Amazing Police Dog Rescue: Woman Saved Twice in Her Lifetime

The story of a life saved by Canadian rescue dogs once as a young girl, and once as an eldery woman.As told by Inspector Lawrence Aimoe, Officer in Charge of the Police Dog Services for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

In 1935, Sgt. Jack Cawsey was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)'s first dog handler. However, he had to prove his worth many times before the Commissioner of the day would consider making Police Dog Services part of the organization.

Sgt. Cawsey was stationed out of Bassano, Alberta which is located approximately 60 miles from Calgary, Alberta. Sgt. Cawsey was summoned to the gates of Banff National Park to assist in the hunt for 3 men who had been on a murdering spree which included 3 members of the RCMP as their victims.

Sgt. Cawsey traveled the 60 miles to Calgary and then another 60 miles west to the gates of Banff National Park where the National park wardens had last seen the suspicious men. Using his Police Service Dog (PSD) named Dale, he tracked the suspects to a wooded area. A gunfight ensued and the Park Wardens and the RCMP killed the suspected murderers.

Shortly thereafter, Sgt. Cawsey was called to a farm located near Carstairs, Alberta. Carstairs is located 30 miles North of Calgary.

This time, Dale was called upon to search for a little 3-year-old girl by the name of Eileen Simpson. The Simpson family had been out searching all night and the previous day with 200 other volunteers but they had come up empty handed. Sgt. Cawsey and Dale had been working all the night before but came to help anyway.

He and Dale began their search and PSD Dale immediately found a scent in an area that had not been trampled by the searchers. Approximately fifteen minutes later, Dale located little Eileen Simpson sleeping in a grain field. She was cold but unharmed. These two examples along with others were enough to convince the Commissioner of the great value of a Police Dog Service team.

In 2004, Sgt. Doug Hawkes was called upon to the town of Innisfail, Alberta to help find a woman who had slipped out of an old folks home and wandered away. The woman was suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia and had a tendency to wander off.

It was a cold night in November when Sgt. Hawkes and Police Service Dog Kory arrived and began their search. Approximately 30 minutes after their arrival, Sgt Hawkes and Kory found the woman lying in a ditch next to the freeway. She was hypothermic but she was alive. The woman's name was Eileen Simpson.

The woman found by Sgt Hawkes and PSD Kory was the very same Eileen Simpson that was found by Sgt. Cawsey and PSD Dale in 1935.

Mrs. Simpson passed away last year of natural causes. For more on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Service Dogs Program, visit www.policedogs.ca

Photo: Cpl. Terry Barter and his PSD Dane out searching at an avalanche scene. Photo courtesy of the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre.