What the Dog Knows
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16: Grave Work
Interviews, correspondence, personal communication, on-site observation, and personal experience for this chapter include those with Mary Cablk; Chris Chia; cadaver-dog handler Ann Christensen; Edward David; genealogist Pat Franklin; cadaver-dog handler Charm Gentry; Suzi Goodhope; cadaver-dog handler Gwen Hancock; Lisa Higgins; Kathy Holbert; cadaver-dog handler Lisa Lepsch; genealogist May MacCallum; Paul Martin; Thomasville assistant city manager Kha McDonald; Deborah Palman; Thomas County Historical Society curator Ephraim J. Rotter; Mississippi archaeologist John M. Sullivan; Arpad Vass; and Jefferson County, Kentucky, coroner Barbara Weakley-Jones.
Nehemiah Cleaveland, author of the epigraph, was a tutor and historian of Bowdoin College. His book, Green-wood Illustrated (New York: R. Martin, 1987), is on the rural cemeteries of America, http://books.google.com/books/about/Green_wood_illustrated.html?id=Zd4TAAAAYAAJ , accessed June 2012. One of the most evocative and helpful academic articles for this chapter was Cornell University history professor Aaron Sachs’s work “American Arcadia: Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Nineteenth-Century Landscape Tradition,” Environmental History 15, no. 2, 2010: 206–235.
The Old Spanish Trail research is a work in progress. Mary Cablk and Barbara Holz-Montemayor have done work on one site there: “Preliminary Findings from Research at a Lander Site in Southern Nevada,” Desert Research Institute report, June 8, 2010. Mary is continuing that research and working on permits to excavate.
A group of archaeologists and cadaver-dog handlers are also working in several areas where prehistoric mound builders created the North American equivalent of the pyramids. There’s a great little video, “The Lost Worlds of Georgia,” written and directed by Gary C. Daniels, that shows the Mississippian mounds in the Southeast, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuAlBcmKbPY. The following were also helpful: “Cadaver Dogs as Part of the Archaeological Survey Process, Preliminary Results from Phase I: Mississippi Spring 2011,” by Paul Martin; “Best Practices for the Use of Cadaver Dogs to Locate Cold Case, Historical, and Pre-historical Burials,” by Paul Martin and John M. Sullivan, paper presented at the National Association for Search and Rescue National Conference, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2009; and “Using Canines as a Remote Sensing Tool: What Archaeologists Can Learn From SAR Dogs,” by Heather Roche, unpublished paper, May 2005.
The section on Thomasville prison depended on, among other sources, notes from Ephraim Rotter, which included a short account of the twelve-day prison camp, “Prisoner of War Camp/Histories Folder”; William Smith Brown, in his Harper’s New Monthly Magazine article, “The Winter Climatic Resorts of Three Continents,” January 1887: 868–876, extolled the virtues of Thomasville, Georgia. Lessel Long’s moving account of Andersonville and Thomasville, Twelve Months in Andersonville: On the March—In the Battle—In the Rebel Prison Pens, and at Last in God’s Country (Huntington, IN: Thad and Mark Butler, 1886), can be accessed through the Library of Congress: http://archive.org/details/twelvemonthsinan01long. A few photos of the current site of the Thomasville prison camp can be found at http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc12/thomasville1.htm. J. David Hacker’s quote comes from his Opinionator blog post in the New York Times, “Recounting the Dead,” September 20, 2011, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/recounting-the-dead/, accessed June 2012.
One of the most visible teams working on historic remains is the Institute for Canine Forensics, http://www.k9forensic.org/.
The section on West Virginia included Creighton Lee Calhoun’s research on Southern apples, Old Southern Apples, Revised and Expanded Edition: A Comprehensive History and Description of Varieties for Collectors, Growers, and Fruit Enthusiasts (White Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2010). Historian Wilma A. Dunaway looked at slavery in the mountain states in her book, The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 13.
The section on South Carolina depended on numerous online genealogies and ancestry records, as well as family letters and lore.
