What Are Cadaver Dogs and What Do They Do?

Have you ever watched a crime documentary and seen the dogs used to help sniff out a crime scene?

Cadaver dogs are more commonly known as K9’s. These dogs are trained to pick up the scent of and locate decomposition, which includes bones, tissues and traces of blood. These dogs can even trace decomposition residue, meaning they can identify whether or not a decomposed body has been at a certain location.

Training for cadaver dogs can start as early eight weeks and these dogs typically become certified around two years old. To become certified, cadaver dogs must complete at least 1,000 hours of training, which can last 12 to 18 months. Training includes two main practices known as trailing and air-scenting. Trailing allows for dogs to pick up scents that a body has fallen on the ground. Air-scenting allows for dogs to pick up scents within the air. While in training, cadaver dogs are also trained to spot the difference between human and animal remains. They are even trained to learn the difference between decomposing scents, such as how long a body has been deceased.

How are these dogs able to smell so well?

One of the most common breeds of K9’s are German Shepards. As we know, dogs have a much better sense of smell than humans. Some dogs can smell up to 40 times better than humans, as German Shepards have about 220 million olfactory receptors, while humans only have about 5 million.

Head over to Mystery Playground to learn about a day in the life of Jett, a German Shepard cadaver dog.

You can also read more about what it takes to become a cadaver dog by visiting K9magazine.com.