A good mushroom picking season means that at least once a week the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board’s (PPA) dog unit is called out to search for lost mushroom pickers in the forests, writes ERR News.

Seven and a half-year-old PPA patrol dog Jehu is trained to search for missing persons. Tõnis Land, a patrol officer with the PPA’s Northern Prefecture dog unit, said that in addition to tracking tracks, the dogs are also trained to find objects with a human scent if something has been lost or thrown away.

Since there are many factors that can distract a dog’s attention,

it is important for a dog owner to learn to read their pet’s body language.

Lands explained that sometimes the scent comes from afar, and the dog can get confused: “In that case. you have to understand from the dog’s body language and behavior to know whether we are close or need to move further. In the forest, that often depends on the wind.”

Autumn is a busy time for police dogs, as they have to go out almost every week to search for missing mushroom pickers. Lands said that the dog can be useful when the missing person’s phone has turned off and the exact location is unknown, which means that a large area has to be searched. The police officer added that drones and sirens are also currently being used, and if the person’s phone is on, most often the missing person finds their way out of the forest on their own, and a search with dogs is not necessary.

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