Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson

And when the space shuttle crumbled over Tex., police called in Puzzle. Search-and-rescue dog handler Susannah Charleson and her partner, a golden retriever named Puzzle, work with the elite Metro Area Rescue K9 unit in Dallas, Tex.Ĭharleson tells the story of their partnership in her book, Scent Of The Missing.Ĭharleson and Puzzle have worked all kinds of cases, from a teen who disappeared, to an Alzheimer's patient who wandered off. Susannah adopted Puzzle as a puppy, and Puzzle has since adopted a cat, Thistle. All dog lovers and people interested in training service dogs should read this book.Susannah Charleson and her search-and-rescue dog, Puzzle. 'A riveting view of both the human animal bond and the training of search and rescue dogs. All dog lovers and people interested in training service dogs should read this book.' -Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make Us Human

Scent of the Missing is the story of Charleson's adventures with Puzzle as they search for a lost teen an Alzheimer's patient wandering in the cold and signs of the crew amid the debris of the space shuttle Columbia disaster-all while unraveling the mystery of the bond between humans and dogs. Once she qualified to train a dog of her own, Charleson adopted Puzzle-a smart, spirited Golden Retriever puppy who exhibited unique aptitudes as a working dog, but was a bit less interested in the role of compliant house pet. While the team worked long hours for nonexistent pay and often heart-wrenching results, Charleson discovered the joy of working in partnership with a canine friend and the satisfaction of using their combined skills to help her fellow human beings. Susannah, a dog lover and pilot with search experience herself, was so moved by the image that she decided to volunteer with a local canine team, plunging herself into an astonishing new world. In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Susannah Charleson's attention was caught by a newspaper photograph of a canine handler, his exhausted face buried in the fur of his search-and-rescue dog. A 'haunting meditation on trust, hope and love' by a woman who adopts and trains a Golden Retriever puppy to become a search-and-rescue dog ( People).

Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson