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Meet “Bo” the 105lb Bloodhound employed by The Gastonia Police Department as a "K9 tracker"

Bo recently helped locate a missing boy with special needs, and an elderly man with dementia who wandered off

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bo and his K9 handler paid Charlotte Today a visit on Monday and celebrated his upcoming birthday! Bo went into service with the Gastonia Police Department in October 2023. Bo lives with Sgt. David Rowland. Sgt. Rowland heads GPD’s K9 unit and has been with K9 since the end of 2015. His cost is about $5,000 and he was bought and donated to the Gastonia Police Department by the Jimmy Ryce Center.

Bo is a Bloodhound, and this breed can follow a scent trail that is over 300 hours old. The dog’s remarkable sniffing ability is due to approximately 230 million olfactory cells in their nose. Humans have 5 million.

He was born in Kentucky and is considered an 8th-generation “man tracker”. He recently was able to track an elderly man with dementia who had wandered off.

At 11 months old, Bo weighs 105lbs., and is expected to grow to 120lbs.  Bo like many Police Dogs, lives with his K9 handler.

The Gastonia Police K9 Unit comprises 7 handlers and 7 dogs.

- 2 German Shepherds

- 3 Belgian Malinois

- 1 Dutch Shepard

- 1 Bloodhound

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