By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
The Crestline Public Library went to the dogs Monday night as the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office held a presentation on their K-9 search dog.
Lt. Tim Mutchler along with his bloodhound Ajax paid a visit to the Crestline Library to give an informative program on how the Sheriff’s Office utilizes their bloodhound.
“Well the dog that I use is strictly a tracking dog. He only looks for people and that is all he looks for. He is used for missing person, any criminal we are looking for. It’s a variety of calls we use him for. I have been called to everything from prowler calls to homicides with this type of dog,” Mutchler said.
Mutchler explained that bloodhounds like Ajax are not utilized by many police departments in the Midwest.
“There are not a lot of bloodhounds in use in this part of the United States; all up and down the East Coast and West Coast they are more prevalent. In between it is scattered, there’s not a lot of them in this part of the United States being used in law enforcement.”
During their program Mutchler told the audience the Ajax is only one of four search dogs trained to search for people in the state of Ohio and as a result has been used in searches for people from Cleveland to Columbus. When used in a jurisdiction outside of Crawford County the bloodhounds along with himself will be sworn in by the local law enforcement in order to execute searches and make arrests if need be.
Prior to having those in the audience come up and pet Ajax and get to know the pup, Mutchler gave a history of the Crawford County Sheriff’s K-9 program.
“Twenty-one years ago I approached Sheriff Ronnie Shawber about bringing in a bloodhound as a search dog,” Mutchler told the audience.
Mutchler had a few volunteers come up and outstretch their arms as he explained that the dog picks up the scent of dead skin cells and that everyone’s skin cells have a unique scent. Mutchler continued explaining that the skin cells collect in the bloodhound’s nose, the wrinkles around the dogs face, as well as slobber from the bloodhound regulates the scent.
Mutchler explained to the crowd that when he is using the dog for tracking he pays attention to Ajax’s tail when searching.
Fielding questions from the audience Mutchler explained that the Sheriff’s Office has used three bloodhounds in the past 21 years. Ajax has been used by the Sheriff’s Office for 10 years but this will be his last year; a fourth pup is on the way. Mutchler explained that Ajax’s future replacement is still a little too rambunctious to become part of the Sheriff’s Office’s K-9 unit, and that training for the dogs takes about one year depending on the maturity of the dog.
Finishing the presentation Mutchler told the crowd that Ajax is used mainly to search for lost children, but most of the time the child is found before the bloodhound is used. Mutchler then explained to the children in the audience that the best way to avoid getting lost is to listen to their parents, and if lost stay to in a safe place.