ABSTRACT
Cadaver dogs, used by a wide range of law enforcement agencies,2 are trained to recognize the scent of human decomposition. Cadaver dogs are also sometimes called human remains detector dogs, forensic search dogs, or decomposition dogs, though these labels are also sometimes described as separate categories of police dogs.3 The dog may not always alert to a cadaver but perhaps to a scavenged body part, body ¬uids, or the residual odor of a body. Indeed, no body may ever be found.4 Nevertheless, the term cadaver dog is widespread and will probably remain the basic term in this type of work. The odors a cadaver dog detects are not certain since there are as many as 424 different volatile chemicals in a cadaver producing odors.5 Some researchers believe that the presence of a cadaver or remains produces an invisible scent cone of scent-containing molecules.6 As with other scenting dogs, cadaver dogs may give an aggressive or passive alert, though a passive alert is generally preferable because anxious digging by a dog can disturb a crime scene.7