17: A Second Wind
This chapter depends greatly on personal observations and communications but also on a relatively new field of research best described as working-canine epidemiology. Interviews and personal communications include those with Mike Baker; Dr. Wendi Dick, director of environmental health, pre-9/11 and post-deployment, with the Office of Public Health, in the Veterans Health Administration; Dr. David F. Goldsmith, associate research professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University; retired Durham Police K9 Officer Danny Gooch; Deak Helton; Kathy Holbert; Nancy Hook; former K9 Officer Sean Kelly; Larry Myers; Dr. Michael Peterson, chief consultant post-deployment health, Office of Public Health, in the Veterans Health Administration; and Steve and Sandy Sprouse.
Among the articles, conference papers, and poster sessions helpful for this topic was “Animal Sentinels for Environmental and Public Health,” by John S. Reif, Public Health Reports 126, supplement 1, 2011: 50–57; the foundational article on military working-dog health is “Excess of Seminomas Observed in Vietnam Service U.S. Military Working Dogs,” by Howard M. Hayes, Robert E. Tarone, Harold W. Casey, and David L. Huxsoll, Journal of the National Cancer Institute 82, no. 12, 1990: 1,042–1,046; “Military Working Dogs Are Sentinels for Exposures and Disease Risks Among Deployed Veterans,” by David F. Goldsmith, poster session for the International Society for Exposure Science, October 23–27, 2011, Baltimore, Maryland; “Incidence of Zoonotic Diseases in Military Working Dogs Serving in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm,” by Kay D. Burkman, George E. Moore, and Michael R. Peterson, Military Medicine 166, no. 2, 2001: 108–111; “Medical Surveillance of Search Dogs Deployed to the World Trade Center and Pentagon: 2001–2006,” by Cynthia M. Otto, Amanda B. Downend, George E. Moore, Joanne K. Daggy, D. Lauren Ranivand, Jennifer A. Reetz, and Scott D. Fitzgerald, Journal of Environmental Health 73, no. 2, 2010: 12–21; “Pathology and Toxicology Findings for Search-and-Rescue Dogs Deployed to the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attack Sites: Initial Five-Year Surveillance,” by Scott D. Fitzgerald, Wilson K. Rumbeiha, W. Emmett Braselton, Amanda B. Downend, and Cynthia M. Otto, Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation 20, 2008: 477–484; Polluted Pets Summary, by Olga Naidenko, Rebecca Sutton, and Jane Houlihan, an Environmental Working Group report, April 2008, http://www.ewg.org/reports/pets, accessed August 2012; and “Do Environmental Pollutants Cause Cancer in Dogs?” by Sophia Yin, The Bark 44, September/October 2007, http://thebark.com/content/do-environmental-pollutants-cause-cancer-dogs, accessed June 2012.
18: Wag
This chapter includes interviews, personal communication, and correspondence with Joan Andreasen-Webb; Mike Baker; Kathy Holbert; Nancy Hook; retired Durham Sheriff K9 Sergeant Rick Keller; Lisa Mayhew; Steve Sprouse; and members of the Durham Sheriff and Durham Police Department K9 units.
A textbook that was enormously helpful for this chapter was Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition, by Ádám Miklósi (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). Miklósi is head of the Department of Ethology at the Eötvös University in Budapest, and one of the pioneers of modern dog research.
The Patricia McConnell quote on sex differences appeared in her thoughtful piece “What Are the Differences Between Male and Female Dogs?” in The Bark, April 15, 2009, http://www.thebark.com/content/gender-gap, accessed August 2012.
The work that Temple Grandin did in her lab at Colorado State University on cattle and whorls on their foreheads, “Cattle with Hair Whorl Patterns Above the Eyes Are More Behaviorally Agitated During Restraint,” by Temple Grandin, Mark J. Deesing, J. J. Struthers, and Ann M. Swinker, appeared in Applied Animal Behaviour Science 46, 1995: 117–123. Lisa Tomkins riffed off that work with “Lateralization in the Domestic Dog (Canis Familiaris): Relationships Between Structural, Motor, and Sensory Laterality,” by Lisa M. Tomkins, Kent A. Williams, Peter C. Thomson, and Paul D. McGreevy, Journal of Veterinary Behavior 7, no. 2, 2012: 70–79; and “Behavioral and Physiological Pre
dictors of Guide Dog Success,” by Lisa Tomkins, Peter C. Thomson, and Paul D. McGreevy, Journal of Veterinary Behavior 6, no. 3, 2011: 178–187. Some video and explanation of Tomkins’s work can be viewed on the archives of the Catalyst show of Australia’s ABC: “Left Paw Right Paw,” http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3465535.htm.
