Michelle Delaney interviews with Fox News on how her trained Search and Rescue (SaR) dogs help save lives in SW Florida. Click here to watch the full video on Fox4News.

NORTH NAPLES, Fla.- Imagine your loved one is lost, vanished without a trace. Fears are high and time is of the essence. It is a harsh reality for many families in Southwest Florida. The North Naples Fire Department is using man’s best friend to reunite them.

“We have so many nursing homes that people just wander out and if somebody wanders out hopefully we can get a jump on that and bring them home quickly,” Lt. Michelle Delaney said.

With missing and endangered elderly cases reported in our area nearly every day, North Naples Fire engineer and acting Lieutenant Michelle Delaney decided to turn her hobby in to a life saving skill.

“Since I’m with the search and rescue department and with as much training as we’ve done with the tracking, it all just fit hand in hand. So people aren’t standing out on a street corner wondering where their loved ones are,” Lt. Delaney said.

Lt. Delaney said in a matter of minutes, her family of German Shepard’s can locate the lost and it all starts with a simple scent.
As you step you’ve got thousands of skin rafts that are falling off and it’s falling on to the ground getting stuck in the shrubs,” Lt. Delaney said.

“If we were out here on feet, we would have to do a grid search and we’d still be walking to find the location of the person. So in essence she found you in three minutes, we would still be by the road developing a plan,” Delaney said.

Lt. Delaney said the dogs have gone through years of training and different certifications. She said their services can be vital to Southwest Florida.

“It is a great feeling especially if we can bring someone home and it’s part of our job so it puts one more tool in our tool belt to help the community,” Lt. Delaney said.