Robin's Nest from American Humane - Bo the Bloodhound: America's Top Dog

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

In this episode of Robin’s Nest, Dr. Robin Ganzert welcomes Sergeant David Rowland and his remarkable partner, K-9 Bo, the bloodhound from the Gastonia Police Department in North Carolina. At just 18 months old, Bo has already made an indelible impact, solving cases, saving lives, and bringing comfort to those in need.As the first bloodhound in his department, Bo’s gentle demeanor and unparalleled tracking skills have helped locate missing children, find lost senior citizens, and assist in critical investigations. Bo exemplifies the courage, compassion, and excellence that earned him the title of 14th Annual Hero Dog Award Winner which was honored this past Wednesday at the annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards Gala.Sgt. Rowland shares the inspiring story of their partnership, the importance of using humane and innovative approaches in K-9 units, and the life-changing moments that make Bo a true hero. This episode highlights the unique bond between handler and dog and the incredible difference they’re making in their community.Tune in to hear this heartwarming and powerful story of bravery, compassion, and the unbreakable connection between man and dog.*A note that all proceeds raised at the gala went towards American Humane Society’s work rescuing animals affected by the California wildfires.

Welcome to Robins Nest. Many of us feel a deep bond with animals, from the pets we cherish at home to the endangered species in nature. Join us for lively, informative conversations where together we will build a more humane world. Today on Robins Nest, I have the privilege of speaking with Sergeant David Rowland of the Gastonia Police Department in North Carolina. David is Bo's handler, the remarkable bloodhound, and this year's Hero Dog Award winner. Sergeant Rowland has not only trained and guided Bo, but has also played a pivotal role in saving countless lives. Together, they've tracked down missing children, located lost senior citizens, and brought comfort to those in their darkest moments.

Their commitment to their community and his deep bond with Boe represent the very best of law enforcement and humane values. I'm thrilled to have him here to share his insights, his experiences, superpowers, and the incredible story of how this gentle giant is making a life-saving difference. I'm so excited about our conversation today here on Robin's Nest. David, congratulations for you and Bo, hero dog of the year. Bo, an incredible representation of the best of the bloodhounds, right? The best of the canine units.

And I know everyone in Gastonia, North Carolina is cheering you on. Congratulations on this great win. Thank you so much for having us and honoring Bo and his story. We really, we really appreciate this opportunity to shine a light on him. Well, it's shining on the light just not for him, but for all canines working in law enforcement too. But what a great story of heroes, what we always say, David, on both ends of the leash. And I don't want you to blush on that, but it's really the case because, you know, it's really an incredible story. So can you share with our listeners here in Robin's Nest today about this great story of you and Bo coming together and your work at the Castonia, North Carolina

Police Department. Yeah, so I've been in law enforcement for quite some time now, coming up on 16 years, and I was in our K-9 unit working a German Shepherd, dual dog, patrol dog, and I ended up getting promoted. My dog retired, and the opportunity came up for me to become the supervisor, the sergeant, over the K9 unit. And my aspirations were always to expand our unit and just grow the unit, get more dogs,

and provide better service to our community. Well, I ended up doing a K9 track with York County, South Carolina, and started speaking. By the way, it's really close to Gastonia, right? Yes, it's just a stone throw across the border right there. We border South Carolina in Gaston County, and they're in New York there, and just started talking to them, and they're like, why don't you get a bloodhound? And honestly, we didn't really know a lot about bloodhounds. We had German Shepherds, Belgian Malawas, Dutch Shepherds.

That's our bread and butter. But a big thing that we do in Gastonia with our K9 unit is tracking. We do a lot of tracking. And they brought up some good points about, you know, as a supervisor, I'm not going to be able to do as much on-duty training. We train 16 hours a month as a unit, but on duty training is very, very, very important to keep these dogs at peak performance. And so, you know, with liability and everything like that,

York County, like, get a bloodhound, you know, these dogs are genetically bred for this stuff. This is what they love to do, and they don't apprehend, they don't bite people. So there's a lot of less liability on me as the sergeant if I'm having to handle other responsibilities So the conversation got brought up the issue of funding came about to be and York County again came to our rescue and put us on to a Foundation here out of Florida, the Jimmy Rice Foundation.

