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Morse & Sherlock Join Forces

Well it just had to happen. As reported in the International Express (Tuesday 24th March 1998), and forwarded by John Baesch, Morse and Sherlock have been teamed together. Essex police are again using bloodhounds in their fight against crime. Two pedigree 14 week old puppies, named Sherlock and Morse, and costing £600, are being trained to work together. When they take up their duties Sherlock will be looked after by dog handler PC Chris Houlding at Chelmsford, while Morse will live with his handler PC Terry Smith at Harlow. The pair were bought from Suffolk breeder Tony Higginbottom who says that bloodhounds “have better tracking skills than anyone or anything else in the world”. Evidence has shown that bloodhounds can indeed follow airborne scents across a crowded city after just a sniff of scent up to 24 hours after the event.

Sherlock and Morse courtesy of Philip Cornell, Expedition Artist of ‘The Sydney Passengers’ (The Sydney Sherlock Holmes Society)

Update - From a report received recently by Roger Johnson it would seem that these canine police are already proving their worth. “Even a helicopter with a heat-seeking camera couldn’t find a patient, who recently went missing from a hospital in Epping, but Sherlock the bloodhound did. His success is more remarkable as he’s only eight months old and less than halfway through his one-year training course.”