Posted: April 21, 2013
As part of our continued training I was recently one of 20 dog teams from across the country invited to attend the first K-9 seminar held at Texas State University’s body farm.
I was more than flattered to be in the first group handpicked and invited there and it was a unique opportunity to attend and wonderful exposure for the dogs in attendance. A bit overwhelming for all the dogs and handlers with over 20 bodies buried and above ground with most of them above ground in different stages of decomp. I took my younger cadaver dog Taza with me since we were only allowed one certified dog each. Taza holds current cadaver certification and has two body recoveries thus far in her career.
In at least one of the photos Taza is alerting next to one of the bodies which they keep in steel cages to prevent animal scavenging and a second photo she is alerting but you the body is not in the photo. All the other photos she is getting her reward after alerting. They do place bodies out in the open to study natural animal scavenging, but they had recently removed those after it was scavenged and scattered.
We spent three days training there, something I don’t think either one of us will ever forget. They will be holding a fall K-9 seminar and I hope to attend again if we can raise funding with a dog I have in training as they will allow non operational dogs in the future as long as the handler is credentialed. Anyway, wanted to share this as part of our continued commitment to assisting law enforcement and emergency agencies.
Angie
Dogs South K-9 Search & Rescue
