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This story has been in and out of the news lately:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/08/bts.rowlands.manson/index.html

If bodies are found, it blows my mind that a dog could sniff out human remains after nearly 40 years. Is this fairly typical of cadaver dogs or something very exceptional? Would the dry conditions of the desert make scenting out remains easier or much harder?

Sarah,
I will say this: People are out there that will say or do anything to gain notoriety, I have been reading about this case as well. This is not necessarily my opinion though.

I am not saying it can, or cannot be done.

I am also going to send this to Kim Gilmore (who is also a member here) as she would be an excellent person to explain about "cadaver dogs" in a clearer and more concise way than I could try and explain about this.

Hey Sarah-

Yes, dogs sniffing out 40-yr old remains is possible, but as with all aspects of cadaver, it is something that needs to be trained for. "Historical Cadaver Dogs" are those that are typically trained on very old (>30+ yrs of age) remains which usually incorporates bone. These dogs are not trained on anything new or fresh as it takes a deep nose, a slow working dog and a lot of concentration to pick up on the scant bits of scent being emitted from source. That said, you will usually not see what I define as evidence dogs (small bits of cadaver/blood splatter, etc.) or cadaver dogs (disarticulated remains or whole bodies) being cross trained on historical remains as it is pretty specialized field of cadaver work.

You can find out more about these types of dogs at http://www.k9Forensic.org

Now then, I DO NOT believe that dogs can find ghosts. So if this particular dog is actually indicating in an area that indeed they are finding remains, then kudos to that team. To say "a body was here" without finding associated evidence to prove that yes, indeed a body is there (taking into account that scent can and will travel the path of least resistance and source could be emitted some distance away after that length of time), is my definition of chasing ghosts (nothing there generating scent and unlikely soil is going to hold residue of what "used to be" for that long).

Just my $.10

Kim Gilmore

Thanks, Carol & Kim!

I guess bone would be the only thing that could survive desert conditions. I do find it amazing that anything could hold a detectable scent for such a long period of time.

The CNN story doesn't go into any detail about the dog's training. Re-reading the story, after reading Kim's reply, it seems to imply Buster is a "regular" cadaver dog...nothing is said about his training being specialized. It will be very interesting to see what, if anything, is found out there. That handler traveled a long way only on a hunch.

Kim, thank you for the link. I've bookmarked it for later but just glancing at the dogs I was surprised to see so many different breeds of dogs doing this work, and especially quite a number of Border Collies. Not a breed I ever associated with this kind of work.