Taichung police dog Uhoo on Friday last week passed two advanced man-trailing (MT) tests administered by the German rescue dog association Bundesverband Rettungshunde (BRH), becoming one of two working dogs in Taiwan to obtain this high-level international certification.
Uhoo was pictured biting his hard-earned medal and showcasing the two MT certificates, a challenge completed together with its handler Hsiao Chih-fan (蕭至汎) in recognition of their professional expertise built through countless days of training.
Uhoo passed what the Taichung Criminal Investigation Corps said is one of the most challenging scent-tracking tests, the BRH MT-Suche, or trail exam, as well as the MT-Negative exam.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung Police Department
For the MT-Suche, dogs must follow a human trail exceeding 1km, tracking faint scents after eight to 24 hours that have been weakened by wind, sun exposure and passing traffic.
Relying on the scent given off by falling flakes of skin, Uhoo had to reconstruct the correct path through complex urban and natural environments within 60 minutes.
When confronted with a mix of old and new scents, Uhoo had to accurately distinguish between them and send clear signals to the dog’s handler.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung Police Department
This impressive tracking ability helps redirect search efforts in real time, saving crucial time and labor, as searches for missing people are often a race against the clock.
Uhoo’s international certification makes Taichung’s police canine unit the only one in Taiwan with comprehensive tracking capabilities, equipping it for search-and-rescue missions, Taichung Criminal Investigation Corps head Chi Yen-hsi (紀延熹) said.
“Surveillance cameras may have blind spots, and technological investigations may have gaps, but scent trails do not lie,” Chi said.
Uhoo in March last year received intermediate-level international search-and-rescue dog certification to become the only police dog in the nation certified for both drug detection and search-and-rescue operations.
In 2024, Uhoo helped investigators discover 122 packets of ketamine and 54 drug-laced coffee sachets in a raid on a nightclub in Taichung, leading to the arrest of 172 people.
Additional reporting by Chang Jui-chen
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