Yes. And, you know, their story bred out of tragedy, and we reached out through a contact down there and they were more than happy to help us. And without any questions, they gave us the funds and a breeder up in Kentucky. And next thing I know, I'm up in Kentucky picking up an eight-week-old Bo and we got acquainted up there for two days and we drove back to Gastonia, North Carolina and literally his training began that literally the next very next day we got home. Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, an eight-week-old Bo. Now I don't know how many folks can in this podcast, let's see bow, because he's probably out of the frame, but an eight week old bow is a fraction of the size of

the bow that's in our podcast today. Am I right? Yes. He was very teeny. Oh my gosh. I didn't know, I had no idea he would grow into this monster that I got here. He is huge. A hundred something pound bow. He is huge. You know, last year we had Maverick, the Great Dane win, and Maverick was a huge and impressive dog.

Then I had the privilege of meeting Bo. He is huge and impressive too. How tall is he? Do we know how many? I don't know, but he comes up to almost my hips. I know. He's a pretty big dude. He's a pretty big dude is right.

But I love the process there and that you involved York County and then you had a Florida Foundation funding, which is wonderful. And then you went to Kentucky and found this great dog and then you had him at eight weeks old. So you two have been bonded. Oh yeah, 100%. You know, having him that young, which with any other dogs, I was just... My German Shepherd, thank God, is still alive. He'll be 15 in April, which is insane for a pure-bred German Shepherd. But he's doing great. But canine handlers and law enforcement,

we get very attached to these dogs because we put our life in their hands and they put their lives in our hands. And so it's a very unique connection. And so getting him at eight weeks old, honestly changes that just a little bit because the German shepherds were getting him about a year and a half old when we get them. So raising him from eight weeks old almost makes me feel like he's literally not just my partner,

but like he's like one of my children. Yeah, he's your baby. And you get to work with your child, which is incredible too. Well, I love that. I love that. I want to back up a little bit because a lot of people listen to Robin's Nest, particularly these hero dog episodes, and they ask me, what about training?

How do those dogs get to be so special? And I think about my dogs at home right now, Mr. Darcy, Daisy, Boomer, you know, very cool and special dogs, mostly chewing toys and laying on the sofa with mom on TV show night or whatever, but they don't have the skills because I haven't trained them in the way that you have. Tell us some of your training techniques that some people in Robin's Nest today might be able to take to their own dog. So, Bo's training was a little bit different from what we normally do with our German shepherds and Malawas. Those dogs go through about 16 to 20 weeks training in

house. We get them there, you know, they don't know anything. All they know how to do is apprehend a bite, something called a bite sleeve, which is a large pad that we put on our arms to protect our arms from being punctured. Yes. That's all those dogs. Which is a good thing, by the way. Yeah, oh yeah, 100%. We still feel the pressure, just, you know, we don't get punctured. But that's all those dogs know how to do. So those dogs are very obedient. We know they want to please their owners. They are very intelligent. Shareputs are. Yeah. So, you know, that training is more, I guess you would say more textbook. You know,

you're giving the dog some type of stimulus, which is usually reward or a verbal affirmation, which what we use is yes. That's it. The word they're looking for is yes. So those dogs, like I said, it's more textbook that you would see in the canine community. Bo here, Bo's a little bit different. Bo was genetically bred from his ears to his folds in his face.

They all serve a purpose for tracking and tracking only. So his ears, they kick up scent that helps get scent up in his nose and those folds in their face actually trap scent and it actually pulls the scent up to their nose. So everything about Bo is made for tracking. So all we're doing is helping him understand it at an earlier age to give him basically a head start on understanding his nose and maturing his nose at an earlier age to give him basically a head start on understanding his nose and maturing his nose at an earlier age.

