Dublin Civil Defence today hosted a Multi Agency Research Seminar for K9 Victim Recovery. Lorna Irish, PHD candidate from the university of Huddersfield’s school of applied sciences, presented her research into “Identification of Volatile Organic Chemicals that elicit a response from Trained Victim Recovery Dogs.” The event was attended by members of Án Garda Siochana, the Irish Prison service, Customs and Revenue, and the Civil Defence.

Several dogs, including Max our Dublin search dog, demonstrated their search abilities for the attendees, the dogs then went on to complete research tests for the study. The dogs were tested on a number of chemicals in an effort to scientifically identify what is the exact trigger that K9’s respond to in a human search, something that to this date has never been identified. So far the research has shown that one single chemical is not sufficient to trigger a response or indication consistently from trained dogs.

We would like to thank all agencies that attended, Meath Civil Defence for providing welfare support and wish Lorna the best of luck completing her research.