Bloodhound is Member of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department

Susan Heavilin
Nov 3, 2025
2 min read

Photo by the Tallahassee Democrat — Photo by the *Tallahassee Democrat*

Three years ago, Supervisor Jim Desmond did a story about meeting the newest trainee of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. The story was not about the human members but about a canine (K-9) member of the Search and Rescue Team.

"Earlier today, I had the opportunity of meeting Pam & Rich, who are the trainers of the newest member of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, Albert! Albert is a 13-weeks old bloodhound, who is currently undergoing nine months of training before being certified for the Search and Rescue Team." —Supervisor Jim Desmond

There are over 200 volunteers in the Sheriff's Search and Rescue (SAR) Program. Pam and Rich are two of those volunteers and were getting ready to train this new dog. All different types of dogs are used but this breed caught my attention probably because of those old movies where someone would escape from a prison and they'd send the bloodhounds out to follow a scent.

Here's Albert at 13 weeks, naive but willing to learn! His trainer was Pam Medhurst, SAR K-9 Unit Leader | Photo by Hoodline

The more I thought about, I wondered if Albert had been successfully trained and was on duty with the SAR K-9s or had flunked out. I was very pleased to locate the video below.

Albert is fully trained and was even Man Trailing Certified by The National Bloodhound Association, Inc.

"Many U.S. states have law enforcement agencies or volunteer civilian organizations that utilize bloodhounds in their Search and Rescue (SAR) programs. The use of bloodhounds is a common and highly effective practice for tracking missing persons and suspects due to their superior scent-tracking abilities. "— AI Overview

Albert has been with the San Diego County SAR program since 2023. Click on the video below to watch his progress.