Given to the state police by the Connecticut State Police, the dog assisted in its first search warrant in June pinpointing a thumb drive containing child pornography hidden four layers deep in a tin box inside a metal cabinet. That discovery led the police to secure an arrest warrant, state police Cpl. Eric Yelle says.

“If it has a memory card, he’ll sniff it out,” Det. Adam Houston, Thoreau’s handler, says.

At times, child pornographers hide devices in ceiling tiles or even radios.