"I go numb when I hear them," the 45-year-old pet detective said of jokes about his job. "I get all the jokes all the time."

For the record, Mr. Washington has seen the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and thought it was funny.

when he told his family seven years ago that he wanted to give up painting houses to become a real-life pet detective, they thought it was funny, too.

"They fell out of their chairs," Mr. Washington said. "My son laughed me under the table."

The move to become a finder of felines and other animals started when a neighbor in Virginia was desperate to find his missing cat. Mr. Washington, who had grown up training tracking dogs, used a dog to find the missing cat.

The thankful neighbor insisted that Mr. Washington accept payment. It was enough to make him consider a career change.

Now, Mr. Washington is hailed by National Pet Detectives, an organization to which he belongs, as one of the best in the nation.

Mr. Washington moved to south Augusta last month after living in Falls Church, Va., where The Washington Post highlighted him for his work.

In the District of Columbia area, Mr. Washington chased down 65 cats a year. He had a 78 percent find rate in all his cases.

Not all of his searches are for pets. Mr. Washington was once hired to search a few places for former intern Chandra Levy. He would not say who hired him.

"It is an interesting business," Mr. Washington said.

Owners with lost pets usually contact him by phone (792-1854) or through the Web site www.nationalpetdetectives.com.

Mr. Washington usually tells owners to do more thorough searching, post more fliers and wait because many pets come home.

If he is asked to visit a location, he maps it, determining a range within which the pet probably would stay. They usually won't cross rivers, creeks or other such boundaries, he said.

Carl Washington: Pet detective says his dogs Coco (left) and Rocky are essential to his job. He has been searching for lost pets for seven years. JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF

He searches at night, wearing a miner's hat, because most scared animals won't move until the sun sets. He uses two dogs - a poodle and a Jack Russell terrier. He began with only a poodle, but the dog kept getting outrun by the lost pets.

Once he has found their location, Mr. Washington tries to coax the pets with food.

The dogs are what make Mr. Washington's job real and Ventura's job, well, Hollywood.

"You can't do this business without the dogs," he said. "You'll just be spinning your wheels. It's a 50-50 partnership."

CARL WASHINGTON

AGE: 45

OCCUPATION: Pet detective

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Black-and-tan hound

FAMILY: Wife, Rita; stepson, Omar Santiago, 21; son, Christopher, 9

QUOTE: "They fell out of their chairs. My son laughed me under the table." - describing his family's reaction when he told them he wanted to be a pet detective.

Reach Matthew Boedy at (803) 648-1395 or matthew.boedy@augustachronicle.com.