Arts and entertainment have always created classic partners in law enforcement: Holmes and Watson. Scully and Mulder.
In the small city of Gastonia, North Carolina, the most famous real-life partners are Police Sergeant David Rowland and Bo. In this case, the team is more like the 1989 Tom Hanks movie “Turner & Hooch.”
Because Bo is a dog.
He’s not just any dog. The 2-year-old bloodhound won the top honor at the 2024 American Humane Society Hero Dog Awards.
His handler, 39-year-old Sgt. Rowland, has worked with a canine partner for years. His last dog, a German shepherd named Colt, actually saved his life once.
Police had been chasing two armed men. Rowland caught one and was in the process of subduing him, but he didn’t see the second man behind him.
In an interview, Rowland explained how the second man had “his gun pointed at the back of my head.” He recounted: “Colt sees this. And for whatever reason, this guy was just terrified of dogs. Colt goes in[to] protection mode and barks at this guy and freaks the guy out. He throws the gun down and puts his hands up. The guy was going to execute me, and this dog saved my life.”
When Colt retired from police dog work at age 15, Rowland made him a family pet. Now Rowland needed a new partner. This time, he wanted a bloodhound because the breed has an incredible skill: its ability to smell.
Solving Cases, One Sniff at a Time
“They’re the best at tracking. … A bloodhound’s nose is the third most powerful nose on the planet,” Rowland said. If you’re wondering what animals are better, they are grizzly bears and African elephants, according to scientific studies (neither of which would make a good partner for a cop).
If you’ve ever heard the term “hangdog expression,” that sort of describes a bloodhound’s appearance. “His ears, they’re all goofy, and everybody makes fun of them.” But you might be surprised that those big floppy ears serve an important purpose when tracking. Rowland explained: “When Bo puts his nose to the ground, his ears are actually dragged against the ground and kick up evaporated odors.” Typically, when an odor evaporates, the odor molecules fall onto the ground, making it difficult for a dog to distinguish the target odor from the surroundings. “But once Bo’s ears hit that stuff [the odor molecules], it’s lighter than the dirt.” The dog’s ears sweep the odor molecules back up into the air, which gives the dog the ability to smell it.
Bo gained national attention in May 2024 when he successfully tracked a 7-year-old child who had been kidnapped at knifepoint. Once the dog picked up the scent from the child’s clothing, he led Rowland for an incredible 7 miles over a four-hour period. And the track wasn’t a straight line. “We went through a Walmart parking lot, a gas station, several drugstores, fast food restaurants, down a major highway, behind a Waffle House and through another neighborhood, and eventually came to an abandoned house,” he said.
After this exhausting search, Bo found the location where the child was being held. The kidnapper, high on drugs, eventually gave up the child with the help of a negotiator. “I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this kid probably wouldn’t be alive right now if it wasn’t for Bo.”
Rowland always wanted to work with dogs because “that’s where all the excitement was. And that was really the big pull for me. I wanted to be in the excitement. I wanted to go where people needed the help the most. And it was awesome to see these dogs succeed.”
A Diamond in the ‘Ruff’
After Colt retired, Rowland got Bo as an 8-week-old puppy from the Jimmy Ryce Center, which provides bloodhounds free to police departments. The organization is named after Jimmy Ryce, a 9-year-old boy who was abducted and murdered in 1995. It is believed the boy might have been saved had a bloodhound been involved in the search.
Rowland feels that he and Bo were destined to be partners. “It was definitely fate. A lot of things lead up to that exact moment. If anything slightly changed, then I wouldn’t have ended up at that kennel for that litter. I wanted a boy, and he was the only boy in the litter. So it was definitely meant to be.”
Bo immediately started working with Rowland and Ryan Huneycutt, the trainer for the canine unit, and was certified to work in the field after six months. He had to pass a test that required him to track a scent which had aged 75 minutes over 1.5 miles.
When Bo is “off the clock,” he lives with Rowland, his wife, and their 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. The Rowlands have quite a menagerie on their farm, including 110 chickens, 30 ducks, and some turkeys. “I’m an animal person. I love cats, birds—you name it. Bo loves my kids, and my kids love Bo,” he said. “He’s a big goofball.”
Bo got the royal treatment when he received his award last year, as he was flown to New York and got to sit in first class. Rowland took him to Central Park, and Bo ended up on the “Today” show. Rowland says that the award also helps people understand how valuable the breed is to law enforcement. “It’s really just getting Bo’s story out there, and putting the positive message behind these bloodhounds.”
Bottom line, Sgt. Rowland considers his assignment the best duty for a cop. “You get to come to work every day with your best friend.”
This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
