Through out the centuries humans have relied on dogs to become what we lack. We have relied on them to become the eyes for the blind and the noses that find drugs and bombs for the police force. These few examples do not even scratch the surface to what dogs can truly accomplish when trained correctly. Their noses are genetically equipped with some 200 million more olfactory receptors than human's, and researchers now, not only, have begun to use dogs to assist them in tracking and monitoring populations of wild species but also guide archaeologists to old bones and grave sites.
Gary Jackson, an australian dog trainer, has trained a black lab mix named Migaloo to sniff out old human bones by enticing her with a ball. He found that the best way to condition Migaloo and reward her for her find was by using a ball that she so desperately wants. There have been dogs that have been used to sniff out old human remains, but the factors of other decomposed odors in an area often confuse the dogs because the smells are very similar. But by training a dog to know just the smell of human bones, removes those factors, making the finds more accurate. Migaloo has been able to find bones from 300 meters away even if it is as small as a fingernail, sometimes they would even just take the scent from a bone with a cotton ball and touch it to a rock ad she would be able to find it. The biggest test they ever did with Migaloo was have her search for an old aboriginal grave that was 600 years old and she was spot on.
This research will allow old cold cases to be reopen, families will be able to find and bury their loved ones that they lost, and archeologists will be able to make new discoveries all because of a dogs nose. Gary Jackson is even looking to train Migaloo to find pottery, old fossils and maybe even dinosaur bones, and he is planning on taking Migaloo to France and Belgium to try to discover old remains from battlefields in World War II. In my opinion, the use of dogs in areas that are beyond our human abilities is astounding and to be able to train a dog to accomplish such a task opens doors into research and findings that would be impossible with out "mans best friend."
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