The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the City of Rancho Cucamonga introduced their new Blood-
hound K9 Unit to the community on Thursday, October 17, 2013. The unit, which includes two bloodhounds and two
deputies, will assist law enforcement in locating missing children, adults, objects, and suspects who flee. Bloodhounds
are one of the oldest breed of dogs that hunt by scent and we are proud
to have them in our county. Along with the efficiencies a dog can
provide, the Bloodhound is an adorable sight and draws attention and
affection from most people.
Following a year of research, Deputies Ryan Girard and Mike Mason
brought forward a proposal to purchase two Bloodhounds trained in the
task of trailing the scent of missing or outstanding persons. Their pro-
posal was welcomed by the Sheriff’s Department Command Staff and
the City of Rancho Cucamonga. The decision to make the purchase and
go forward was an easy one, and soon after hearing the idea, permission
was granted and the City of Rancho Cucamonga funded the purchase.
After weeks of “boot camp” type training in South Carolina, Rancho
Station welcomed home their beautiful bloodhounds, Dare and Déjà.
The dogs are sisters, coming from the same litter 2-years ago. The
girls started their training at 8-weeks of age and were so successful the
trainer, Jeff Schettler, of Georgia K9’s used them as his demonstration
dogs to showcase his training program. Jeff calls the girls “Ferrari’s” of
the trailing world.
In the event that a vulnerable person or suspect in a crime
is missing, the work required by human peace officers is
daunting and sometimes overwhelming. People can be
difficult to find in our very urban environment and can
deplete resources very quickly. A dog, on the other hand,
has olfactory senses far beyond the senses of a human
and can therefore locate a targeted scent very quickly.
Dare and Déjà can currently track any human scent over
the course of several miles, even when the trail is several
hours old and over hard terrain such as cement and as-
phalt. Both dogs are outfitted with video and GPS track-
ing devices. Since October of 2013 Déjà and Dare have
had 15 successful finds locating dangerous felons
and critical missing persons.
Rancho’s New K9 Team