Here is the science behind cadaver dogs – and an inside look at the important role they fill
Cadaver dogs are trained to find human remains. Some cadaver dogs are so good that they can even find a body buried up to 12-feet underground or nearly 100 feet underwater. But how are these dogs able to detect human remains in the first place? Scientists currently don’t know the exact answer, but they do have a good idea.
How can cadaver dogs detect human remains so well?
Arpad Vass, a leading expert on decomposition odor analysis at Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee, thinks it comes down to a few unique compounds found in the human body. Vass feels that mapping the unique odors of the human body as it decomposes could someday lead to the development of technology that could make cadaver dogs obsolete.
“The problem is only one of sensitivity,” Vass told CBC. “Canines, I’m pretty sure, are in the parts per trillion detection range and instruments are only reliable down to parts per billion.”
The cadaver dog training process
The training process for becoming a cadaver dog can take years, with many getting a start at eight weeks old and getting certified around age two. The dog’s breed is not overly important as any dog with the motivation, drive, and energy for the job can be a cadaver dog. Most often, though, cadaver dogs are German shepherds, Belgian Malinois, and Labrador retrievers.
A cadaver dog’s training never stops
Even after they have received their training, cadaver dogs have to perform re-certification. This usually involves returning to a training school and making sure that the dog can still detect human remains at the level needed to perform their job.
Human remains versus pig remains
Another cadaver dog trainer, Mary Cablk of the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, has studied cadaver dogs and their effectiveness at detecting human remains in comparison to those of cows, chickens, and pigs. She found that the scent of pig remains was the least similar to that of human remains.
This presents a problem in the U.K, where trainers are prohibited from using actual human remains in their training process. Instead, they use pig remains. Hopefully, Cablk’s study can help change the remains used to those that are more similar to the scent of humans.
Cadaver dogs are unmatched in their ability to find human remains
As an example of the effectiveness of cadaver dogs, a dive team in Northern Ontario was searching for the remains of a teen in a lake where he had fallen and was believed to have drowned. After twelve days, however, authorities were still not able to locate the boy. Once cadaver dogs were brought in, the scent was tracked in only 15 minutes.
The above just goes to show the dedication of these handlers and dogs involved. In many cases, a cadaver dog can pick up the scent of human remains off nothing more than a shard of bone or a drop of blood.
Check out the video below to learn more about the cadaver dog training process.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.