So the easiest way to do that is to play chase because the dogs at that young age, even at a year old at the age he is now here, almost two years old, they're looking for excitement. These dogs, all dogs are, you know, predators at heart, right? So they're looking for movement, high-pitched noises, right? A lot of animated activity. So the best way to do that is children. So I use my kids. We started out with my kids and then we also used other officers at the department, but we just started playing chase at a very young age. We would, you know, put a treat in front of Bo, let him see it, and then the decoy or the person running away

that Bo's trying to find would run. We start out about 10 feet, and then I would let Bo pull on a small little harness that we get and basically dig through that to understand that that's my goal, is to get that treat. And so he does that, and then we just continuously extend it, extend it, extend it, and then we start playing chase, where we just keep running, and Bo's just chasing,

and chasing, and chasing. And we did that with my children. My children loved doing that. They would get little viney weenie sausages, and they would just run around in our backyard. Oh, I love the many sausages she has. And Bo would just chase them. And honestly, it evolved, I think you guys actually

might have a video of it that the department sent over. But it evolved. My kids have those little Razor scooter. They make an electric four-wheeler. And Bo would chase them on these electric four-wheelers in the backyard. I obviously would have him on a harness. And we would just chase these kids around in our field on the farm we live in. And like I said, you just continuously, you know, push it further and further and further until eventually one day, once Bo is starting to put his nose on the ground, we then take the decoy and the decoy will take off running,

but the decoy will then hide behind a tree. Oh. So now Bo would run, get to that tree and doesn't see the decoy anymore. And he puts his nose down and he's like, oh, I can smell them. And then it goes around the tree. Obviously the decoy anymore. And he puts his nose down and he's like, Oh, I can smell them. And then it goes around the tree. Obviously the decoys there, Bo gets a lot of love and high pitch noises, but a bunch of praise,

words of affirmation and a treat. And then we would start extending the distance that the decoy is gone. We would use buildings, the decoy would run to the edge of the building and then go 10 or 15 feet high behind an AC unit and then we would continue and continue until eventually Bo was able to completely take the decoy out. So Bo is just giving a place and we give him the same exact word that we've been implementing to let him know that he's supposed to track, which is Bo is just something simple, find that man, or find that person. Yes.

And Bo was just given a starting point, and I give that command, and he just knows to put his nose down. And he starts tracking. And we start short distances until eventually we got up to a mile and a half long, and the odor had set for about an hour and a half. And Bo was able to locate that.

And then once he got to that stage stage we certified him at that point and he was ready to hit the road. Unbelievable. Number one it takes a lot of patience on your behalf too and family involvement and so when you think about all the success Bo has has it's really celebrated not just by you and the wonderful Gastonia Police Department but your entire family. Yeah. I think that's incredible.

I'm so happy about that. Well, as we know, but everyone in Robin's Nest needs to know, what makes Bo so special is he's a legend at a young age, 18 months old, he's a legend with his tracking successes and what he's done. And I know there was one story that you shared in his nomination, a 10 year old autistic child and all, can you share that one story? Because it's so powerful because you're bringing together families. Yeah.

So, yeah. So Bo had literally just got certified. Yeah, so yeah, so Bo had literally just got certified. This would have been in October of 2023, so he's around eight months old at this point. Eight months old. And so we get a phone call. I had just put my kids to bed and literally got my phone out. I'm gonna start scrolling through social media like every adult does now, right? Yeah. And I get a phone call from the night shift commander letting me know, hey, this is what we got. There is an autistic child in a very large residential neighborhood.

And it's very sad that the child was in a foster home and just found out that he was being adopted. And it triggered the child. I guess he had gotten comfortable with the foster family. So it was very heartbreaking. So he wasn't going to be adopted by that foster family, somebody else. So he was, yeah, so it crushed him. It crushed him. And he had an episode and ran out of the house. The foster father tried to find him, couldn't locate him. They called some

neighbors. The neighbors came together. Everybody started looking for this child and no one could find him. I get called to the scene about an hour and a half after the fact, after they put drones in the air trying to use heat signatures, see if they can't find anything, this couldn't find anything in the neighborhood.

