Investigators have yet to officially identify the body of a child they found in a pond at Olympic Park Tuesday, but they believe it belongs to 6-year-old David Puckett, who had been missing since Saturday.
Divers found the body just under the ice in the pond.
Investigators were drawn to the spot by an air-scent dog brought in from Boulder County.
Had the search dog not led to the pond, the search would continue Tuesday night.
“We never want to find someone that doesn't have a good ending,” said Boulder County Open Space officer Jeff Hiebert.
Hiebert, and his 3-year-old black German Shepherd, Dax, were the duo that found the body Tuesday.
“It is very difficult because usually when you come to a search, you're dealing with a person's worst moments in their lives,” he added.
For this duo, Tuesday's search was two years in the making. A labor of love that required more than 100 hours of training-- sniffing-- to certify Dax as a trained rescue dog.
“It’s pretty amazing what these dogs can do with their noses,” Jeff said.
Most trained rescue dogs go through two years of courses that will teach them to recognize a smell, usually from an article of clothing. In the field they'll then follow that scent in an area of interest
In Tuesday's case it was around a pond in Olympic Park.
“[It’s particularly incredible] in a city where you have, you know, literally hundreds and hundreds of people and he's able to define, match, that scent to one person out of all those people,” Jeff said of Dax.
Tuesday's mission was the first of its kind for Dax.
Jeff imported Dax from the Czech Republic for the purpose of becoming a rescue dog three years ago.
Jeff says Dax serves as his personal pet as well.
