9 miles.
Search and Rescue Missions
Speegle continued by saying: Occasionally, with small children, the dog won’t leave the child. It will lay down and stay with the subject, so we can still track where the dog is.
Küsse is also very proficient at finding people by simply tracking their scent, but for that to work, she needs an object or an article of clothing to smell before proceeding. If the smell is strong enough, she can use it to find the missing person.
To help her improve her skills even more, the owner trained her at the Federal Emergency Management Association.
Speegle noted how all of that training helped prepare them for more urgent cases, such as the one in Cokeville, Tennessee, where a powerful tornado ravaged the town.
When it happened, the two of them tried their best to find the missing people, and worked tirelessly for long hours.
Speegle said: Küsse and I worked for hours on end to help find survivors and bring closure to families with missing loved ones. It was like a bomb went off there. We stayed until the last person was accounted for – it wasn’t pretty, as you can imagine.
Days had gone by, and unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they couldn’t find any of the missing people. This just reminds us that not all search and rescue stories have a happy ending.
Among some other more positive stories, the owner talked about how a marathon runner had gone missing during a storm.
Küsse had lost the scent of the man due to heavy rain, but she helped point the authorities in the right direction, and because of that, they were able to find the missing person.
Another story with a happy ending happened at the Legrange Cemetery, in Leighton, Alabama.
The duo had been working together on a historical project, together with a few other people, and one of the volunteers’ children went missing, but thankfully, Küsse was there to help.
Speegle said: This little 6-year-old girl had wandered off 200 to 300 yards. Küsse found her at the back of the cemetery, at the wood line. It was a little scary for all of us.
It was only thanks to this duo that so many lost people get rescued every year. Even though the job is pretty hard and can be depressing, that has never deterred Kusse in her quest to help out as many people as she can.
Her resolve should serve as an inspiration to all of us to never lose hope, even in the most difficult situations.
