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Dog helps finds humans, remains |
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Monday, 17 March 2008 |
 Jeannette Barns of the Saline County Search and Rescue Team is about to give her dog Hannah a treat after demonstrating her skills as a cadaver dog. Hannah is the only cadaver dog of the Saline County Search and Rescue Team. (Courier photo by Jillian Duke) By Jillian Duke
Courier Staff “Queen Hannah,” as she’s called, is quite more than man’s best friend.
With owner Jeannette Barnes, Hannah performs an important task for families and friends who’ve lost loved ones. The search dog specializes in finding the remains of those who have gone missing. She’s been locating people or what’s left of them for about four years.
It’s a blessing when they’re found alive, Barnes said. “We love to find them alive, but even if they’re deceased, we still have helped the family find their loved one. They want to find them so they can have a proper burial and say goodbye.”
Barnes thinks that Hannah was the only cadaver dog in Arkansas until last October. There now is one other dog certified in finding human remains. Hannah is the only cadaver dog of the Saline County Search and Rescue Team.
Without mentioning specifics of the cases, Barnes said Hannah has worked many drownings in her four years. One case that Barnes is proud to mention occurred last summer on the White River when Hannah helped locate a man’s body.
Change in the dog’s behavior is the strongest indication that the dog has found something, Barnes said. For instance, when they’re out in the woods, “she walks around and I watch her,” Barnes said. Ideally, Hannah will stop when she’s found something and start barking.
However, “sometimes she’ll go over the source and keep walking, but I have to watch her behavior,” Barnes said. “You get to know your dog.” A turn or other slight behavior may indicate the source is nearby.
Hannah demonstrated her skills on Friday on part of Barnes’ six acres of land in Saline County. She found the planted human bones within minutes after being given the cue to begin searching. After doing her duty, she happily retrieved a doggie treat from Barnes’ hand and resumed her position under the big tree in the front lawn.
After they do their thing, “you have to let them be a dog,” Barnes said.
Many times there is more than one dog on a search, Barnes said. She’s training her “back-up dog” now. One-year-old Sasha, a shepherd, seems to be following in Hannah’s paw prints. But she has some way to go.
Barnes said she thinks 10-year-old Hannah is a chow-shepherd mix.
It’s important to keep training Sasha, though, because Hannah will be 11 years old this year, Barnes noted. “I can’t have her out too long in the summer heat.”
Barnes has another dog, Ginger, who is a certified trailing dog. She’s not a cadaver dog, however.
How often they’re called out varies, Barnes said. “We can go for months without anything, and then we have a lot of calls.” Anytime there is a tip in a case, most likely Hannah will be needed. Basically, if the duo are home, “we’re on-call 24/7/365,” Barnes said.
Hannah earned the title “Queen Hannah” because she likes to lie in a regal manner with her front legs crossed. She also can become act like a miss know-it-all at times. Only thing is, she’s nearly always right, Barnes pointed out.
Sometime back Hannah was one of the dogs on a search for three children in the Batesville area who were trapped in a mine shaft. “We go in and Hannah would stop at this spot, turn around and look at me and shake her tail, I’d tell her to keep going, but she wouldn’t,” Barnes said. Apparently, the kids were believed to be farther than that spot. Sure enough, another dog went in and the kids were under the spot Hannah had first noticed. The kids made it out alive, Barnes added.
Barnes said she realized Hannah would be a good search dog one day when the dog diligently was sniffing out a gopher. Hannah still likes to be outside and do what’s known as “crittering,” Barnes said. “You have to watch out for crittering when they’re out on a search.”
Hannah has is certified with two nationally known detective canine associations. She earned her trailing certification about four years ago in South Carolina. Also around the same time, in Mississippi she earned her letter of operation. She became certified for water human remains detection in October 2005.
Bill Hutto, commander of the Saline County Search and Rescue Team and also a full-time deputy with the Saline County Sheriff’s Department, said he’s never met a more dedicated search dog person than Barnes.
“I’ve never met a more determined person in the world with her dogs,” he said. “Every weekend, Jeannette is going somewhere with the dogs training. Her life is dedicated to their dogs. She’ll travel to Mississippi, wherever she can get her dog training with other dogs.”
“She’s the woman,” Hutto added. “She gets calls all the time for missing persons. We’re really proud of Jeannette.”
The Search and Rescue Team started around 2001. It now has more than 30 members from “all walks of life,” Hutto said, noting they’re all volunteers. “They’ll come out at 2 in the morning in the freezing cold to looking for someone’s child or grandfather. We’ll go anywhere and we don’t charge to go.”
The group is a nonprofit and relies on donations and grants for funding.
In addition to the local team, Barnes has started the Search Dog Alliance of Arkansas along with a search dog handler from Lonoke County.
“We train together once a month and are trying to be a reputable and credible umbrella over teams who want to be a part of it,” Barnes said, adding the group usually meets at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
Always willing to help Barnes is her daughter, Alissa Worley, 31, who nearly lost her life in a car accident about seven years ago. Her 3-month-old baby didn’t survive the accident. Worley was in a comma for about three months. She underwent years of physical and occupational therapy to regain the abilities most take for granted.
Worley is considered part of the support personnel for training sessions and real searches. Barnes said people like her daughter are “very important” to search and rescue teams.
Aside from her love of dogs and training them to do good deeds, what keeps Barnes motivated to continue being a search and rescue volunteer is her daughter.
“I know how it feels to not know where or how your loved one is,” she said.
Years back Barnes attended the visitation on a boy Hannah found in the woods. The boy wasn’t alive, but his dad approached Barnes and thanked her for finding his son, she said.
Helping families find that final closure is why Barnes will continue commanding Hannah to be more than just her loyal companion. |
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