There was no mystery about who put a smile on an ailing Orange County woman's face.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department's bloohound -- Taffy -- made it happen Monday after Paula Hansell spent the day with the department's AKC-award winning search and rescue dog.
Hansell, who is has a life-threatening liver tumor, had always wanted to see how bloodhounds work.
"It was more than I thought it would be," Hansell, 39, told the Orange County Register.
Hansell will undergo surgery in may in May, and the Register reported that she has an additional heart condition increases the risks.
She became interested in bloodhounds after reading a series of crime novels by Virginia Lanier.
Taffy is the department's longest serving bloodhound.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
Reserve Deputy Lt. Doug Williams put Taffy through some exercises for Hansell. Hansell then took Taffy's leash as the dog tracked a "missing person."
"I couldn't believe how strong that dog is," Hansell said after Taffy led her to the target.
