April 19, 2005:  Kona saves a life!!  Way to go, Kona!!!

Kona is from my M Litter (Comanche-Jubilee).  

It was a close thing; Ralph (center) would have died if Kona hadn't found him when he did.  Even after they warmed him with their coats and transported him to the hospital, Ralph's body temperature was still only 90 degrees.

condensed from the official search report:

         Ron Boswell from High Country Search Dogs, whose wife Twila owns and trains Kona, was informed on Tuesday, April 19, that a 75 yr old man was missing.  He had left Spokane and was supposedly heading to Arizona, although a truck driver in the Havre area left a message on Ralph’s son’s answering machine on Saturday stating that Ralph said he was returning to Spokane .  However, instead of heading west, he apparently headed east and then got lost.  A farmer in Chinook spotted the vehicle in his field on Monday the 18^th.  The sheriff’s office did a hasty perimeter search and was unable to locate the missing subject. They then called High Country Search Dogs (Helena, MT) and requested assistance   

Dave Kauffman and Ron Boswell along with search dogs Kona and Mahto drove to Chinook, met with a deputy at the Sheriff’s office, gathered scent items from the subject’s vehicle, and arrived at the car.  After they were unable to get a direction of travel with the tracking dog, they sectioned off the area and started a grid pattern search.  The immediate area around the truck included open cultivated fields, heavy brush and deep irrigation ditches with thick cattails. 

 After searching the initial section area with no results, they expanded their search area.  While searching their third area, Dave Kauffman and Kona were checking a large irrigation ditch and culvert.  Kona ran up-wind on the east bank of the large irrigation ditch, reached the top of the irrigation ditch and jumped over a large downed cottonwood tree lying on the ground.  He then repeated the maneuver a second time.  When Dave said “Did you find him, Kona?”, he ran down the hill to Dave and jumped at his chest and returned to the tree and again jumped over it and sat down. When Kona sat down, a man's face appeared over the downed tree.  Dave then walked to the man, who was somewhat alert, and asked him his name.  He replied, "It's Ralph," with excitement in his voice.  

Dave asked how he was and checked him for any injuries.  He was responsive but looked quite dehydrated and was very weak.  Dave offered him some water and made him drink it slowly.  Ralph continued to state how glad he was to be found.  Dave then notified Ron of their find and gave him the UTM coordinates to respond to their location.  Dave then contacted Sheriff Glenn Huestis on the Blaine County law enforcement radio frequency and informed him of finding Ralph and his condition.  Dave got to an opening in the trees and waived to the Border Patrol aircraft displaying their location and the pilot flew in circles overhead to alert everyone of the location. Approximately 20-30 minutes later, several EMT and law enforcement personnel arrived and Ralph was transported, thankfully alive, to safety.

Area searched:        284 square acres

Total Man hours:       32

Miles traveled:         500

to Jubilee puppies page

Home