Bloodhounds are unmistakable with their floppy ears, wrinkles, and droopy eyes, but it's their keen sense of smell that makes them a valued member of any police K9 unit.
“When they track, they're smelling the human scent. Each human, almost like a fingerprint, has a unique scent,” said Maryland State Police Sergeant Richard Kelly.
Dailey is the newest K9 with Maryland State Police, while Blair will be serving the Frederick Police Department. She is the city's first-ever bloodhound.
“She's going to be a single-service dog and the only thing that she'll do is find people. Her whole breed, the bloodhound breed is made to smell and to find things down to the wrinkles in her ears and everything,” said Blair's handler, Ofc. Sheena Yohe with the Frederick Police Department.
Both bloodhounds will attend trainings twice a month then enroll in 10-weeks of school in the fall before becoming certified.
Sergeant Richard Kelly is the lead trainer for the program, he's also Dailey’s handler, who was named in honor of fallen Harford County Sheriff's Deputy Pat Dailey.
“I knew Pat from when I worked up in Bel Air and I was like Dailey would be an awesome name, so I called my cousin who's a lieutenant with the [Harford County] Sheriff's department and before I named him, I wanted to make sure the family was okay with it. So, she contacted the family and they said absolutely and then he had a name,” said Kelly.
Dailey's family also met the new pup over the weekend when he visited the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company. Senior Deputy Dailey served in the fire company for 37 years, his two sons are also members.
“The smiles were priceless. It was so cool seeing all these guys and girls smiling again, both of the boys loved him. I mean Tyler was walking him around for most of the time, it was just awesome,” Kelly said.
And much like his namesake, K9 Dailey will be trained to serve and protect.
“I hope that he's going to save lives and catch bad guys,” said Kelly.
Sergeant Kelly is also working on acquiring another bloodhound. He has plans to name that dog in honor of Deputy First Class Mark Logsdon in consultation with Logsdon's family.
Logsdon was the second Harford County Sheriff's Deputy killed in the line of duty on February 10.
Blair was donated to the Frederick Police Department by Boggs Environmental Consultants, Inc. The owner of that company, Mark Boggs, named Blair after his brother who passed away while he was in school attending college for a degree in law enforcement.
Download the ABC2 News app for the iPhone, Kindle and Android.
