When an 88-year-old Illinois woman went missing from a nursing home, Melanie was on the job. Melanie is a 1 1/2 year old bloodhound who works in the Cook County Sheriff’s Department Canine Unit.

Melanie and her partner, Sheriff’s Officer Jim Pacetti, soon found the woman, who suffers from dementia, in an unoccupied room.

Coasters from Dogstuff

This isn’t Melanie’s first save. In January, she tracked a suicidal man in a forest preserve. After authorities had searched for hours, it took Melanie 30 minutes to find the man submerged in a riverbed, where he would soon have died in the frigid temperatures.

“Melanie is acquiring quite a reputation,” said Steve Patterson, a sheriff’s spokesman. “With her good success rate several departments call our unit specifically for her.”

Kudos to Melanie and Officer Pacetti.