Some early shots of Kathy Holbert’s litter of pups, including Coda, can be found at http://www.chiodokennels.com/chiodo_kennels/REZA_ARKO_PUPPY_PAGE.html.
On imitative behavior among corvids, see, for example, “Social Learning Spreads Knowledge About Dangerous Humans Among American Crows,” by Heather N. Cornell, John M. Marzluff, and Shannon Pecoraro, Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279, 2011: 499–508. Friederike Range of the Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, and head of the Clever Dog Lab at the Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, was among the first researchers to look at imitation or social learning in dogs; see, for example, “Automatic Imitation in Dogs,” by Friederike Range, Ludwig Huber, and Cecilia Heyes, Proceedings of the Royal Society B 278, 2011: 211–217.
The other group studying social learning in dogs at Eötvös University in Budapest has authored such articles as “Dog as a Model for Studying Conspecific and Heterospecific Social Learning,” by Enikö Kubinyi, Péter Pongrácz, and Ádám Miklósi, Journal of Veterinary Behavior 4, no. 1, 2009: 31–41; and “When Rank Counts—Dominant Dogs Learn Better from a Human Demonstrator in a Two-Action Test,” by Péter Pongrácz, Petra Bánhegyi, and Ádám Miklósi, Behaviour 149, 2012: 111–132.
The South African study that I found so evocative—“Early Prediction of Adult Police Dog Efficiency—A Longitudinal Study,” by J. M. Slabbert and Johannes S. J. Odendaal, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 64, 1999: 269–288—has not been replicated, to my knowledge.
Index
Aaron (German shepherd-Malinois), 271, 275–76
abandoned properties/outbuildings searches, 183
Abominable Snowman: bloodhound tracking of, 48
Afghanistan War, 198–200, 212–15, 225, 258, 260
age: for search-and-rescue dogs, 195
aging: of dogs, 250–54
Airedales: as war dogs, 190
alcohol: water searches and, 208
alerts
false, 146–50, 152, 159, 164, 177
of Solo, 72, 95, 101, 104, 116, 146–47, 148–50, 185, 211, 247, 263
water searches and, 211, 212
Alonso, German, 227
Alzheimer’s victims searches, 182–83
“ambulance dogs,” 190
ambush detectors: insect, 222–23
Anderson, Sandra M., 158–59
Andersonville prison, 234, 235
Andreasen-Webb, Joan, 1–3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 82, 102, 218, 267, 273
anger management, 5
Animal Planet, 29–30
animals
dead, 164
oder of decomposing, 61, 86–87, 89
in search areas, 183
sentinal, 257–58
worship of, 23
See also type of animal
Anthropological Research Facility “body farm” (University of Tennessee), 80, 92
Anubis, 20
Apache (German shepherd), 107–8
apprehension work, 119–25
archaeology, 233, 241, 242. See also historic human remains
Argus (German shepherd), 63
Army, U.S.
cat experiments of, 59
detecting reports from, 47, 51
disaster dogs and, 64
and dogs as detecting animals, 52–53
“insect ambush detectors” of, 222–23
Morganza Spillway search and, 206
shepherd breeding program of, 52–53
See also military, U.S.
