It appears a K9 unit in Japan took the death of a missing woman pretty hard last year, but he just made up for it by locating another woman alive and safe.

The 2-year-old German Shepherd from the Hyogo Prefectural Police was on the search on Mount Nagusa in the town of Fukusaki with 41 officers on October 25, 2020. While the search was successful, it was a recovery, not a rescue mission. She was found dead.

Runaway

According to Japan Times, the dog’s nickname is Kureba-go. He had been registered as a police dog in July of 2019 and was described as having a “gentle” personality. Since the start of his official duties in January of 2020, he found 4 missing people.

But for some reason, after the search on Mount Nagusa, the dog pulled away from his officer and bolted from the scene.

Police recovered the K9 2 days later only 350 feet from the original scene. He had gotten his leash tangled around a tree and they managed to calm him down with some bread and fish.

Back to work

According to a story republished in English by MSN: “After considering the opinions of private trainers and veterinarians, they decided to return him to the field. Police have installed a new collar with GPS on the dog to enable tracking him.”

Kureba-go was taken back to the department and had to undergo 3 months of retraining.

When the news that the dog had been found first hit the news last year, the department received 0ver 90 messages pleading that the dog not be scolded for his actions.

An official responded:

“After training, he’s got in better shape and seems to have calmed down. We are sure that with his strong sense of curiosity he will play an even more active role than before.”

The second time’s a charm

The German Shepherd finally returned to front-line duty on February 4th of 2021 and he got a chance to make amends a few days later.

According to the Fukiai Police Station in Kobe, Japan, a woman in her 80s went missing after leaving her home around 12:30 pm. They dispatched the dog as part of the search at 3 pm and he was brought to the family home where he was familiarized with her scent by sniffer her pillow.

The tracking mission began at 4:30 pm and the K9 was able to sniff out her path. And, according to an officer, the dog managed to “catch only the woman’s scent despite there being a mix of smells due to heavy traffic” near a train station in the city’s Nada Ward.

Eventually, he stopped sniffing, looked up, and an officer followed his gaze directly to the missing woman at 5:20 pm. She was about a mile away from her home, but luckily she was unharmed and safely returned to her family.

A reward for good work

After the good news spread, the head of the Fukiai Police Station requested that Kureba-go receive a commendation.

“It’s not exactly a treat, but we’re thinking about giving him a certificate of merit and a chew bone,” a police station representative said.

That seems well-deserved!

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Source: MSN News, The Mainichi, Japan Times