Alan, Prior to the dog alerting on the victim in 197 ft. of water, they ran two ribs around in a circle in the quarry to stir the water up and bring body gases to the surface in the water that had been stratified by summer temperatures. I have attended training programs where police officers have presented that K-9s have detected bodies through 10 inches of concrete years after the body had a patio built over it. Our K-9 search team would use very old murder sites where the body had decomposed 10 years or more previously and the dogs could still consistently alert on these locations with the bodies removed. The soil still held the odors of the body’s decomposition. The dog’s nose is about 10,000 times more sensitive than ours. I have seen my dogs cut across a recent scent trail and be able to determine the direction the person was going within one step of the person’s trail either way (3 steps total by that person). Haven’t been able to do this kind of volunteer work for some time now since I moved to the islands. Had to put my last dog done in the past few weeks. She was over 13 ½ years old and started to have seizures…couldn’t see her suffer. Really feel the loss of this close friend and companion. On to sub and Conference topics. R/Jay Resepectfully, Jay K. Jeffries Andros Is., Bahamas Save the whales, collect the whole set. From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org [mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Alan James Hi jay, I guess they would be picking up the smell of gasses that are rising to the surface from the decomposing body. I suppose in that case there would be an optimum window of time that they would be effective through. Alan |