Rudy to the rescue! Niagara Police dog tracks down elderly man lost in St. Catharines ravine

Dog-gone it, that’s some keen hunting skills.

When a man in his 70s left his St. Catharines house yesterday (Sept. 18) and didn’t return, his family got panicky.

So among others, the Niagara Police brought in K9 Unit Constable Tim Wiley and Police Service Dog Rudy to help in the search.

The pair started at the man’s Lake St. house and eventually were drawn to a pathway that led down into a ravine towards Lake Ontario’s edge. When Wiley couldn’t see anyone, he was about to carry on but Rudy made it clear he wanted to go down the pathway.

Wiley, trusting his partner’s nose, investigated further and the pair found the man who had been lying at the bottom of the ravine for nearly four hours.

Due to the steepness of the path, Wiley couldn’t get him out solo so the St. Catharine’s Fire Service showed up to get him out. Having been out in the rain and wind for such a long time, the man was taken to the hospital by EMS to get checked out.

Rudy, a four-year-old German Shepard from Canada, is crossed trained in patrol-search duties and narcotics detection.