“I don’t understand the science behind it, but those dogs could smell those poor boys 12-and-a-half feet below ground.”
Those cadaver dogs were central in locating the body of Dean Finocchiaro, 19, one of four missing men in Bucks County, he said. The other three men, Jimi Patrick, 19, Mark Sturgis, 22, and Thomas Meo, 21, have not yet been found. Additional human remains were found in the grave but have not been identified.
The science of cadaver dogs is a fascinating combination of biology and single-minded training, said Cat Warren, the author of “What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World.”
“I’m a real believer in the purity of these dogs when they’re properly trained,” Warren said. “They do have good noses. They are able to distinguish that faint scent — that human scent.”
