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Schooling begins before the dog and fire detective meet. Trainers direct the dog to a container that has two drops of 50% evaporated gas in it. The dog gets a few chunks of food. It quickly learns that the smell of gas and is rewarded by getting food. Before the handlers come, people who handle the dogs learn “primary alert” and “secondary alert”! Primary alert is when a dog finds the accelerant, he is supposed to sit. Secondary alert is when the dog changes its’ attitude. Salivation, excitement, and attempts at eye contact with the handler occur. The dogs are able to detect tiny amounts of accelerants; amounts that machines cannot even detect. The dogs are able to find accelerants easily, but the lab does the research. It is important to remember
the dog is not the final judge that decides whether a man goes to jail
for starting a fire or arson. The dog is skilled at finding the accelerant.
Today there are over 200 dog teams working in the US. Arson dogs are used for different types of searches. They are: · fire searches · equipment searches · vehicle searches · crowd searches · clothing searches · area searches In a fire scene search, an arson dog checks out a large area in half the time it would take a man, due to their keen sense of smell and their ability to cover a lot of ground. In an equipment search, the dog's sense of smell - 200 times greater than a human nose - helps identify evidence from a possible arson crime scene. Dogs are used in vehicle searches because an arsonist may carry the liquid into his car, where the dog can sniff them out. Their training allows them to distinguish these accelerants from normal car fluid scents. In crowd searches, the dogs are used to sniff out arsonists in crowds because many arsonists like to return to the scene of their work to admire the fire. By walking the dog through the crowd, the dog may be able to sniff out the fire-starting fluids that may be on the arsonist’s clothes. This alone will not put someone in jail but the suspect can later be placed in a lineup and sniffed out by the dog. Clothing searches are done once a suspect is identified. The dog is used to search the suspect's clothing in a lineup of clothes, so he can zoom in on a spot or two on the clothes. In area searches, the dog is used to search large areas outside of the fire scene quickly, saving time. There may be physical evidence or accelerants left behind by the arsonist. Despite all of the help the dog gives, he is not perfect. The dog is only a tool to help arson investigators locate the spots where the evidence lays. The dog alone cannot testify – it is up to their handlers and the arson investigators to make sure the dog’s findings are used in a valuable way, to catch and prove in court that the suspected arsonist is guilty.
Overall, using dogs is a huge benefit to finding the accelerants. They are better than humans. Despite this the dogs will never be as good as a skilled veteran arson investigator.
Read more about arson dogs and Hershey the arson dog at the NYS Department of State Kidsroom
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Firefighters
solve arson fires with K-9 units, or dogs. These dogs are specially
trained to sniff out evidence at the scene of a suspected arson crime.
When there is a suspicious fire the firefighters and police must try
to figure out if the fire was an accident, or started on purpose. The
job of the arson dog is to help in finding that evidence which would
point to crime.