So, Bo gets there, we are giving, he got a pillow sheet or a pillowcase sheet, and we put that there at the back door where the last point he was seen. So, Bo is introduced to that odor. So not only is Bo having to look for that odor, but he's also having to discriminate against the other odors that are there, which is the foster father, the foster mother, the neighbors, other police officers on the area. There was about 30 people that Bo had to discriminate against.

By that means you're just eliminating all their sense and focusing on the child's sense. Correct. Yep. We call it odor discrimination. That's something that they're tested on every year. All canons are when they get certified. So, you know, Bo's introduced to that and we work it and work it and work it and eventually we get to a patch of the yard.

I'm like, has anybody went through this path? And the officer on scene is like, not that I know of. And then Bo takes off and we track a couple streets over, you know, and we get to a backyard and there's some animals outside. So we have to work through that. We eventually get to a creek and there's some animals outside, so we have to work through that. We eventually get to a creek, track through a creek. Oh my.

And then we get out onto another road. At this point, we have something called perimeter officers. Perimeter officers are basically officers that they stay in their patrol car. They activate their blue lights too. That way if anybody's there, they kind of stop. They lay down. They don't move. So we have perimeter officers in the area and we're coming up into this backyard heading to the main

street and there's an officer that's right in front of us at this intersection of this main street and I'm on the radio asking, at this point I got a drone following us at this point, if they've seen anything around us. Because Bo goes something called head up, head up meaning odor is in the air, meaning fresh odor, because our scent on our body likes to, it goes up in the air because it's hot. Hot air rises, right? So when dogs are popping their heads up like that, that means that they're in odor. We call it a scent pool. And so I'm like, hey, you know, he's head up. You got anything? So I'm on the radio. I'm talking. the guys got flashlights looking everywhere because you know it's 1130 at night and next thing I know

about 30 yards in front of us there's some Halloween decorations and the kid was hiding behind the Halloween decorations which is has a light in it so that's why our thermal sensors couldn't distinguish between it so he's hiding in this Halloween decoration. He takes off running and our perimeter officer is right there and was able to stop him and calm him down. Bo went over and we let him pet Bo for a little bit until the foster family got there and was able to take custody of him.

Really, Bo saved his life, because you could tell him what could have happened. No, because literally there was, I was there because Bo's never heard coyotes, and there was coyotes howling and yelping. And if you've never heard coyotes yelping, when they're in a pack, it makes it feel like there's 100 of them out there,

just the way their voices are. And so Bo was just freaked out by that. But literally, it was in a field right next to the house that we were in, right on the other side of this creek. So the kid could have drowned because the creek was pretty deep. He could have got you know, drowned because the creek was pretty deep. He could have got lost into a large patch of woods that's there where those coyotes were.

And, you know, it was frigid temperatures and stuff. So there's really no telling, you know, when these children are having these episodes, they could really fall and get hurt. They're not thinking clearly. It's just, you know, it's a tragedy. Yeah, 100%. They're a child, and this child is on the spectrum.

And what I love, love, love is that it was Bo at eight months old, paying it forward. And you as a father, getting that call late at night too, that had to really, it's a good feeling to save a child, isn't it? Oh yeah, 100%. When we find people with these dogs, it's one of the best feelings in the world.

It's like jumping out of an airplane every time we find somebody. It's just everything that we've sacrificed and done, all the training that we've went through in that moment, it's like, it was worth it. Yes. Well, that story itself gives me goosebumps. And it's one of the many reasons

that Bo won this very prestigious award. So, so we had a huge announcement a while back where we, we brought you to the Today Show. So share with us a little bit about the Today Show experience and the unveiling on national TV. Yeah. Yeah. The hero dog of the year.

So, you know, Bo, Bo got on an airplane, which he met, I don't know, I guess I did a lot of research before we got on this airplane. You know, I don't know if there's ever been a bloodhound flying on an airplane, but because I couldn't find anything about it. But yeah, Bo gets on an airplane, which was an adventure. It was a big adventure. But we get to, you know, the Big Apple and we take Bo in Central Park, which was really cool. We got some really cool photos take Bo in Central Park, which was really cool.

