Get a Whiff of This: Dead Girls Talk Cadaver Dogs

What this episode covers

Minda and Jenna welcome Dr. Ben Alexander to the show to talk about man's best friend, dead or alive. Everything you never knew about cadaver dogs, search and rescue and fraud in the body recovery industry. Dr. Michael “BEN” Alexander began dog training in 1972, training his parents GSD's for confirmation, obedience and later schutzhund. Ben has continued training dogs for a variety of venues over the years, settling with search and rescue dogs in 2000 and has dedicated his life to furthering the science behind the dog’s capabilities to locate human remains since 2010. Ben began teaching at seminars in 2010 after being encouraged to do so by his own mentors Shirley Hammond, Cheryl Kennedy, Ann Christensen and others. In 2013, through his research at the forensic anthropology center at Texas State (FACTS), he began a pilot seminar program which developed into the robust K9 training program that now exists at Texas State. Ben is a visiting professor and the FACTS K9 training coordinator. While he still continues to do seminars and certifications across the country he has focused his efforts on providing one of the best learning environments in the United States for cadaver dog teams at FACTS. However he is always available for consultation and strongly believes in the service cadaver dog teams provide to their community. In 2019, he and his 5 th nationally certified cadaver K9, “Rip” began working some archeologic missions for turned out to be prehistoric remains. Ben continues to train Rip for all stages/ages of human remains detection as well as starting his 6 th partner, K9 Jake. Both Rip and Jake were started on whole bodies at FACTS and real burials. https://www.txstate.edu/anthropology/facts/workshops/K9.html Episode art by Lisa Luree: http://bone-diva.com/about Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bonediva/ Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/bonediva?listing_id=782419753&ref=shop_overview_header&fbclid=IwAR3oAjPHOPDAHzxP7GYFrhljj3eU6KIFaajzaxVmp9103ymzknTW2TmJxTE Creative Credit: Elic Thomas

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