A year has gone by

One year ago today I began a very different journey without my beloved K9 Heidi, returning to the ongoing search effort for a missing girl. You see, hours prior I had received a call from home telling me that my K9 was not feeling well. I drove home that night and immediately took her to an emergency clinic; only to find out I would have to say goodbye to my partner of almost 11 years. I would have to say this was truly one of my greatest loss in life.

I came home in the wee hours of that morning overwhelmed with grief but knowing I had to return to the search I had left. I showered crying every step of the way and drove the hour and half back to our command scene. By noon of this day the world began to hear of my loss which for thousands it became their loss too. You see all K9's that work to recover the missing are special and become hero's to the families and those who work with them in the field; so the loss is felt by those who remember. My K9 Heidi was one of those who gave until her last living day, no warning, no fuss, she exit the world while most were asleep, the same way she entered the world.

I reflect back on the way Heidi came into my life as I had been looking to purchase a new working K9. I had decided that I would go with a yellow lab as I had always been a lover of the German Shepard, I wanted to try something different. In my year search I could not find a suitable partner and one day traveling home from spending the day at numerous breeder locations I received a call from a stranger. Hello, I answered and a strong voice on the other end said, I hear you are looking for a K9, I have a litter of Shepard puppies ready to go right now and you should come by and take a look. I advised the man I was in the market for a yellow lab but after several minutes of conversation he convinced me to stop by making no commitment.

As my husband and I pulled into the address provided I was impressed of the layout and was instantly greeted by this man, it was if I was meant to be there. He showed me around and walked me through a clean and well maintained kennel to see these puppies. He handed me his prize puppy, a beautiful male and I immediately said I have always owned females, but he convinced me this was the pup I needed. He was stunning and had a great drive, but for the hour I spent playing with him he kept running away or wanting to get away distracted by the other puppies. This little female kept coming up to me jumping on me wanting my attention and the man would continue to remove her from me and push the male back my way.

Now, two hours had past and we decided to leave and I was walking out of this area with the male puppy in hand, he was wiggling to get loose while this little female would keep jumping out the the secured housing area running to me and pulling on my pants, this happened about three or four times. I stopped and thought, here this one is constantly trying to get away and this other one was fighting to go with me. My husband said, are your sure this is what you want and looked down at this little girl pup, she is trying to tell you something he added. I knew at that very moment and let go of the male and picked up this little girl saying, this is Peggy's Gift, and we will call her Heidi. The family of Peggy Carr had made a large donation to purchase a new K9 for our organization and to help us in our continual search for others.

So we watched as the man gave Heidi a bath, chipped her and all the paperwork was completed; I tucked Heidi under my coat and she fell asleep the entire ride home. I immediately fell in love and I think my husband did too. We could not wait to show her off sending out emails announcing our new addition and introducing her to family and friends, thinking back even then people came by to meet her and everyone loved her. She was special from that moment on, just barley six weeks old.

I took her everywhere, into the center daily and she adjusted to her role and matured instantly. She was so in tune of her surrounding and my every move, her eye contact and attention was beyond that of a normal puppy and I knew she would be a great partner. Heidi was attending searches at eight weeks old, as I conditioned her for her life ahead. Her first search was a deceased male in South Carolina that CUE found moments after hitting the ground. I walked her through the scene to experience our recovery after the search was over. She adapted well to the world of search and gave her all in training, soon being well known for her protection of the vehicle. Her talent far exceeded my expectations and her love for families of the missing and her always knowing who were families amazed people across the nation.

At nine months old I was waiting until the age of one year for certification, a police officer asked me to walk her through an area for a missing person that we had been searching for, I explained she was not yet certified, but he advised me we were just taking a walk. To my amazement, Heidi had her first recovery that day. Her first high profile cases she worked on was that of a missing little girl and a woman named Alice Donovan, seven years later she would be the first on the scene to help recover a case she worked so hard on with me and hundreds of volunteers, that of Alice Donovan. There were recoveries in between that time and after, but this case was special for both of us, because even when everyone stopped searching for Alice, Heidi and I would go out to keep looking for years, it was meant to be and one of our greatest accomplished victories together.

So many memories I shared with Heidi and even days I find myself remembering things I have forgotten as we traveled so many places together and searched in almost every state as well. She earned her respect in the search world, was known by thousands across the globe. Heidi could be seen on countless local, state and national media coverage while searching, to include Larry King Live, Readers Digest, People Magazine, Chicken Soup Magazine and many others. Upon her death for days flowers, memorial gifts, cards, donation were sent into the CUE Center and left on my door step in honor of her life and awards were presented in her memory. It was a whirlwind of emotions for me as I was reminded of all who truly loved her.

So, today although my loss is still felt greatly, I feel blessed to have had her in my life. She guided me towards a tremendous growth in my search capabilities, making me a better searcher, a better human. LYMI