DEKALB COUNTY, Tennessee – Law enforcement officers are credited with driving a bloodhound, a missing 6-year-old girl who authorities say was found barricaded with her father in an outhouse in Tennessee on Friday.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Saturday that the K-9 named Fred was able to detect an odor that led officers to the shed on his father’s property in Pea Ridge Township.

There was little food or water in the adjoining building, the door was barricaded and the windows clad with metal, according to the sheriff’s office.

The officers had to break into the shed, where, according to the sheriff, they made contact with the girl and her father, 34-year-old Nicholas Reeder.

“There was no ventilation or air conditioning in the small outbuilding. There was hardly any food or water for the child, ”wrote the sheriff’s office. “The outhouse had a strong smell of ammonia where the two of them urinated and emptied into a five-gallon bucket.”

The girl was released into the care of the state’s Department of Children Services (DCS) while Reeder was arrested for child abuse and neglect. Officials say the father also had arrest warrants for “no-show” and “detention center interference”. Its total loan amount was set at $ 175,000.

The sheriff’s office says the girl has been missing since May 26th. The week before, officials said she had been removed from shipowner’s custody after being camped under a bridge in rising waters of the creek on a cold rainy night the week before.

Reeder was later charged with child abuse and neglect while his daughter was temporarily placed in the care of a family member. After Reeder was released from prison, the DCS gave him permission to live in the same house as his daughter lived in.

But on June 21, the DCS contacted the sheriff’s office to file a missing person report. Then the search for the girl and her father began.

When the officers and the bloodhound found the father and daughter, the girl hugged the dog tightly and the K-9 licked her face. That’s from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, which owns the K-9.