Got some really cool photos of Bo in Central Park. And we go on to today's show, and Lowkey had no clue I was gonna win. I honestly didn't think I was gonna win, but our ochre turns that ball around and it's Bo, and I was just in complete shock. I looked up. I know you were, I was there right there beside you,

and I thought you were gonna fall over. I looked over at my partner, Ryan Honeycutt, who was up there, because I was in a sling for shoulder surgery that I had, I went getting hurt on track. I just looked over at him and he was in just disbelief as I was, like we were just blown away and just, it was speechless, speechless.

I really had no words. Yes. Well, it was a very special day, but it was also not just a special day for you, but also for Gastonia Police Department, right? Yeah. Everybody was thrilled. They had a watch party up in our community room and everybody was super excited. No crime was allowed to happen during that hour of the Today Show, right? Yes, right.

Because they're like, yes, knock on wood, right? Because everyone had to watch. It's wonderful. But then that also led to some great, great outreach with the community. I saw the Christmas parade you were featured in with Bo. Tell me about how it feels to go home as a hometown hero. It was pretty amazing.

We would be out in public doing tracks or just training and stuff, and I would have citizens like, oh, hey, it's Bo. Getting on Today's Show just really boosted our local community's knowledge of Bo and what he's done, and just basically saying how cool it was for Bo to be part of the community. We've had people come to the police department knocking on the door wanting to know if they can meet Bo and stuff. So it's been a really, really cool experience. But not only that, but it's just, you know,

the ability to open that door to the public, you know, because the biggest thing, you know, is community outreach within our community. We want our community to trust us. We want our community to feel like they can come and talk to us, you know, and, you know, we're just a big family within our community all looking out for each other. And it was just, it was really rewarding knowing that, you know, people felt good enough to, hey, I want to go to the

Gastonia Police Department and I want to come meet Bob. I want to meet these police officers. So it's been really cool. I want to underscore that because that was a huge, it's a huge victory not just for Gastonia Police Department, but for all police departments. And recognizing that sometimes that building that bridge, the community that you serve with courage and valor and everything, it's just sometimes takes four paws and a wagging tail and Bo's got a huge tongue that I know he licks me every time I see him. It just breaks down all of those barriers, doesn't it? And it allows that outreach and that trust to occur.

So I'm so happy for you and for Gastonia, for the people and for the law enforcement department too, to be able to have that with Bo being the ambassador. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a good way to put it. It really is. He's definitely crossing boundaries and he's doing a lot of good things for our police department right now. So it's been really, really amazing. We've had people even from the disaster in

North Carolina with Hurricane Helene. He's actually going up later this month for a bunch of kids that's been displaced and he's gonna put a little demonstration on for them and meet a bunch of kids and meet the public up there just kind of you know maybe bring some relief you know just emotional relief to some people up there. A day of hope for them too. They get to have just a day where they can forget about their troubles. Oh yeah. I want to pivot back really quickly because Bo's stats are amazing. How many searches has he achieved? Oh, so

Bo's found like 16 people and you know, my canine handlers, if they're listening, they're thinking that's not really a lot of people and you know, because he's not a patrol dog, so that's the big thing to talk about. So he's not our first line of defense, so to say. Bo is a specialty tool. He is a sharp knife, as you would say. He's a specific tool, which is missing persons and cases that have left the rim of possibility for our German shepherds to track successfully.

So when Bo was called on, basically, he's expected to find this person. And that's where it's, I think that's the biggest thing. Because right now as a patrol officer, when I was working on my Shepard, we would track any type of crime, anything we're tracking, right? With Bo, Bo is, he is called when there's missing persons, when there is a significant crime that's taking place and his starting point is two hours old or, you know, just the other day, the day before my surgery actually, back in October. It's sad news, but it's also extremely inspiring just for his Bo's genetic ability.

We were called for a missing person, hasn't been seen for 10 days. I'm not going to say any information about that because it is out of respect for the family, but I met the guy's mother and his father there. Just look of shock on their face still processing that their child in their 20s hasn't been seen in 10 days. And I was giving Bo, Bo was giving his pillowcase and all we had, we had no starting point. We just know he was last seen walking out of his apartment. And Bo was, we put the pillowcase in front of the apartment complex, gave it to Bo and he took off.

