BORDER-PATROL NARC DOG BOLTS FROM HANDLER

Eddie Took Off Chasing Wildlife in Northern Montana

Eddie, a U.S. Border Patrol narcotics dog, has taken a walk on the
wild side and may be on the lam in Canada.

Searchers yesterday continued to look for the German shepherd that
bolted from his handler and chased wildlife along the Canada-U.S.
border in northern Montana.

Eddie vanished Monday afternoon after his handler, a patrol agent,
slipped and let go of the leash. They are hoping that the dog will
resurface when it gets hungry.

"Right now he could be in Canada. We don't know," said the U.S.
Border Patrol's Danielle Suarez.

Six to eight agents using horses and all-terrain vehicles have been
trying to find the hiding hound.

The dog is trained to detect narcotics and humans in concealed places
such as railway boxcars.

He is one of two assigned to the border patrol in Whitefish, a resort
town in northwestern Montana. He disappeared about 100 kilometres
northwest of the town.

Eddie is two to three years old, black and tan, about 32 kilograms
and was wearing a chain collar with both a rabies tag and a tag
bearing his name. He has a five-digit tattoo inside his right ear.

Other dogs from the U.S. have gone missing in Canada in the past.

In March 2004, U.S. Border Patrol officers near Aldergrove had to
track down Lyka, a highly trained seven-year-old female Australian
shepherd that went AWOL in B.C. after a shift on night patrol. They
got the dog back a few days later.

The U.S. Border Patrol canine program began in 1956 when the patrol
purchased sentry dogs from the military.