These past two weeks, the Flies Lab has played host to a number of cadaver dogs. We’re working with a trainer of cadaver dogs on a research project.
What are cadaver dogs, you ask? These are dogs that are specially trained to distinguish between the odors of human remains and the odors of other types of remains (carrion, feces, etc.). Law enforcement agencies use these dogs to help find buried or concealed remains, or hunt down lost body parts. There are other dogs that are trained to seek out live humans during disasters, and still other dogs “cross trained” to sniff for both live and dead human tissue.
We have been setting up some tests for a variety of cadaver dogs for several days. One dog comes in at a time and runs the test. I’m not sure when these will be finished, but I love having dogs come to visit during the work day.
This is Pete. He’s resting in between tests.
Pete and his handler Ben in the back of our lab, just starting a new test.
This is the target. It’s just a jar with some soil in it (Pete knocked it over). The dog must find the target and determine if there are human remains involved.
Here’s Frank, setting up another test. The photo is fuzzy because we tried to limit as many distractions as possible, which meant no flash.
Here’s Pete investigating a test jar…
…and here he is alerting. Pete lies down when he detects human remains.
Reward!
This is test dog #2: Karma. She was very bouncy and just wouldn’t stay still for a photo.
Karma investigating a test jar. Her alert was a bark, which echoed terribly in the back room. She also didn’t like it when people lurked in the hallway and watched her work. Poor puppy!
After the tests, I took some time to speak with the trainers. Cadaver dogs come in all shapes and sizes, but need to have a certain temperament. These animals are often around people and in stressful situations, so a calm, friendly dog is vital. It takes upwards of two years to fully train a certified search dog, so most trainers have more than one: one in training and one fully trained. (one of the gentlemen working with us owns four, and his finance has four of her own. Eight dogs in one house!). To start training a cadaver dog, handlers begin by using clicker training, and teaching the puppy to sit, come and lie down. Once those commands are mastered, they introduce the dog to a dead human scent (which is really, really hard to get a hold of, as you might imagine). They teach the dog to associate the dead scent with rewards–starting out with treats, and slowly weening the dogs to toy rewards. They then begin training to the dog to ignore any distractions that might be in the area.
While this is going on, the trainer tries to determine what the dog’s “alert” is going to be. When in the presence of human remains, some dogs sit, others bark, some lie down, and others run and jump on their handlers. The alert is usually up to the whim of the dog, but can be manipulated to some extent by the trainer.
The method of training and type of alert varies with what job the dog is going to do. Rescue dogs are obviously not trained on dead human scent, while cadaver dogs stay away from tracking live humans. Depending on which agency the dog works for, the alert is also different. Crime scene investigators don’t want media types or rubber neckers to know when human evidence is found, so these dogs can’t have a bark alert. Forensic types, on the other hand, don’t want the dog lying down and contaminating a crime scene, so a bark alert is a must. The same goes for disaster dogs–they need to alert as loudly as possible.
It’s a long road to become a trained cadaver dog, but from the people I’ve talked to it’s all worth it. I’ve never seen a group of volunteers more gung-ho about what they do (and this takes up most of their time).
–Adrienne
