How K-9 Cash helped find flood victim

It's been almost two weeks now since historic flash flooding in Yavapai County and search and rescue teams spent days looking for people who were missing. And tonight we're introducing you to a rescue canine who officials say was instrumental in bringing closure to a family after their loved one died in the floods. Fox 10's Nicole Christine has the story. Ready to work, buddy? You ready? This is Cash. He's been part of Yavapai County's search and rescue canine team for more than four years now. While other canine members of the team work on live searches, Cash is a certified cadaver dog, which means he's trained to locate deceased humans. And in particular, he's certified in a whole host of sub-disciplines, including basic land and large area searching. Crime scene, so very small vehicles, buildings, fire areas, and what was most relevant in this case, which is water and shoreline searching. The case Cash's handler, Heather Lum, is referencing is the multi-day search for 63-year-old Benny Sutton, whose pickup truck was swept away in flash floods earlier this month. I want to stress that this was a team effort. There were countless search responders out there ground pounding, looking for clues, other canine units in addition to mine. But in particular, Cash was able to locate with pretty good indications that there was something in the in the water, at which point They brought in other resources to come in and locate Mr. Sutton. Hours of training go into making cash such an important part of the search and rescue team, but it's a tool he was born with that might make him the best of the searchers. We still don't have the technology to replicate the dog's nose. They can smell a drop of blood in an Olympic-sized pool, and so the ability for them to cover a large area, we would be spending the same hours. That takes him minutes. Heather and Cash giving FOX 10 a behind the scenes look at how a training session works. I will give him a search command. Good job, okay. When he locates a source, what he'll do is he will sit and oftentimes he'll look at me until I give him his reward. Who's a good pup? The team's work, not easy, but an important part of bringing resolution to a family without answers. The only solace that we can take is that we played a small part in at least helping bring closure to the family. We're all volunteer, with the exceptions of a few of the sheriff's office itself. So we are really focused on the mission, which is helping. Missing individuals come home. In Yavapai County, Nicole Christine, Fox 10 News.