Heidi Thaves didn’t grow up with dogs, but they’re now an important part of her life.
Her very first dog, Harley, was a rescue from the Shawano County Humane Society in 2005. He died in 2009.
“For me never having a dog, he knew all the commands,” she said. “He was a great first dog.”
In 2005 the Shawano police officer adopted River, a stray pit bull/lab mix from the Shawano County Humane Society.
Then on a chance visit to the humane society, Thaves saw Makita, a female American Staffordshire terrier puppy, who is now a human remains detection dog.
“I just stopped in,” Thaves said. “I donate there and I like to spend time with the friendly staff.”
Last March she became the K9 handler of the city’s police dog, Aldo, a purebred German Shepherd from Hungary who is with her 24/7. Aldo does drug work and tracking.
And although she loves all her dogs, Thaves said Makita is special.
“The cadaver thing is my passion,” she said.
It took two years of training to get Makita to sniff and track various stages of human remains. Last March, Makita obtained her Canine Good Citizenship certificate — a requirement to become a detection dog — at Applewood Kennels in Shawano.
Then last October in St. Louis, Makita was certified by the National Search Dog Alliance following a five-hour test. Human remains were placed or buried in various locations, and Makita had to sniff vehicles, houses and several acres.
“I failed the test the first time I did it,” Thaves said.
When not working, Makita is a pet, but a different collar changes her whole demeanor.
“She knows it’s time to work,” Thaves said.
A detection dog can not only tell where human remains are but also where they are not, making the search area smaller. At a crime scene the dog can tell whether someone has been murdered there.
Thaves got introduced to a cadaver dog’s abilities three years ago when Caren Corcoran, a police dog handler in Madison, was contacted about helping find Carmen Owens, a Shawano woman missing since Nov. 2, 1998.
“When a cadaver dog is called in, there are no other leads,” Thaves said. “She came and did several sniffs. It was the neatest thing.”
The Owens case haunts Thaves, who has been working on it, as she can, since joining the Shawano Police Department in 2005. She said one of the hardest things for families is not knowing what happened to their loved ones.
“People just don’t disappear,” Thaves said. “Someone knows something.”
Thaves and Makita have been involved in several cases in Shawano and adjoining counties.
Makita someday might get another partner.
“I might want to start again in a year with a puppy,” said Thaves, noting the dog doesn’t need to be a certain breed or have papers.
She plans to continue working with cadaver dogs even after retiring.
“These dogs are phenomenal,” she said. “You’re helping a family find a loved one. It’s a sense of purpose.”
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