Cadaver Dogs and the Deathly Hallows—A Survey and Literature Review on Selection and Training Procedure

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Dogs are used in many contexts, including the detection of odor sources. A particular application of dogs during searching activities is the location of human remains. In this work, we aimed to gather the common practices of police dog handlers based on a survey made of nine questions, which was sent to police dog handlers around the world (N(Countries) = 10; N(Brigades) = 16; N(Handlers) = 50) and then compared to the information available in the scientific literature. We highlighted a wide diversity of selection and training procedures used by handlers. Studies dedicated to human remains detection dogs are not abundant. However, we found key information that should be applied by handlers during the selection and the training of their human remains detection dogs. First of all, they should include the anatomical traits during the dog selection as behavioral traits alone are not representative of their potential. Finally, even if the training procedures are well performed by handlers, we highlighted a wide diversity of homemade training aids. However, no information was found in the literature regarding the effect of the training aids on the dog performances. For these reasons, handlers should create normalized selection and training procedures while scientists should investigate the behavior of these dogs to provide more information to handlers. ABSTRACT: Human remains detection dogs (HRDDs) are powerful police assets to locate a corpse. However, the methods used to select and train them are as diverse as the number of countries with such a canine brigade. First, a survey sent to human remains searching brigades (N(countries) = 10; N(Brigades) = 16; N(Handlers) = 50; N(questions) = 9), to collect their working habits confirmed the lack of optimized selection and training procedures. Second, a literature review was performed in order to outline the strengths and shortcomings of HRDDs training. A comparison between the scientific knowledge and the common practices used by HRDDs brigade was then conducted focusing on HRDDs selection and training procedures. We highlighted that HRDD handlers select their dogs by focusing on behavioral traits while neglecting anatomical features, which have been shown to be important. Most HRDD handlers reported to use a reward-based training, which is in accordance with training literature for dogs. Training aids should be representative of the odor target to allow a dog to reach optimal performances. The survey highlighted the wide diversity of homemade training aids, and the need to optimize their composition. In the present document, key research topics to improve HRDD works are also provided.