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What is the success rate of sniffer dogs that are trained to locate human remains?

I have been searching for scientifically based tests that give a clear indication of the success/failure rate of sniffer dogs, but have been unable to do so. Does anyone know just how accurate such dogs are? Does anyone have any experience in working with them? I'm in the process of writing a forensic science dissertation and the information requested above would help me greatly:-) Thx.

Public Comments

1. I have been training and handling detection dogs as well as patrol dogs for 31 years and I can tell you with utmost certainty that the success rate of ANY dog is HIGHLY dependent on the proper selection of one, the hunt drives that dog possesses and its training. I went to a certification seminar 7 years a go that included cadaver detection and even though I was there for a different reason, there was a dog from Mexico that was participating that was UNREAL...his drives were through the roof and THAT dog would find anything under most conditions. Once again, the success rate depends upon the facts mentioned above, but, as a general statement, I would put it at 80%. Hope I helped.
2. Working in forensics I can tell u that they are high accurate, the police dept uses them all the time they are highly trained and dependable...
3. The answer is variable depending on a couple of (main)factors, one is the type of soil?covering that is enclosing the remains, two is the length of time that the remains have been placed there. For instance if a body was dumped on a giant rubbish tip and was lying buried a few feet under all the rotting biological rubbish, a sniffer dog would have great difficulty in separating that poetically scent from the many others. But in a field or wooded area the rising decomposition gases would be very easy to detect because they would be foreign to all the other natural scents that belong in that environment.But on the whole a sniffer dog can for a number of years after a burial still detect a body. Certain bodily acids remain giving a certain scent that is recognisable as a rotting corpse, however if the corpse was an animal this would give the same effect.
4. If you would like to talk to someone who trains HRD dogs, email me privately and I will share a friend of mine's email address. She is very active in training dogs and handlers and has several HRD dogs, just last week 4 of the dogs alerted to a 100 year old unmarked grave outside a cemetery, it wasn't the body they were looking for but impressive nonetheless. They only train for human remains, and the dogs know the difference between humans and dead animals. They train with placentas, teeth, noses, tissue blood, etc.