A police dog in Massachusetts is being lauded for his remarkable efforts in working to find a missing 8-year-old boy. The child, who is autistic and nonverbal, escaped from his home by crawling out of the first-floor window. On April 28, 2025, at 3:58 p.m., the boy’s parent called police reporting that the child had gone missing.
Kimberly Rivera, the child’s sister, said the window was “not even halfway open,” but her brother managed to pry it open fully. “Mom, his dad and myself, we were destroyed thinking the worst could have happened,” she said.
The dog immediately showed interest in a body of water nearby.
Thankfully, Titan was on the job. He arrived with K-9 officer Brian Sanchioni. Immediately, Titan began showing interest near a stream across from the child’s home, WCVB reports. “I trusted [Titan], pulled me to where he was following odor,” Sanchioni said. “He eventually jumped into the water.”
The water was up to the boy’s stomach.
Titan followed the stream for about 600 feet before he swam under a bridge. Afterward, Titan and Sanchioni spotted the boy clinging to a tree on the bank of the stream. Titan saw the boy first and barked to lead Sanchioni in the right direction.
“As I got up to his location, we saw the boy partially submerged in the water up to his stomach,” Sanchioni said. “He looked scared, he was holding onto a tree.”
He was taken in for an evaluation.
Titan returned the boy to his family for an emotional reunion. His family gave him the biggest hug. Later, the boy was evaluated at Milford Regional Medical Center, according to a press release from the Milford Police Department. The boy was deemed OK and returned to school two days later.
Not all communities are equipped to aid in the rescue of nonverbal individuals.
“I believe that without that dog we would not have been able to find my little brother,” Kimberly told WCVB-TV. It’s a sentiment Milford Police Department Chief, Robert Tusino echoed. “The autistic community, Alzheimer’s, dementia … they’re not yelling out to us,” he said. “So it’s literally one-dimensional. We have to find them.”
