A police dog helped track down a man who had been lying at the bottom of a ravine.
Niagara Regional Police were called in to find a person reported missing in St. Catherines Monday night.
They were told the man in his 70s had left his home on Lake Street north of Lakeshore Road on foot that afternoon.
When he didn’t come back, his family started to worry.
A K9 unit was called in to help with the search.
Constable Tim Wiley and his police service dog Rudy were drawn to a pathway that led down to a ravine towards the edge of Lake Ontario.
Wiley wasn’t able to see anything and was thinking of turning around, but Rudy indicated he wanted to keep going down the pathway.
Trusting his partner’s nose, Wiley investigated further and spotted the man who had been lying at the bottom of the ravine for almost four hours.
“Due to the incline on the pathway, St. Catharine's Fire Service was required to attend to rescue the man,” police said in a news release.
“Having been out in the rain and wind for such a length of time, the man was transported to a local hospital by paramedics from Niagara Emergency Medical Service for further assessment and treatment.”
Police service dog Rudy is a 4-year-old German Shepard. He is also trained in patrol duties and narcotics detection.
