iT IS CLEAR THE FIRST TWO Tracker dogs got the blanket to sniff for Madeleine's scent and followed a very similar trail to what was found the next day.http://www.mccannfiles.com/id258.html
"Carlos Manuel Carvalho Lacão"
They too headed to the small reception area. OK it doesn't say they stopped at the door of the reception on the first night."then along the passage that leads past the entrance to the small reception what other meaning could that have? "then along the pathway that leads past the entrance to the secondary reception". Was that possible? Did the MacCanns ever get this blanket back?
Well done you! I think you've solved the riddle. That route was followed by dogs three times. The first dogs were Kit and Numi; German Shepherd patrol dogs from Portimao, although one of them [Numi] had some training in tracking. They got the pink blanket at 02.30 on 4th. The one with some tracking training [Numi] took the route we're discussing.
Some of the dogs from Queluz [Lisbon] arrived at 8am on 4th and began searching. They didn't sniff anything, they were search and rescue air sniffing dogs. Another request was made to Queluz and the tracking dogs arrived at 11pm on 4th and were given a towel. They both followed the route, and repeated the exercise again a few days later with the same result.
So both the blanket and the towel were used. When Kate mentions the blanket she's referring to 2.30am search on 4th. The 11pm search was done using the towel; we don't know who gave that to the searchers.
3rd/4th
At 00.40, given the complexity of the situation that seemed to surround the disappearance, the GNR post commander requested reinforcements from two sniffer dog teams from the Portimao territorial group to help in the searches, considering the possibility that the girl could have left the apartment on foot and could be somewhere not very far from the OC resort.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htAfter arriving at the GNR post with his colleagues Morais and two dogs (Numi and Kit), German Shepherd dogs, which made up the search team, they immediately left for P da L. They arrived at about 02h30.
When they arrived at the scene, they entered the McCanns' apartment by the front door, and entered the living room, where there were some PJ officers as well as the McCann couple. They just talked to some colleagues from the PJ and asked for a piece of clothing that Madeleine had worn or used recently. They were given a pink/orange blanket that the child had been covered with in her bed.
They began searching with the dogs from the main entrance to the apartment, having given the blanket to his dog Numi to smell and begin to search.
The route initially taken was from the front entrance door to the passageway between Blocks 4 and 5, along the corridor and then along the passage that leads past the entrance to the small reception to the resort's swimming pool. After that the whole of the area surrounding the resort was searched.
His dog's speciality is patrolling (Maintenance of Public Order) although the dog also has some training in "tracking".
http://www.mccannfiles.com/id258.html#gnr1At 01.00 after the group commander had been briefed about the situation, telephone contact was made with an official from the Queluz GNR school, with the aim of their releasing search and rescue dog teams, seeing as these are specially trained to find missing persons, which is not the case with the Portimao sniffer dogs, which are essentially patrol dogs.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm4th May
At 08.00 three officers with 4 search and rescue dogs from Queluz arrived at the scene, these dogs immediately began to operate.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htmAfter an evaluation of the situation in the field, it was decided to request two more search and rescue sniffer dogs from the GNR Queluz station, given the extent of the terrain to be searched, whilst the hypothesis that the girl could have left the apartment on foot was not discarded.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htmAt about 23.00 the extra teams that had been requested for reinforcement arrived (Officer Rosa with Oscar and Officer Martins with Fusco, both from the search and rescue unit and Officer Fernandes with Rex and Zarus from the tracking team).
After the officers had been updated about facts relating to the disappearance, they tried to reconstruct the route the girl might have taken with the two tracker dogs. For this purpose the dogs were given a blanket to sniff, provided by the parents, which had been used by Madeleine.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm5th May
6 officers from the EPG sniffer team (search and rescue team)
Six officers from the Algarve Canine Rescue team (ECRA) - a legally constituted association - joined in the searches by volunteering their help at the P da L Operations Post.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm