I don't see the dogs as proof, I see the dogs as reason to be suspicious. They do make me sit up and take notice.
In the VanDam case the dogs hitting or not hitting were questioned. They hit on the RV, a few places in Westerfields home. We know Danielle VanDam wasn't found in the home or the RV but later found in a little roadside pull-off illegal dump area sort of deal.
The dogs don't prove anything to me, but they don't ease my mind either. I can't dismiss them as silly science.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/20020703-9999_2m3wrap.html
*snip*
In his questioning yesterday, defense lawyer Robert Boyce suggested Frazee might be exaggerating his dog's behavior. Boyce noted that Frazee said in his e-mail that he "wasn't sure but I thought" that the dog had given his cadaver alert. Frazee also wrote in the e-mail, "I thought he might have been doing these behaviors just to please me."
Boyce asked whether police had nicknamed Frazee "180 Frank," meaning that if Frazee and his dog went searching in one direction, "everyone was to search in the other direction." Frazee said he wasn't aware of that nickname.
After his testimony, the prosecution called Frazee's supervisor, Rosemary Redditt, a retired teacher and also a volunteer canine searcher. She said she was at the impound lot with Frazee and his dog Feb. 6. She said she witnessed the dog react to the storage compartment of the vehicle.
She said the dog "turned around real fast," sat, looked at Frazee and barked.
Westerfield's lawyers launched their defense by summoning a San Diego police detective in an effort to raise more questions about the credibility of the cadaver-sniffing dog.
Detective James Tomsovic, who testified earlier as a prosecution witness, said yesterday that he was at the police impound lot Feb. 6 and didn't see the dog react to the motor home. In a report, Tomsovic said the dog showed no reaction. Under cross-examination by prosecutor Jeff Dusek, Tomsovic acknowledged he arrived at the lot after Frazee and might have missed the dog's reaction