by Madison Evans
On April 21, the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office added a new bloodhound, Porter, to its K9 division and after only two months on the job, the rookie K9 was thrust into the thick of Minnesota’s largest manhunt in the state’s history – the search for and capture of alleged political assassin Vance Luther Boelter.
Boelter is the man accused of shooting to death Minnesota legislator Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in Brooklyn Park on June 14. That same early dark morning, he also allegedly seriously wounded by gunfire another legislator, Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Porter’s handler, Stearns County Deputy Scott Fischer of Cold Spring, was honored when he received the call to assist in the hunt for Boelter. He and the department’s other bloodhound, Storm, and her handler, deputy Laura Berg, both helped.
“We got to play a decent role in that and be part of that, which was pretty cool, especially for Porter being at the very beginning of his career, and for me as well, beginning at the beginning of my career as a handler,” Fischer said.
He could not share specific details about Porter and his involvement in the Boelter case, but he was able to share how he and Porter normally perform their tracking tasks.
“The primary way we work with Porter for tracking is by use of a scent article,” Fischer said. “So that can be like an item of clothing or personal belonging that has a subject’s scent on it, and we can also collect scent articles. We have a procedure we go through for that, which is to use a sterile gauze pad or something of that nature. We can collect scent from pretty much anything – a seat, something that’s used frequently by one specific person is ideal because it’ll isolate their scent. Then we basically just present Porter or our other tracking canine, Storm, with that article, and in the area the person was last known to be, and then they kind of take it from there.”
Porter was ready to tackle the challenge since his tracking training began when he was a newborn puppy.
The Stearns County Sheriff’s Department acquired Porter through the Georgia K9 Center in Canton, Ga. where puppies are selected and tested to assess their drive and desire for tracking and hunting. The top performers are chosen to move on for advanced training. In the final steps before officially moving to Minnesota, Porter got to meet and train with his new handler, Deputy Fischer, for two weeks in South Carolina. Fischer has been a member of the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department since 2023.
Porter is a bloodhound. With about 230 scent receptors (40 times more than the number in humans), the breed can detect and disguise smells with incredible precision. Porter’s long ears swoop to the ground, stirring up the scents in his long snout. He has short, tan-and-dark-brown fur with wrinkly skin on his forehead and dark brown eyes that show he means business.
Even though he is a working police dog, Porter still has his puppy-like energy. He recently celebrated his first birthday on July 4. He loves humans and when he isn’t wearing his working vest, his signal he is on-the-job can be obvious the way he snuggles up to people and curiously sniffs the ground.
Porter’s ability to interact nicely with humans is part of the reason he is well suited for tracking work versus a police canine who is trained for apprehension work. According to Fischer, this can be helpful when tracking a missing child, an elderly person or a vulnerable adult. The bloodhound might find the person and lick that person lovingly instead of thinking that person is the one Porter is supposed to help apprehend.
Other than working as a tracking dog, Porter also will do community engagement and presentations. He lives with Fischer at Fischer’s home.
“He spends more time with me than anybody,” Fischer said. “He goes to work with me every day. He sleeps at our house every night. We eat meals together and train together.”
When speaking with the Newsleaders, Fischer extended his gratitude to the public. Porter, he noted, was obtained largely through donations and other forms of support from those who think a K9 is vital for public service.
“I feel very fortunate and very honored to participate in that,” Fischer said, “And I really look forward to continuing to give back to the investment that the community has made in Porter and in me.”
Stearns County Deputy Scott Fischer of Cold Spring stands beside his new buddy, Porter, the department’s newest K9 patrol dog.