Shauna Karlash and Ed Swift were up early, as they are every day, to walk their 6 year old bichon shih-tzu who is named Clover.  Usually they don’t see a soul in their neighbourhood but yesterday they came across police who were searching for a woman who had gone missing from the Sunnyside Nursing Home just before 2 a.m. CST.  Police had been searching but their own tracking dog was working another case so when Clover came along she eagerly picked up the job.
Karlash and Swift were eager to help find the woman, who suffers from dementia, so they and Clover picked up the scent and scoured the area. Â “Clover really wanted to go down this one street,” Karlash said. “He wouldn’t let us go past it. So we went down it and sure enough, the lady was crossing the intersection in front of us.”
Karlash said the woman did not look before stepping into the street and it was lucky there was no car coming or she would likely have been hit. Â She and Clover stayed with the woman while Swift ran for police. Â “I have no idea how he did it,” Karlash said. “He just really wanted to go down that street.” Â It was fortunate that they followed Clover’s instincts and turned the corner when they did.
“We appreciate what they’ve done,” said Randy Kurtz, CEO of Sunnyside Nursing Home. “We want to be able to touch base with them as well and express our gratitude for taking the extra effort, working with police and helping to find her so we’re very thankful to them.” Â He added that the nursing home will be reviewing security measures. Â As for Karlash and Swift, they are very proud of their little dog who became a hero yesterday.
