Sheriff's canine helps track down woman with dementia

It’s Ranger to the rescue again.

Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office Kevin Kraus’ office says K9 Officer Ranger, who recently returned to work after cancer treatment, helped locate a 65-year-old dementia patent that wandered away from a care facility on Hart’s Run Road.

Kraus tells KDKA Radio that officers from O’Hara and Indiana Township called his office on Wednesday, requesting for help finding the missing woman.

A blanket that belongs to the woman was used to help Ranger track her scent. The dog tracked the woman who nearly two and a half miles from Hart’s Run Road onto Dorseyville Road and then to Glen David Drive.

Local police officers were staged just ahead of Ranger on the tracking path and were able to find the woman unharmed a short distance away on Fox Hall Drive.

Ranger and his handler Deputy Jeff Belback had stopped on Glen David Drive to let traffic move again after it had been stopped during the searched.

“Ranger, he’s kind of popular,” said Kraus. “We get a lot of requests for these types of cases and of course, I’m bias but I think he’s excellent at what he does and certainly he’s a gigantic asset to the Sheriff’s Office.”

The 8-year-old bloodhound returned to work in August after he was diagnosed in April with Hard Palate Melanoma, a type of cancer in the mouth.