I've been listening to the podcast Your Own Backyard (yes, I occasionally indulge in true crime, sue me!)
There was recently an entire episode dedicated almost entirely to cadaver dog testimony. Well, the dog was not testifying, the handler was.
Now, I have no doubt that cadaver dogs can, and do, find cadavers, and can detect when a cadaver was recently present.
But listening to the testimony of the handler, from their viewpoints, the cadaver dogs are psychic. The ability of their senses verges on mysticism.
I don't doubt that there is value to cadaver dogs - clearly they work, and get results. But the humans who testify on the dogs' behalf have a cult-like behavior about what the dogs can realistically detect, and how they interpret the dogs behaviors.
There was recently an entire episode dedicated almost entirely to cadaver dog testimony. Well, the dog was not testifying, the handler was.
Now, I have no doubt that cadaver dogs can, and do, find cadavers, and can detect when a cadaver was recently present.
But listening to the testimony of the handler, from their viewpoints, the cadaver dogs are psychic. The ability of their senses verges on mysticism.
I don't doubt that there is value to cadaver dogs - clearly they work, and get results. But the humans who testify on the dogs' behalf have a cult-like behavior about what the dogs can realistically detect, and how they interpret the dogs behaviors.