Dogs & Cemeterys

[sheena]

I took my Mum & my usually very well behaved & quite girl to the cemetery to pay our respects to my Dad who died just twelve months ago. I parked under a tree no more than 10 meters from Dad's grave & rolled down all the windows. I have never seen her so upset before & she wouldn't stop barking at us till we got back in the car. It wasn't because she was left in the car, as when I visit Mum, we go to lots of places & Bindi gets left in the car under a tree while we do our "thing". It must have been because she could sense all the death around her. ..that's the only thing I can think of. Unfortunately, I will have to take her with me every time I visit Dad's grave as I have no where to leave her, but next time I will put her on a lead & take her to the grave with me. I can't recall seeing any signs saying "no dogs".

[mixeduppup]

It wasn't a dog but I had a horse that would prance and carry on every time we passed the cemetery, turns out she was petrified of the gravestones. I worked with her and she's fine now.

[Diva]

She certainly would have smelt it all, my cadaver trained dog once took me to a cemetary 6 kilometres away when on a search, then sat and indicated 'you want a body, I found you lots'. Sad that she was distressed by it though.

[sheena]

She certainly would have smelt it all, my cadaver trained dog once took me to a cemetary 6 kilometres away when on a search, then sat and indicated 'you want a body, I found you lots'. Sad that she was distressed by it though.

Yes... it was sad & I wonder if she knew that it was "Pop" who was buried there as she was my constant companion on my visits during his last year, not that he was any great dog lover & I can't even recall him even patting her, but she knew how much I loved him & was upset when he died.

[BlackJaq]

She certainly would have smelt it all, my cadaver trained dog once took me to a cemetary 6 kilometres away when on a search, then sat and indicated 'you want a body, I found you lots'. Sad that she was distressed by it though.

Wow that is really interesting! I don't think I have ever met anybody with a cadaver trained dog before.. Is this like a search and rescue type thing? Or like a police dog to try and find missing people? Hope you don't mind my questions

[mixeduppup]

She certainly would have smelt it all, my cadaver trained dog once took me to a cemetary 6 kilometres away when on a search, then sat and indicated 'you want a body, I found you lots'. Sad that she was distressed by it though.

Wow that is really interesting! I don't think I have ever met anybody with a cadaver trained dog before.. Is this like a search and rescue type thing? Or like a police dog to try and find missing people? Hope you don't mind my questions

Cadaver dogs are specifically trained to seek out and find dead bodies.

[Diva]

SAR dogs specifically trained to find dead people. It was well over a decade ago, more like 2. Very interesting though, I found scent work to be the most amazing thing to do with a dog.

[BlackJaq]

Awesome, so you just kind of decided to train your dog to find dead bodies one day? Where did you get the scent material from? Did you get paid to find bodies or is it like... a hobby?

I am also fascinated by scent work, I just never thought about the need for cadaver dogs... What situations would you get called in?

[Diva]

Awesome, so you just kind of decided to train your dog to find dead bodies one day? Where did you get the scent material from? Did you get paid to find bodies or is it like... a hobby?

I am also fascinated by scent work, I just never thought about the need for cadaver dogs... What situations would you get called in?

PM me, I am not going to hijack this thread.

[BlackJaq]

Ok will do :)

My bad sheena!

[BlackJaq]

Re the topic, Foxy (the Weimaraner) is the only one who has seen a cemetery before and she seemed pretty interested in the grave stones as well, but not acting out or anything. Then again she doesn't know anybody who was buried there.. Not sure if the individual smell would still be detectable over the overall corpse scent after 12 months in the ground?

Maybe Bindi could tell that you were upset and so she got upset also?

Edited December 21, 2013 by BlackJaq

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

I thought the bodies were sealed inside a metal box inside the coffin, which is also sealed. I thought it was airtight... How could the dogs smell it?

[mixeduppup]

I thought the bodies were sealed inside a metal box inside the coffin, which is also sealed. I thought it was airtight... How could the dogs smell it?

That's news to me. All the ones I've seen were just wooden with drapery.

[flame ryder]

I thought the bodies were sealed inside a metal box inside the coffin, which is also sealed. I thought it was airtight... How could the dogs smell it?

Dogs noses are amazing...how bout all those druggies that try to smuggle drugs into the country by wrapping them well and hiding them in linings of suitcases ect....dogs find them.

And re the cadaver dogs...how do they get them to just find the human dead bodies?

[BlackJaq]

I've never seen anyone buried in Aus but that seems a little overkill to me.. Generally people are not likely to come back as zombies to need a metal box etc to keep them in...

ETA: Re. druggies: Most people don't remember to not handle the outside of their package with contaminated hands.. The residue on the outside of the best wrapped, most air tight package will still set the dog off.

Edited December 21, 2013 by BlackJaq

[bertie]

I thought the bodies were sealed inside a metal box inside the coffin, which is also sealed. I thought it was airtight... How could the dogs smell it?

That's news to me. All the ones I've seen were just wooden with drapery.

This. Depends on how much you spend, there's obviously different kinds. Wood common.

[dotdashdot]

We've walked Cleo past a cemetery with no reaction, actually I think we took her in as I wanted to visit my Fardie (means grandfather) as he's buried close to the entrance. But - this is the historical cemetery and there are very few new burials. I would think there would be much more sensory overload at a newer one.

Plus I think dogs pick up on stuff we can't see but that's another story.

[sheena]

I thought the bodies were sealed inside a metal box inside the coffin, which is also sealed. I thought it was airtight... How could the dogs smell it?

Dogs have an amazing sense of smell..I don't think an airtight metal box would stop them. That's the first I have heard that the bodies are sealed in an airtight metal box...I'm pretty sure Dad isn't.

[flame ryder]

To me being buried locked up in an airtight box is horrible...like my worst nightmare. I'd rather they just dig a hole and chuck me in so the worms and other bugs can eat me and help to bi-degrade my body. Ew why am I talking about this even? sorry

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

I thought the bodies were sealed inside a metal box inside the coffin, which is also sealed. I thought it was airtight... How could the dogs smell it?

Dogs noses are amazing...how bout all those druggies that try to smuggle drugs into the country by wrapping them well and hiding them in linings of suitcases ect....dogs find them.

Yes, that's true.

I think the metal boxes I was thinking of are actually metal coffins and are an alternative to the wooden ones. For some reason, I thought the bodies were sealed in a metal box (inside the coffin) and the nice interior was just for the viewing.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Maeby Fünke