OFFICER:
00:00:08
Yes! That's a good girl!
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:00:11
A very good girl, and a very good night for this Florida canine named Hoot, whose job this week was to find a missing boy near Port St. Lucie. All she needed was a harness and a sniff of the boy's belongings--
OFFICER:
00:00:25
Check. Good, check.
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:00:26
--and she was off, on the trail.
OFFICER:
00:00:29
She's on him.
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:00:30
Pulling police through alleys and streets, around fences and down railroad tracks.
OFFICER:
00:00:34
Hey, there! Police department!
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:00:36
As desperate as anybody, it seemed, to find the boy, a 13-year-old with autism who had wandered away from a local gym.
OFFICER:
00:00:42
Ethan, you in here?
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:00:43
And when Hoot finally succeeded just after nightfall, in an instant, she went from search dog to comfort dog.
OFFICER:
00:00:49
Come pet my dog, Ethan!
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:00:51
The boy there, petting her on the head. Hoot's handler also celebrated the job well done.
OFFICER:
00:00:56
You found him! Good girl!
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:00:58
And while bloodhounds don't always look happy exactly, I'd say Hoot is smiling tonight. Hoot really is a hero. Port St. Lucie Police told us that the canine there, Hoot, has helped find four missing children in the past two years. Hoot the hero, indeed.