Auerbach, David
bee hives of, 49
and Cat-Solo relationship, 13, 168
Cat’s relationship with, 11, 109–10, 111
and Coda’s homecoming, 279
and comparison of human and dog noses, 28
Durham as home for, 113
German shepherds as favorite of, 5
Megan comes to live with, 4
naming of Solo by, 5
and neutering of Solo, 102
and selection of Solo’s successor, 266, 267, 268, 274, 277, 278, 279
Solo as finding, 10, 137
and Solo-Megan relationship, 10
Solo’s birth and, 2
Solo’s blind searches and, 152–53
and Solo’s “cancer,” 257
and Solo’s homecoming, 7, 8
and Solo’s intelligence, 9
Solo’s personality and, 108
Solo’s relationship with, 12, 100, 137, 280
Solo’s training and, 94, 97
and Warren’s (Charles) death, 98
and water searches, 201, 203
Axel, Richard, 29
Baker, Adeline, 23
Baker, Mike
appearance of, 114
and Cat-Solo swamp search, 133
Cat’s early meetings with, 112–18
“detail” and, 159
evaluation of dogs by, 269, 274
false alerts and, 147
and gender of dogs, 272, 273
as head of Durham Police Department K9 unit, 112
and making training interesting, 81
retirement of, 270
and selection of Solo’s successor, 270, 272, 273
Solo’s blind searches and, 153
and Solo’s honesty, 148
Solo’s retirement and, 262–63
and Solo’s training, 112–18
and submerged body searches, 204
and training of Gooch’s dogs, 250
tug toys idea of, 134
“bark and hold” system, 122
barks, 119–20
Baron Von Ricktagfan (German shepherd), 57–59
Bass, Bill, 206
Baum, L. Frank, 170–71
bears, 30–31, 166, 183
bed-bugs, 150–51, 222, 223
biotechnology
and advantages of dogs, 224–25
conenose bugs and, 223
electronic noses and, 218–19, 220–21, 226
and ferns as bomb detectors, 223–24
GPR systems and, 228
IED detectors and, 225
“insect ambush detectors” and, 222–23
LABRADOR project and, 228–29
military applications of, 222–23, 225
and replacements for dogs, 217–29
and “The Wasp Hound” patent, 219–20, 223
turkey vulture experiments and, 226–28
bite
Hook’s specialization of dogs who, 201
of patrol and police dogs, 121–25
“bite and hold” system, 122
bite sleeves, 117, 123–25, 251, 269
blind problems, 149–50, 153
blind searches, 152–53
bloodhounds
Abominable Snowman tracking by, 48
at Andersonville Prison, 235
baying of, 42
as best trackers, 61
as cadaver dogs, 59, 235
characteristics of, 41–42
at crime scenes, 57
Cuban, 43–44, 235
gender of, 273
handlers of, 40–41, 42
intelligence of, 40
in law enforcement, 40–41
noses/sense of smell of, 30, 37, 38–39, 40, 59
Oppel case and, 62
personality of, 42
Pikett claims about his, 154, 155–57
as police dogs, 41, 44
in popular culture, 42–43
prison, 42, 44
purity of, 39–40
as search-and-rescue dogs, 44
slavery and, 43–44
temperament of, 40
tracking reputation of, 39–45, 57
training of, 40
>
bodies
age of, 87
appearance of, 181–82
and attitudes of handlers about cadaver work, 176–77
bloodhounds as tracking to, 45, 57
dead animals on top of, 164
difficulty of getting rid of, 184
dogs as eating, 20–21, 24, 51
and dogs on leads, 24
flies and, 84
historic human, 232–48
importance of finding, 184
and preparation for appearance of body, 181–82
and recovery of dead soldiers, 191–97
search-and-rescue dogs and, 54
smell of, 80, 86–87, 89, 96
in water, 201–16
See also body dogs; cadaver dogs; clandestine burials; specific search
Bodies: The Exhibition (museum show), 93
body dogs
at crime scenes, 61–64
disasters and, 54, 55
German shepherds as, 55
idea for, 54
media and, 62–63
murders and, 55–56
in Oneida County, New York, 57–59
Rebmann as trainer of, 60–63
Suffolk presentation about, 60
and Suffolk’s legacy, 67
training of, 54–55, 57, 67
vocabulary and, 107
in war zones, 54
See also cadaver dogs
“body farm” (University of Tennessee), 80, 92
body float charts, 208, 216
bombs/weapons
dog detection of, 33, 34, 37–38, 47, 58, 72, 90
fake noses and, 219
ferns as detecting, 223–24
honeybee detection of, 48–49
Bonaventure Cemetery (Savannah, Georgia), 197
Bone Room (Berkeley, California), 93
Bones (TV show), 23–24, 85
Bothelho, Sandra, 188
Bowling, Tracy, 150
Boyce, Mary, 20, 21
Boyle, Robert, 38, 39
Bradshaw, John, 34, 35
bragging about dogs, 150–53
brain: sense of smell and, 84, 87