Bloodhound Police Detective Meets Fox Meadow Students

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY — Fox Meadow Middle/High School students had the chance to meet an 80-pound, long-eared, canine detective recently when Wiltsy visited the school.

Teacher Patty Lucido invited Officer Fran Torson of the New York State Police K-9 Unit to visit the school with her canine partner in response to questions students had raised in the Forensic Science class Lucido teaches, according to a school spokeswoman.

Lucido said the class had been talking about methods of collecting evidence collection and that one way to gather evidence is to use dogs whose keen sense of smell can track a person for more than 100 miles.

“The students said they would like to see one of those dogs and learn more,” she said.

Wiltsy, a bloodhound, has been on the job for only eight months, Torson said. But she has already assisted in a number of cases and successfully tracked a man who had run away from a group home using a car key that only the man had touched.

Researchers have estimated that a bloodhound’s nose consists of approximately 230 million olfactory cells, or “scent receptors” — 40 times the number in humans. In addition to their highly efficient noses, these dogs are helped to track scents by their long ears, which drag on the ground, collect odors and sweep them into the dog’s nostrils.

Torson said bloodhounds are primarily used to track missing people like elderly people or children who may have wandered off, or suspected or known criminals fleeing police. They are well suited to the task because bloodhounds can differentiate between the scent of the person being pursued and those trying to catch him or her.

In contrast, she said, German Shepherds, which are also used in police work, will chase the freshest scent.

As for training, Torson said it was all about repetition and reward.

“She’s a dog so she wants a reward,” she said, adding that Wiltsy’s preferred treat is a hot dog. Torson keeps them in the cargo pockets of her uniform when training or working a case with Wiltsy.

Despite Wiltsy’s abilities and the seriousness of her job, all the students wanted to do at the end of the talk was get up close to her and pet her.

Photo credit: Fox Meadow Middle/High School.