And Bo tracks and tracks into the woods and tracks into a water runoff. And tracking down that water runoff, we come to a body of water that is clogged up by something. And Bo tracks to this, you know, almost look like a small beaver dam. And unfortunately, Bo stops and doesn't want to leave it. He's digging at it and I had my cover officer go investigate it and unfortunately under this brush was the missing person and Bo was able to locate him after 10 days. And provide closure for that family who just would never have had it without Bo. They actually wrote me a card in the mail, which if they're listening, thank you very much.

It's literally pinned on my wall in my office because it means a lot to me. Because it was so tragic just to know that I felt bad finding, but to know that that's exactly what they said, that you gave us the ability to physically bury our son. And you know without Bo that wouldn't have happened. He was in a remote location that you know not to get graphic but he would have decomposed and would have eventually washed away. Yes. And you know Bo was able to bring closure to that family which is amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. I always ask every hero dog, handler, what is your dog's superpower? So if you had to say what is Bo's superpower, we'd love to know.

His unwillingness to give up on a track. It's his superpower and my kryptonite. Bo tracks like a racehorse. He is sprinting because he, well, he doesn't track. He's a trailer. So Bo trails. And when dogs are trailing like that, they run fast. And Bo runs very fast and for a very long period of time.

And I'm not genetically like Bo. So I get tired. But luckily, Bo is an ox, so he's able to pull me. But my cover officers, they can't keep up either. So it's, but Bo's superpower is literally once he locks in on that scent, he won't give up. He's dogged about it, right? He's not gonna give up. You know, like the case, the seven mile track that,

I think probably one of the biggest case that got us nominated and winning was the kidnapped child. That was a seven mile long track. I was dead. I was completely dead. I couldn't feel my legs. That's part of the reason why I tripped and fell on that track. It tore all the cartilage in my shoulder. But Bo was, he kept pulling, so we kept going.

The entire team kept going and we found that kid. Alive. Yeah, alive. And we were able to rescue that child and get the person that was in the drug induced psychosis the help they needed. But it was cool though because when Bo found that kid, after Bo licked the kid, because the kid's crying, they're terrified. Of course.

Bo after the fact literally right then and there he's done. He realized he's done. He's like I found the odor I was chasing. He just laid down and went he's just like I'm done. I'm completely done, which we did too. All of us lay down right there. We were all laying in the backyard of that place just completely exhausted. Because I didn't think I'd be doing a seven mile long track, right? You know, especially with all our gear. We were all laying in the backyard of that place just completely exhausted. Yes. Because I didn't think I'd be doing a seven mile long track, right? Yes. Especially with all of our gear. I can't imagine.

I can't imagine. But yeah, no, that's definitely his superpower is his ability not to give up until he finds the odor he's looking for. You know, that's a great lesson for all of us not to give up, right? Yeah. great lesson for all of us not to give up, right? And certainly Bo has made a lot of families whole again, and importantly he reminds us not to give up, which is great too. It's been such a joy talking with you today. Congratulations on being the winner of this year's America's Top Dog is law enforcement officer Bo.

And what's his official title in the law enforcement department? Technically he is a K-9, it's just K-9 Bo, but my chief keeps joking about me that he's gonna promote him to lieutenant. So he'll be my superior, right? My chief keeps joking about it, so more likely it's gonna happen before he retires. That's exactly right. Lieutenant Bo, just like putting it out in the universe. But congratulations so much. Thank you for all you do and thank you for serving for your community so beautifully. And importantly, thanks for being a representative to pay it forward for other canines as well, that they serve as these important ambassadors in our hometowns. Yeah, well thank you guys for, you know, American Humane, you, all the staff, for giving us

this platform, giving us this crutch, as we were talking about earlier, for our department to lean on, you know, to be that bridge between the community and law enforcement. So thank you guys and thank you for telling both stories. It means the world to us. Absolutely our pleasure. And again, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you.

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