Bounty Hunters Inspired Dog Names

If his name doesn’t sound like an all-time famous dog-tective, that’s because it was a fictional person’s title first, namely the popular dime-novel private detective first published as far back as 1886 that continued on in several similar iterations over the next century. But to be fair, the canine Nick Carter did actual, real-life tracking and detecting, not just the fictional type. 

Despite his funny name, Nick Carter the bloodhound did serious police work with what is considered to be the best nose in all of the canine kingdom. Stemming from a historic line of tracking dogs, Nick was born in 1899 and within a few short years, he already was climbing the ladder to working dog stardom. 

Nick Carter worked alongside his handler Captain G. V. Mullikin, a well-known detective in his own right, during the early 1900s. Together, the team worked so well together that they sometimes even drew crowds just to watch them work. By 1903, Nick and his partner had already sent 126 criminals to jail working as a duo. By the end of his career, he was credited with over 650 finds. 

But the numbers alone aren’t what make Nick’s career so impressive. It was a combination of his resolve, patience, and pure natural skill. On numerous occasions, Nick did what most thought to be impossible. 

In one instance, Nick was brought to the location of a massive barn fire, which was largely suspected to be a matter of arson. Although he arrived on the scene more than 100 hours after the barn had burned down and had to face myriad smells, many of which were also obscured by the charred remains of the blaze, he still managed to find a scent trail after circling the area several times and took off after it. With his partner in tow, Nick led investigators to a farmhouse nearly a mile away where the arsonist was still hiding out. 

Nick was also famously known for his ability to follow particularly old scent trails, trails that no other dog proved able to pick up on, and was even credited with finding a suspect based on one that was noted to be over 12 days old. On other occasions, he also solidified himself as one of the most patient and enduring of his kind in history as well. On top of being able to follow what would normally be considered “dead” trails, he was also well-known for following a single trail over 50 miles to catch his man.