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