Two days ago, when the baby was introduced to its future coworkers at the Law Enforcement Center, she didn’t look half as big as she did sitting there in the box of the pickup truck.

Friday, September 24, 1999

Two days ago, when the baby was introduced to its future coworkers at the Law Enforcement Center, she didn’t look half as big as she did sitting there in the box of the pickup truck.

"She’s growing every time I take her out of the kennel," said her owner and trainer Steve Wald, "every time she wakes up from a nap."

Madeline, or as Wald calls her, Maddie, is a 12-week-old bloodhound born in Hollandale – a member of a new breeder’s second litter.

She’s now the pride-and-joy of the Austin Police, a loose-skinned, droopy-eyed puppy who’s all paws and all anybody can look at.

Maddie’s well on her way to her 100-pound plateau. She’ll get there before she gets any police action, which is two or three years down the road.

For now, Wald’s original bloodhound, 8-year-old Ginger, is the force’s on-call human tracker.

"What makes bloodhounds the best is they lock-on to one human scent and they’re locked-on throughout," Wald said.

In other words, you could take Allan Krejci’s necktie, put it to the dog’s nose, put the dog in a convention center jammed to the rafters with executives trimmed in gold, and a bloodhound would still sniff out only Krejci.

But seriously, "I’ve run Ginger on a track three miles long," Wald said, "and a lot longer than that have been documented."

One thing Maddie hasn’t grown into is her moneymaker. Right now, Wald has her sniffing pieces of his children’s clothing while the kids run and hide.

"She gets all fired up [seeking them]," Wald said. "They’re short trails – 20-30 yards and straight. We’ll build up from there.

"Right now, she’s socializing, getting used to traffic, different types of people."

To hear Wald tell it, Austin is "extremely lucky" to have a bloodhound.

The next nearest duty-bound bloodhound is in Minneapolis, where Ginger originally came from. Wald uses Ginger 18 to 20 times a year and all over the area. Ginger has worked scenes in Iowa, Wisconsin and was once put on stand-by for a job in Nebraska.

The work can sometimes be straight out of the picture in your mind. Ginger was used last year to help track the suspect in an attempted murder of an Iowa peace officer.

Often, the work is less than glamorous.

"She’s usually called on to find somebody who needs to be found before their medication wears off," Wald said, "or kids in cornfields."

Which, if you’re the bloodhound, isn’t so bad, because they adore kids and attention.

"They’re very loving and personable," said Wald, who later added that bloodhounds are not fit to be used for any other canine police work, such as drug sniffing or taking down criminals.

"They won’t attack anything," Wald said, "except food."

To give you an idea of just how sensitive and caring a bloodhound can be, witness:

Shortly before Maddie arrived on the scene, Wald had to put his German shepherd to sleep, leaving Ginger in a funk.

When Wald introduced Maddie into his fenced-in backyard, Ginger, he said, "was like her old self again – the vim and vigor returned. Ginger loves her."

Floppy ears, sad eyes and all.