Kudos to Kuno! K-9 has knack for finding missing kids

The missing 3-year-old boy left a faint footprint when he pushed through a screen at his grandma’s house in Michigan, climbed out of the window and took off to explore the great outdoors wearing only a diaper. 

Deputy Eric Calhoun, a K-9 handler with the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department, spotted the barely visible footprint in the dried mud near the home in Geneva Township. His canine partner, Kuno, was able to pick up the toddler’s scent from the footprint and followed it into the nearby woods.

Calhoun’s bodycam was rolling as Kuno tracked the boy’s scent for a quarter of a mile through the woods before they stopped in their tracks: Kuno had done it again – his fifth recovery of a missing child. “Hey Buddy!” an overjoyed state trooper who ran alongside them can be heard saying in the video. “I want my Mommy!” the crying child answered. Click here to watch Kuno find the missing child.

In one of his successful recoveries, the child's blanket was found floating in the water, but Kuno led his handler in another direction and found the child. 

“I’ve never heard of a canine recovering multiple kids throughout its career,” said Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott, who has been with the department for 32 years. “This is a deputy who on his days off sets up training with other agencies so he can stay on point with this dog. His goal is to have the number one dog in the state of Michigan. That is the drive he has. The dog has that drive too.”

The sheriff, who was on the scene with the frantic family, was especially concerned because of all the water in the area – ponds, streams, a large lake – and knew they had to find the child quickly.

“That was our biggest fear right from the get-go,” Abbott said. “It was just gut-wrenching. Where they recovered this little child, you’re talking two, three minutes later and we may have had a different result.” 

In addition to a large search party, the sheriff wanted drones in the air and Calhoun and Kuno, a seven-year veteran of the K-9 Unit, on the ground. Kuno, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois with a knack for finding missing kids, lives with Calhoun’s family and goes to work with him every day. It was Calhoun’s day off, but canine units are on call 24/7. 

Calhoun snapped on Kuno’s tracking harness, and the inseparable pair headed to the scene 10 miles away, starting at the point where the boy had climbed out of the window. After spotting the footprint near the home, Calhoun and Kuno tracked the child not far from the water. Fortunately, the little boy did not reach the water and only had minor scratches. His family was overjoyed. 

Calhoun could just barely make out the footprint but enough for Kuno to track the scent.

Last year, Kuno found a missing child with autism. Children on the autism spectrum can be prone to wandering and are often attracted to bodies of water, sometimes with deadly consequences. During that search, Kuno led Calhoun to a pond where they found the child’s blanket floating in the water. His heart sank.

But Kuno kept pulling him away from the water in another direction, where he eventually found the child, safe and sound. The other three children Kuno found were also unharmed, one found in a muddy field and the other two huddled under a blanket down in a ravine after running away from their trailer park and getting lost. 

Calhoun began training Kuno, his first canine partner, when he was 1½ years old. He works with him on his days off, and they do an eight-hour training stint once a week. Kuno is also cross-trained to search for illicit drugs and suspects. Kuno was seriously injured in the line of duty two years ago while trying to collar a suspect wanted on a domestic charge who was hiding in a crawlspace.

Canine officer Kuno was stabbed three times trying to apprehend a suspect.

Kuno was stabbed three times in the chest, nose and neck. After a few weeks of surgery and treatment, though, he was back on the job. So what is it about Kuno?

“Honestly, he’s just one of the goofiest dogs you’ll ever meet,” said Calhoun. “He’s just one of those dogs who you can take to a school, and he lets all the kids pet him and rub his belly. He loves having his belly rubbed. But when we get the call, he puts on his game face and goes to work.”

Alas, Kuno is nearing retirement, which will be bittersweet for Calhoun. Later this month, Kuno will become a full-time pet for Calhoun’s three kids and get some well-deserved R&R. Not everyone embraces retirement however – not even dogs. 

Calhoun plans to continue taking Kuno into the sheriff’s office with him from time to time. He’ll soon have a new canine partner and will make sure Kuno doesn’t get jealous and always feels loved. If another child goes missing, Calhoun has no doubt that Kuno will happily take a break from retirement. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever have a dog as good as him,” Calhoun said. “He kind of sets the bar. He loves to work.”