Get to know us.
Professional Search Dog Services
Founded in 2007, KYK9 is a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides search dog services to families of the missing, law enforcement, archaeologists, and tribal nations. We have extensive experience working cold cases, crime scenes, and searching for missing persons and human remains on land and in water. We are honored to do this work to assist families who often have no hope or help. We have been blessed to find many missing persons alive. When we find human remains instead, it is truly heartbreaking and we just hope it helps families begin the healing process. Helping law enforcement solve a cold case or find a homicide victim is another way we help families. And our work finding archaeological human remains helps indigenous people reclaim and reconnect with their ancestors. Helping locate lost or abandoned historic cemeteries helps preserve our collective cultural heritage. Our search dog teams are nationally certified in trailing, HRD land, HRD water, and crime scene evidence. There is no national certification available for our unique archaeological HRD services, but we have had great success finding human remains, some that date back 2000 years.
Our Clients
KYK9 works with three different types of clients.
Families to find a missing loved one.
Law enforcement to find missing persons, homicide victims, trafficking victims, and crime scene evidence.
Tribes, archaeologists, local communities, and others to find archaeological human remains and burials, and lost or abandoned cemeteries.
Our Origin
There are 85,000 missing persons in the U.S. When a person disappears, the families left behind often feel helpless, overwhelmed, and uncertain where to turn for help. The police are tasked with investigating, not searching, and there is no legislative mandate that a missing person be found. KYK9 fills this gap by helping families search for missing loved ones. During hours, days and months that a missing person is not located, families suffer an unrelenting anguish of not knowing what happened. KYK9 was created to bring the missing home, reunite families, and provide closure. We have been blessed to find missing persons alive and well. Others we have found deceased and in these tragic circumstances, we hope that finally finding the person helps families begin to heal.
KYK9 Today
Today, KYK9 is nationally certified not only in searching for live missing persons, but also in finding human remains, which is called human remains detection (HRD). HRD dogs are sometimes still referred to as cadaver dogs. Our HRD dogs find human remains on land and in water, including crime-scene evidence like burned remains and trace blood evidence.
KYK9 is one of just a few HRD search dog teams in the country that finds archaeological human remains through K9 HRD surveys. K9 Pocket and K9 Wick have found human remains from the Fort Ancient period and Early Woodland period that are approximately 1,000 to 2,000 years old. We have also found lost, abandoned, and unmarked Black cemeteries that have been recognized with state historical markers.
KYK9’s Future
K9 Pocket and K9 Wick have blown us away with their amazing ability to find archaeological human remains; to date the oldest burials they have found are approximately 2,000 years old. Given their incredible gift, our goal is to continue to help tribal nations and indigenous populations find ancestral burial grounds, and to continue to help burgeoning efforts to find historic lost and abandoned Black cemeteries.
KYK9 will continue its mission to help families of the missing as they desperately try to find a loved one. And, we will provide the very best professional services to law enforcement in cold cases, homicide investigations, and missing person cases. KYK9 will also work to expand agency awareness and understanding of how scent-detection K9s can be invaluable investigative tools.
The Search Dogs
KYK9 uses a unique breed of search dog, Parson Russell Terriers (PRT). They have a lot in common with the energizer bunny: small, white, and tireless. They used to be known as Jack Russell Terriers and originated in the 1800s in England. Athletic and nimble, we love their intelligence, drive, courage, tenacity, and kindness. They are wonderful with people and love children. This trait has been very helpful when they have found lost or runaway children who are scared, nonverbal, or non-English speaking.
K9 Scout was the trailblazer, followed by her sister K9 Remy. They were a great team with different search styles and talents. K9 Scout and K9 Remy taught their younger sister, K9 Pocket, everything they knew. We lost both K9 Scout and K9 Remy, at age 16 and 15, only 10 months apart. We miss them so! K9 Pocket, who is now ten years old, carries on their legacy and mentors her little brother, K9 Wick, who at 2 1/2 is nationally certified and loving his archaeological HRD work. As a team, K9 Pocket and K9 Wick are tenacious, smart, and uniquely gifted. We are excited about the future!
Multi-Disciplinary Team
Our goal is to find the person you are looking for, whether you are a family member, law enforcement officer, tribal leader, or community group. We believe the best way to do that is through collaboration with other top-tier professionals. Our team includes forensic anthropologists and forensic archaeologists, divers and engineers. We have access to nationally recognized professionals in various fields such as DNA sequencing, GIS and cartography, drone and ROV operations, law enforcement, botany, animal scavenging behavior, and missing person behavior.
501(c)(3) Non-Profit
KYK9 is organized exclusively for non-profit charitable purposes and is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. We depend on the generous support of individuals and institutions to pay for our search equipment, training, deployment, and community outreach. All contributions, cash or in-kind, are tax deductible.
