The tracker dogs

[sadie]

Undoubtedly.

But what provenance was there that those billions of skin cells on a towel were exclusive to Madeleine ... or even hers?

Hands up ! 

When my kids were little, just 17 months apart, I used to dry them off with the same towel.

Maybe most people would be more fussy?  Dunno ?

But if that towel was sitting on the bed, then it is quite possible that the sweaty lifter moved it or wiped his hands on it. 

Even accidentally knocked it off the bed and walked over it?  We just dont know.

[slartibartfast]

Hands up ! 

When my kids were little, just 17 months apart, I used to dry them off with the same towel.

Maybe most people would be more fussy?  Dunno ?

But if that towel was sitting on the bed, then it is quite possible that the sweaty lifter moved it or wiped his hands on it. 

Even accidentally knocked it off the bed and walked over it?  We just dont know.

The police should probably not have bothered, after all they were only trying to find a little girl.

[G-Unit]

Hands up ! 

When my kids were little, just 17 months apart, I used to dry them off with the same towel.

Maybe most people would be more fussy?  Dunno ?

But if that towel was sitting on the bed, then it is quite possible that the sweaty lifter moved it or wiped his hands on it. 

Even accidentally knocked it off the bed and walked over it?  We just dont know.

The first item given seems to have a clear connection with the child. The connection between the second item and the child is much less obvious.

Leaving out smelly lifters [whose existence and personal hygiene habits are speculation] it is, as you say, quite normal for more than one person to use a towel. Did each person bring their own towel which was used exclusively by them? We don't know.

It would probably have been a better idea for a clearly personal item to have been given. The clothes worn the previous day would have been ideal. It's a pity the police didn't ask for specific items rather than just taking what they were offered.

[ferryman]

I've been through the whole of the GNR reports and I have found one reference to 'tracker dogs':

On 10th May at about 20.10, upon the request of the PJ, searches were carried out in all of the apartments belonging to blocks 4 and 5 of the OC, two tracker dogs and two search and rescue dogs being used for this operation, adopting the same methods as those used on 7th May, just that this time the apartments were all open and searched one by one, being accompanied by a representative from the resort, who had the keys to all the apartments (apart from those not under her administration) and also with the objective of helping with the searches.

Quite why you would bring in tracker-dogs, that late, to search the apartments, I'm not too sure ...

[Robittybob1]

I've been through the whole of the GNR reports and I have found one reference to 'tracker dogs':

On 10th May at about 20.10, upon the request of the PJ, searches were carried out in all of the apartments belonging to blocks 4 and 5 of the OC, two tracker dogs and two search and rescue dogs being used for this operation, adopting the same methods as those used on 7th May, just that this time the apartments were all open and searched one by one, being accompanied by a representative from the resort, who had the keys to all the apartments (apart from those not under her administration) and also with the objective of helping with the searches.

Quite why you would bring in tracker-dogs, that late, to search the apartments, I'm not too sure ...

Well if they followed the earlier search doesn't that mean the tracker dogs were used twice at the least?  I wonder if they recorded the apartments that were in this category "(apart from those not under her administration)"?

[ferryman]

Well if they followed the earlier search doesn't that mean the tracker dogs were used twice at the least?  I wonder if they recorded the apartments that were in this category "(apart from those not under her administration)"?

No mention in the report of use of tracker dogs before (that I can find).

[Robittybob1]

No mention in the report of use of tracker dogs before (that I can find).

The only purpose of picking up the blanket and the towel was for tracking purposes.  Search and rescue dogs don't need specific scent; they just find humans.

[ferryman]

The only purpose of picking up the blanket and the towel was for tracking purposes.  Search and rescue dogs don't need specific scent; they just find humans.

But read the report.  The dogs they used were search and rescue dogs and that's why they had the debate (about whether it would be worth giving the dog anything to sniff), a redundant conversation if they used tracker-dogs.

(Tracker-dogs can't work any other way).

[Robittybob1]

But read the report.  The dogs they used were search and rescue dogs and that's why they had the debate (about whether it would be worth giving the dog anything to sniff), a redundant conversation if they used tracker-dogs.

(Tracker-dogs can't work any other way).

I've read that these dogs had some tracking training.  It is fairly instinctive in some dogs. I'm sure we've cited this already.

[pathfinder73]

"At 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)."

Tracking Team dogs were Rex and Zarus. They were given Madeleine's blanket to sniff and track.

"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.htm

[G-Unit]

I've read that these dogs had some tracking training.  It is fairly instinctive in some dogs. I'm sure we've cited this already.

That was the PATROL dog used at 02.30am on 4th May. [cite already given]

The two TRACKER dogs, Rex and Zarus, arrived at 11pm on 4th May from Lisbon with their handler Officer Fernandes. They immediately used the dogs who were given the towel and who both went down the path etc. They were used again on 8th inside the two blocks, with the same item, and again on 10th when all apartments to which OC had keys were opened. The discussion on 7th or 8th May with the PJ was about the likelihood of them being able to track given the time which had passed.

At about 19.. the undersigned officer, accompanied by the Commander, Officer Silva, took part in a meetings with the PJ Directorate, being asked by the PJ about the viability of giving the girl's clothes to the dogs for the dogs to sniff again, and if by means of the odour inhaled, they would be able to mark an identical odour in one of the resort apartments even though its door was closed.

With regard to this task, Officer Silva referred to the fact that the time that had passed would be a crucial condition for the dogs' work in obtaining results and that the entirety of the human odours existing in the apartments and access paths could make the dogs' searches very difficult. However, in spite of not being a normal situation for tracking, it could be attempted, whilst the operation should be carried out as quickly as possible and not directed towards one but to all the apartments in the resort, it being appropriate for the handler not to know which apartment was chosen, so as not the be conditioned.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm

[G-Unit]

So, Numi first had the blanket, then Rex had it at some point.

So what was Amaral on about?

Rex had a towel, the blanket was never heard of again after it was given to Numi's handler Lacao. [Except in the report written six month's later, which contained errors]
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/CARLOS-LACAO.htm

[G-Unit]

"At 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)."

Tracking Team dogs were Rex and Zarus. They were given Madeleine's blanket to sniff and track.

"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.htm

Thanks, pathfinder, but the handler says towel, so he disagrees with this report. He was there so he should know and the report was written six months later. It contains other errors and omissions too.

[Carana]

Rex had a towel, the blanket was never heard of again after it was given to Numi's handler Lacao. [Except in the report written six month's later, which contained errors]
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/CARLOS-LACAO.htm

A pink/orange blanket seems logical in terms of the item with the most scent likely to be hers in the immediate aftermath. What I'm wondering is whether there really were other items used (cf towel / clothing) or whether whatever was noted was simply to designate a cloth item with her scent on it - the main purpose of the reports being to explain what they had done and less to be meticulous in noting what they had actually used.


It's possible that they were correct in noting distinct items, but there is no description of the colour of the "towel", nor of which items of "clothing" they'd taken.


Dunno.

[Carana]

The emergency was to grab the most useful item to help search for her, which they did. One could argue that the blanket should have been bagged... but what else could they have used with her recent scent?

Whether they used just the blanket or the blanket, a towel and items of clothing doesn't unduly bother me.

What I find stranger is Amaral and Sargento's numerous insinuations about the blanket having disappeared in suspicious circumstances and used as a shroud...