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The use of mantrailing dogs in police and judicial context, future directions, limits and possibilities: A law review
Authors: Abstract The extraordinary capabilities of the canine nose are increasingly being used by law enforcement agencies in many countries to solve and reconstruct crimes. As a result, this type of forensic evidence can be and is still being challenged in the courts. So far, only a few publications have addressed the jurisprudence concerning mantrailing.…
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Vehicle trails
by Tom Osterkamp, February 2021 Introduction A situation encountered by trailing dog handlers working for law enforcement occurs when their dog trails a person to a location where the person has entered a vehicle and left the area. Another case is when a person, most often a child or young adult, has been trailed to…
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Trail scent, part 2 of 2
by Tom Osterkamp, 2021 Review The current model of trail scent by Syrotuck is a half century old and needs to be revised because of scientific advances and extensive anecdotal information from handlers. Syrotuck proposed that trail scent was a result of bacteria acting on particles of dead skin cells, residues, and body secretions that…
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Trail scent, part 1 of 2
by Tom Osterkamp, 2021 Trailing dogs (TDs) follow the trail of scent that exists in the air and is deposited along the path a person (trail layer) has taken. The current model of trail scent was developed by Syrotuck (1972). After a half-century, scientific advances and anecdotal information based on the experience of TD handlers…
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Shell casings and blood
by Tom Osterkamp, September 2018 The use of shell casings and blood in K9 scent work was touched on in the NSDA Newsletter of May 2018, Kibbles and Bits. Here are some comments based on the scientific literature and personal experience that may be of interest to readers. DNA from fired shell casings It has…
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Pre-scenting
by Tom Osterkamp, 2021 Introduction Pre-scenting is exposing a trained dog to a source prior to performing a search for that source (SWGDOG, SC1). It is used by scent discriminating trailing dog handlers prior to starting a trail to communicate to the dog the person the dog is to follow. Pre-scenting is also the basis…
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DNA scent articles for trailing
Tom Osterkamp, 2021 Handlers generally assume that trail scent consists of body odor and have used the scent from hair, sweat, saliva, breath, fingerprints, blood, feces, semen, and others as scent articles for their trailing dogs. The purpose of the scent article is to communicate to the dog the trail of scent we want them…
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Aged trails 1
Tom Osterkamp, May 2021 Introduction There is no definition of aged trails but age refers to the time factor which is thought to reduce the amount of trail scent available to the dog. However, environmental conditions (sunshine, moisture, temperature), surface types (bare ground, grass, asphalt) and other factors may also play a role in determining…
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How dogs smell and the human thermal plume and wake videos of Dr. Gary S. Settles
Tom Osterkamp, January 24, 2020 Dr. Settles is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Penn State University. The three videos were produced as part of his research on the scenting behavior of dogs. They provided insights into the development of instruments for “sniffing” sensors to detect chemical and biological scent for homeland security applications. While much of…
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Search dogs and scent prints, dog handler edition
Tom Osterkamp, February 4, 2020Comments on full article in Journal of Forensic Science Summary The scent print for a buried or submerged source is the surface distribution of the chemical(s) from the source that trained search dogs use to detect the source. 2,4-DNT (dinitrotoluene) has been identified as the primary chemical that dogs use to…
