Toddler safe after German shepherd tracks her for hours in the woods

Sydney Page

Search teams fanned out through the dense woods of Dorchester, New Hampshire, and the sun was starting to set. Temperatures dropped below 5ºC as volunteers scoured the area for a 2-year-old girl who had been missing for hours.

“It’s thick forests and swamps,” Sgt. Christopher McKee of New Hampshire Fish and Game said of the area.

That afternoon, on October 10, a frantic mother called 911 to report that her toddler and the family’s two dogs were missing. They disappeared from the gated front yard around 3.15pm, after the dogs seemingly pushed through a spot where a wooden fence met a metal wire fence.

“The gate was secured, everything was locked,” McKee said. “Where the two fences meet wasn’t hooked together very well, and they were able to push through.”

McKee called for backup, and within 30 minutes, state troopers, local firefighters and volunteer rescue teams started showing up.

“Everybody dropped what they were doing and came over extremely quickly knowing the temperature was dropping,” McKee said.

More than 90 volunteers came, including several neighbors.

“They are all volunteers, doing this all on their own time … the sheer outpouring of support was incredible,” McKee said.

Jeremy Corson and his dog Freyja, who are based in Concord - over 40 miles away - rushed to help. Corson works full-time as a software engineer, but he volunteers with New England K9 Search and Rescue.

“It’s my 13th year doing this,” he said.

Freyja, a 7-year-old German shepherd, is a certified search-and-rescue dog.

As soon as they arrived outside the girl’s home, Corson and Freyja headed straight into the woods.

“Time is of the essence with a 2-year-old, both because they’re young and because the more time passes, the more they can travel,” Corson said.

Corson described the woods as “very thick,” adding to the challenge of finding the small girl and dogs. About two hours into the search, one volunteer found the child’s shoes - but she and the dogs were nowhere in sight.

Still, “we knew we were in the right area and in the right direction,” McKee said.

Shortly after, the family’s two dogs returned to the house.

“It was about 10 or 15 minutes after the helicopters showed up. Maybe it scared or spooked the dogs,” McKee said.

Rescuers grew more concerned at that point, since the temperature was expected to drop to -6ºC that night, and the dogs were no longer there to provide warmth and company to the barefoot toddler. The girl was wearing thin pink leggings and a light sweater.

Just before 8pm - nearly five hours after the girl went missing - Freyja started picking up a scent of a person.

“The dog and the handler are very much a team,” Corson said. “We do the human part of it, figuring out how the wind moves and how to move through the area - and the dog provides the nose … she brought us right into it.”

Corson could tell Freyja was nearing the child.

“She’s nose-down, which is an indicator of tracking. She’s got scent on the ground,” Corson said. “The woods were so thick, you couldn’t see much more than a couple feet in front of you at any particular moment.”

Corson called out the girl’s name, and she responded. Corson said she seemed delighted to see him, and initially thought he was her father.

“You can’t help but be extremely excited,” Corson said. “It’s a 2-year-old. It’s a big deal.”

Right away, he put some warm clothes on her. She was about a half a mile from her home.

“That doesn’t mean that’s how far the child went, that’s just where the child ended up,” Corson said. “She was in a really rough part of the woods. I could definitely tell she was cold and scared.”

He carried the child through trees and bushes until they arrived back at the house, where an ambulance was waiting.

“Everyone was absolutely ecstatic,” Corson said.

The girl’s parents, who could not be reached for an interview, were overwhelmed, McKee said.

“Mom was very happy, very emotional and broke down,” he said, adding that as soon as the girl was back with her parents, she declared she was ready for a bath and bedtime. The child was taken to a hospital to be evaluated for any injuries or hypothermia.

McKee said the day might have ended differently if not for the volunteers - human and canine.

“The dogs are just crucial,” he said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.”

Corson said he’s always amazed by Freyja’s sharp instincts. He gave her a new ball as a reward, plus plenty of extra pets and praise that night.

“I’m extremely proud,” Corson said. “All the work she does is incredible.”