European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse He does t make mistakes says hew York arson investigator know ton of super snifter buddy. Scially trained nose for arson. Kay Bartlett Socia Ted press Only one out of 100 dogs makes the Grade in this elite k-9 corps pedigrees count for naught. Most of them have been rescued from the Pound these dogs easily work for up to six Urs in frigid temperatures sniffing charred debris 2n through ice and water. Park Avenue dogs with Tir Little cold weather outfits for 15-minute walks need t apply the top requirement for these dogs is to have the will j stamina to play All Day Long because for them it is lame ror arson investigators it is serious business the investigators credit these dogs with helping a in first degree murder indictments saving id reds of Man hours and thousands of a dollars they say their True potential is still unknown. They Are officially called accelerant detection dogs / the program is one of the newest ways to use a s Best Friend. Trainers estimate there Are Only it two dozen trained dogs in about a dozen states in tar. Fhe dogs Are trained to take the investigator to the 3 u 3 pad h acl lab Arion picked Iho , to o Barney will go a Slop further show commanded Farroll Barney put his nose on the Man s shoes the Fri lab confirmed the dog s findings kerosene on the shoes. Barney had earlier identified the spots where kerosene had been poured at the lire site the Man goes to trial in late March. Barney and John Farrell. Chief of operations in the arson k-9 unit in Baltimore have travelled up and Down the East coast helping slates without arson sniffing dogs of their own the Bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms in Connecticut along with the Connecticut state police trained the first arson sniffing dog. Farrell. Who had trained Hunting dogs for More than 40 years heard about the program and went up to Connecticut to investigate. He could not get government funds when he got Back to Maryland in frustration i trained my own dog to see if i could do what i saw. I wanted to prove that it says Farrell. Who has almost 25 years of service in the Maryland slate fire marshal s office thanks to the Success of Barney the nation s second arson dog Maryland now has six arson dogs new Jersey police sgt. Dennis Mcsweeny a k-9 instructor for Many years has trained Many of the dogs for other slates. The two dogs working for new York slate. Buddy and Hershey were trained by Mcsweeny in a 10-week course in Atlantic City n j Mcsweeny and Farrell know of arson dogs in North and South Carolina Maine Florida Washington Iowa and Kansas As Well As new York new Jersey Connecticut and Maryland. Although labradors have predominated any Breed will do. But the individual dog has to be special. Only five out of 500 dogs will make i through the course says Mcsweeny. They must have a very sociable temperament and an extremely Strong play drive the ones that Wash Oul usually gel bored and won t keep going. The dog has to Wani to play this game Over and like All Good animal acts this one is based on the dog s natural instinct to fetch and retrieve one of the reasons that labs and other Hunting dogs have predominated. The dog is imprinted with the scent of various accelerant from the four Basic groups and when he is brought to the fire scene he essentially is retrieving thai scent. The dogs first receive Basic obedience training As Well As physical conditioning. They climb stairs fire escapes hurdle Over barriers learn to hop from one boat to another at sea ride in a helicopter and get hoisted up 75 feet in an Aerial bucket. All with aplomb or in does t count. The dog must be ready to go right to work when he gels to the scene and we May have to helicopter him in or have him on a fire escape Knowlton says. He must be Able to do these things without gelling the tampered lab is perfect and his endurance i Rubim to withstand cold Are also assets however. T a ,. An in Rush Springer Spaniel named to in Iowa Cit. Fow g Irvin shepherds one Mutt a Golden ret ii. Or a i a Gorman Short haired Pointer among this i n,-.-"j"i j band of firefighters a Cre Are no bloodhounds bloodhounds Are the dumbest animals in the a Vorko " offers Mcsweeny we be trained bloodhounds who could t find their food dish " when Knowlton took the course from Mcsweeny to went through four other dogs that washed out before he was paired with buddy ii look four weeks for buddy to learn and it took me six weeks to learn to read him Knowlton says Knowlton says that when he is working buddy in extremely cold weather he puts him Back in the Carlo warm up after six hours of sniffing through the ice that forms As firefighters put out the Blaze Knowlton 38. Who is divorced says his three daughters love buddy and always want to play find the cause " buddy however is never allowed to Chase rabbits squirrels cats or other dogs. After a demonstration of buddy s prowess at the new York stale fire Academy on Randall s Island buddy found a Plank of Wood under the Light Snow and brought in Back for know ton to loss. Buddy did t tire of the game but when it was time to go Knowlton sharply said no and buddy dropped the Plank and readily reported for duty the duly being a six hour drive to Watertown. N.y., to help investigate a major fire in which three people died in a senior citizens Center. Knowlton says he has to watch Oul for buddy. He won t let the dog gel hurl at one lire scene red and Blue chemicals were still oozing on the surface when Knowlton and buddy arrived. I did t know what that stuff was says Knowlton i would t let buddy go in until after it dried " the dog in Iowa City is decked out with rubber boots which he hates when he is called upon to work in such a situation. The dogs have shown time and Lime again they Are better than the laboratories but so far there has been no court Case in which it was the dog s word against the suspect s Mcsweeny does t think that will Ever happen. The attorneys will never allow one of these dogs in a he says. They would demonstrate to a jury what they can do and thai would be that. What s the attorney going to say to discredit the dog Knowlton has testified twice before a grand jury describing buddy s work. Buddy s feats Are also videotaped should they be needed in a courtroom. In tests trainers have taken pieces of Wood set two on fire with accelerant and let the others Burn naturally time after time the dogs picked out the pieces of charred Wood that held traces of the accelerant at first the laboratories could confirm it eventually the Trace got too Light for science but not for the dogs they still knew which pieces of Wood were set on fire by the Accel ants leading investigators to believe they Are scenting in the parts per trillion Range the trainers say the dog s sense of smell is roughly 100 times better than Man s. With Good reason. Humans have 5 million cells devoted to the sense of smell dogs have 220 million. J ary23.1990 stars and stripes Page 15
