Canine Search Solutions
Carren Corcoran Gummin
Contact Information:
E-mail: coren0120@gmail.com
Phone: (608) 692-5001
K9 Moxy
K9 Freyja
Carren Corcoran Gummin is the founder and owner of Canine Search Solutions LLC. Carren is a retired Madison Police Officer with 30 years of Law Enforcement experience including 10 years as a full-time Patrol K9 handler. Her love of dogs and her fascination with the power of their noses has been the driving force behind her work with dogs.Carren began novice dog training in 1989 in a variety of arenas including obedience, Schutzhund, guide dog training and foster care.
MOXY
In February 2014, Carren took in an 8 week old German Shepherd puppy as a rescue for ARF Rescue. The name Moxy was a much more politically correct way to capture Moxy's piss and vinegar personality. Moxy has been extremely wild and willful from day one. She is just "plain naughty" is how Carren describes her. Moxy obtained cadaver certification with NNDDA. To date Moxy has participated in 50 cases in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Moxy is not a purebred German Shepherd and is actually 1/16th Retriever. Alas, her ears do not stand up. Many people tell Carren, Moxy must be a LAB mix. If you know Carren you will find the humor!
FREYJA
Freyja Is half Belgian Malinois and half German Shepherd . Her parents are both working dogs that showed incredible drive and sociability. Freyja was named in honor of Carren’s first working dog Norse. Freyja was a Norse goddess who was known to protect the dead and is also considered a “noble woman”. All very fitting as Freyja is in training to be a Human Remains Detection dog.
TILT
Tilt Is half Belgian Malinois and half German Shepherd. His parents are both working dogs that showed incredible drive and sociability. Tilt was named due to his left ear tilting as a result of a third ear tip that grew behind his left ear. Tilt has a larger than life personality and loves everyone. Tilt is in training to be a scent specific trailing dog.
K9 Tilt
Carren's first search dog Norse was a male German Shepherd trained to find persons alive and deceased. Norse participated in approximately 65 searches throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan. Norse has numerous finds and had his detection work confirmed by the Wisconsin and Illinois State Crime Lab, Forensic Anthropologists, and Police Evidence Technicians. Norse passed away on May 5, 2005, at 11 years and 10 months old and his last search was in April of 2005. Norse was an ambassador to both the German Shepherd breed and HRD dogs. He touched many people's lives with his intelligence, affection, and incredible work ethic. Norse taught by example the limitless ability of an excellent working dog and what it can accomplish for a homicide investigation.
K9 Norse
Carren's second HRD dog Cleo, a female German Shepherd, was adopted as a 2 year old stray from Badgerland German Shepherd Rescue. Cleo was trained to exclusively detect human remains, and had no cross training in live human scent, as Norse did. Cleo was fine tuned to detect very small amounts of human remains odor and residual odor of human remains. Carren envisioned a dog that could further guide Law Enforcement during a suspicious missing person investigation. Cleo continued to reveal how instrumental a HRD dog can be to a homicide investigation. Cleo retired in 2008 after approximately 55 searches and included cases in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, and Michigan. Cleo's case work more often included sniffing crime scenes for clues or trace evidence. Cleo's work was confirmed by the Wisconsin and Illinois State Crime Lab, Forensic Anthropologist, Police Evidence Technicians, and even through suspect confessions. Cleo's body became old and tired while her drive to work continued until she passed away in 2008. Cleo's memory lives on in the book Bringing Jon Home by David Francis.
K9 Cleo
Carren's third HRD dog Molly aka "Bitty" due to her itty bitty size was a female German Shepherd that was discovered through Badgerland German Shepherd Rescue. Bitty received HRD certification with both NAPWDA and NNDDA. Bitty and Carren worked on over 96 cases in the USA-Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Michigan, Ontario Canada and Saskatchewan Canada from 2007 to 2017. Bitty assisted in the recovery of 14 bodies, numerous confirmations of human remains evidence at scenes, and most importantly her indications assisted in obtaining numerous search warrants in Wisconsin and Colorado. Bitty passed over at home on January 13, 2018 at 11 1/2 years of age with Carren and Slim by her side.
Slim was imported from the Netherlands to Sanford, North Carolina. Carren and Slim began their training at Tarheel Kennels in February 2009. Slim served the city of Madison police department for ten years (or 70 dog years) and deployed on over 1700 calls for service. Slim retired in January 2020. Slim died on December 27, 2022 at 14 years old. Ironically Slim died the night after his Dad – Wade’s last shift as a police officer. Carren can't help but believe Slim needed to know his Dad was safe.
K9 Molly aka Bitty
K9 Slim