Posted on 09/09/2002 7:49:06 AM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
A German shepherd named Fero did something that he’s never done before and because he did, a 10-year-old boy is safe with his family.
On Tuesday afternoon Fero went into the woods with his handler, Nashua police officer Jeff Connors, and found Ross Kolesar, who had wandered away from a party and was lost for well over an hour.
Fero is not a search and rescue dog, or at least he isn’t under normal circumstances. He’s a patrol dog, a drug-sniffing dog, one who is used to apprehending suspects, not rescuing lost children from swamps. But on Aug. 27, that’s exactly what he did, and Connors -- a Brookline resident -- couldn’t be happier about it.
The first call came to Brookline police at 3:45 Tuesday afternoon. Officer Michael Kurland -- the town’s DARE officer -- responded to the party on West Hill Road. Kurland got volunteers together to start a search, then called Nashua police for help.
At about 4:30, Connors, who was off duty, and Fero arrived.
“I spoke to the boy’s mother and found out what had happened and where she felt he might have gone,” said Connors. “She said he’d been on a trail out there before with other people, so it wouldn’t be unusual for him to go there.”
Ross has Down’s syndrome and is basically non-verbal, but “very quick and can get away fast,” said his mother Jan.
And lately her son has been acting more independent, she said, “and it’s not unusual for him to wander away looking for adventures.”
About five minutes after she realized he was missing, “I was really getting upset,” said Jan, and everybody fanned out to look for him and she called the police.
“Water was my main concern,” she said, “Thank good it is a dry year. He would not be able to keep himself up for very long if he was in water over his head. Also I was concerned about it getting dark.”
Shortly after Connors arrived, a woman with a search and rescue dog showed up, so he sent her into the most dense woods, gave another search area to volunteers from the ambulance service and other organizations, and then he took the trail.
Fero quickly got some sort of a scent, but Connors couldn’t be sure if it was from the boy or from some of the searchers. He had been offered a piece of the boy’s clothing, but said Fero didn’t work that way.
“We went down the main trail quite far,” Connors said. At one point, he had to slow down the dog because of the heat and his concern that Fero would wear himself out. “About 100 yards after I did that, he took a left off the trail and into the woods.”
He saw some water, but suddenly Fero went back to the trail.
“We went down the trail, he did a few zigs and zags, then he took a left again,” Connors said. “By now, he’s pulling me and his head is up. These are all signs that he’s got something.”
Connors heard a noise and stopped to listen. He wasn’t sure what he was, but he heard something again. Then he saw water and suddenly Fero was more alert. Connors began to shout the boy’s name and got no response. Then he looked down the line of sight Fero was using and there, about 50 yards into a swamp, about waist deep in the water, was the boy. The search took about 25 minutes, he said.
“I called him, and he saw me,” Connors said, and he began to coax the boy back to shore.
But first he had to make sure that Fero didn’t assume it was his job to apprehend the youngster, so “I downed him and tied him to a tree,” Connors said. “Then I called the boy and he came to me.”
Connors had a radio given to him by the Brookline police but it was low on power, so he used his cell phone to call the dispatch center and let them know he had the youngster.
“I didn’t want a lot of people rushing in while I was trying to deal with him and my dog,” he said.
After the youngster was on shore, he was having some trouble walking on the uneven ground so Connors picked him up and then got his dog calmed down and used to the idea that there was, at least temporarily, a third member of their team.
Meanwhile, Brookline police had located someone with an all-terrain vehicle and sent in for the boy, who was checked by medical personnel at the scene.
Finding the boy came as a relief to Connors because finding a child was such a new experience for him and for Fero, who have been together for six of Connors’ 13 years with the Nashua Police Department.
“When I heard the noises and saw the posture of my dog, I’m like, ‘I found him. What else could this be? He wouldn’t do this for an animal’,” Connors said.
Ross, said his mother, suffered only a few scratches and rode back to his Beaver Pond Drive home in Connors’ four-wheel vehicle “with a big grin on his face. I really got the impression that he was not scared at all. There were fire trucks and police cars at the house, and he thought it was the greatest thing.”
Police and firefighters were well-organized, she said, “and really on the ball.”
On Ross’s first day back at the Richard Maghakian Memorial School, said his mother, a little girl in his class, Nicole Hawks, told everyone that “my uncle saved a boy.”
Nicole’s uncle, of course, is Connors.
And as of Wednesday, Ross’s father David is in a remote hunting lodge in Alaska and had not heard of his son’s adventure.
The thing I found most interesting was the insight into dog-handling. The officer clearly understood that his dog would treat the kid as a perp, and got him secured.
They also show up for work on time, they don't unionize, and never complain that something "isn't their job." When a project is completed, the dog will ask for ANOTHER project to accomplish and will gladly work as long as YOU do. Dogs will go places and do things that you cannot, and dogs handle many situations with a mixture of force and diplomacy that surpasses their human employers.
Further, dogs will sleep with you and not expect a promotion.
Michael
Katie Scarlett, the black lab, hopes your yellow is o.k. and sends her regards.
They don't hog the covers, either.
Cats search and destroy.
I have two mutts who's idea of nirvana is simply being with me...all the time.
I love dogs...cat's, well, I'll stop here, don't wanna start something.
FMCDH
Well, in our house, the Beagle rules. And she's a terrible bed hog. I think we may need to go to a King Size Mattress if this keeps up..!
As a puppy, my german shepard DID prefer to sleep on the nightstand, though.
No, I gave him some antibotics and some anti-inflamatory medicine.
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