The tracker dogs

[G-Unit]

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...

I think the interesting point was the direction taken by all three dogs. That couldn't have been predicted.

[Robittybob1]

I think the interesting point was the direction taken by all three dogs. That couldn't have been predicted.

"Predicted" is probably not the right word.

[John]

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.

I have always wondered about that but most probably Kate put the clothes in the wash at bath time so that rendered them useless. 

Why was a second item needed for the sniffer dogs anyway?  I think the simple answer to that is that there were so many dogs operating at the same time in different areas that they needed more than one scent source to take out with them.

[jassi]

I have always wondered about that but most probably Kate put the clothes in the wash at bath time so that rendered them useless. 

Why was a second item needed for the sniffer dogs anyway?  I think the simple answer to that is that there were so many dogs operating at the same time in different areas that they needed more than one scent source to take out with them.

There were her shoes - they shouldn't have gone in the wash even if everything else had.

[John]

There were her shoes - they shouldn't have gone in the wash even if everything else had.

Good point jassi.   

Having read through most of this thread today I am of the opinion that the dogs were actually following Kates scent since she also handled both items.  This would account for the dogs tracking upstairs.

[jassi]

Another thought about this towel.
All the children had baths plus Kate had a shower, so how confident could Kate have been that the towel in question had been used solely by Madeleine?  I cannot imagine that the place had that many towels, or that they were replaced daily.

[G-Unit]

I have always wondered about that but most probably Kate put the clothes in the wash at bath time so that rendered them useless. 

Why was a second item needed for the sniffer dogs anyway?  I think the simple answer to that is that there were so many dogs operating at the same time in different areas that they needed more than one scent source to take out with them.

Only three dogs were used to try to track the child. One patrol dog from Portemao who was given the blanket at 02.30am on 4th and two tracker dogs from Lisbon who were given the towel at 11.30pm on 4th.

The patrol dog wasn't used again and we don't know what the handler did with the blanket. He may have handed it back after his dog sniffed it. If someone had asked what time the photographs of G5A were taken that mystery may have been solved. All we know is that no-one was visible in or around the apartment at the time.

The tracker dogs were used again on 8th and 10th and the towel was used again because their handler had kept it in a plastic bag.

None of the other dogs sniffed anything because they weren't trying to track the child, their job was to find any lost or injured person.

[jassi]

Good point jassi.   

Having read through most of this thread today I am of the opinion that the dogs were actually following Kates scent since she also handled both items.  This would account for the dogs tracking upstairs.

It may well be. She is bound to have handled the towel when drying Madeleine, if nothing else.
Did she take that into account when proffering the towel?

[G-Unit]

It may well be. She is bound to have handled the towel when drying Madeleine, if nothing else.
Did she take that into account when proffering the towel?

Well she [or Gerry or both] may or may not. It wasn't really their place to decide. It would have been better if the person asking had specified the type of  items needed.

[mercury]

How many more pages are required to analyse a very simple situation? Streuth

[Robittybob1]

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

There are question whether 5C was checked.  If the room was being cleaned by OC staff it sounds like they would have had access to it so this sentence would apply "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".

We are still dependent on the honesty of the OC staff owning up to allowing access to all the apartments they had keys for. (there was the article yesterday where there was the claim OC had covered up the fact that a master key or keys was lost.  http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/458798/Apartment-key-theft-cover-up-by-resort-staff-in-Madeleine-McCann-case so we can't asume honesty on the part of OC.
Part of my suspicion falls on OC staff and it doesn't appear the PJ had the the same scrutiny of them.  Maybe the PJ should have got locksmiths and opened up all the apartments especially in block G4 as it isn't easily explained why there should be any tracking of Madeleine in that apartment block.

[Robittybob1]

How many more pages are required to analyse a very simple situation? Streuth

How is it simple?

[mercury]

How is it simple?

how many, what type, which were brought in and where was used in conjunction with searches a acccording to their training...you know basic facts...its all in the files, so no idea why people are arguing about it

[Robittybob1]

how many, what type, which were brought in and where was used in conjunction with searches a acccording to their training...you know basic facts...its all in the files, so no idea why people are arguing about it

That is what we have been trying to do except we find there are errors in the summary compared to the individual reports from the dog handlers themselves.

[mercury]

That is what we have been trying to do except we find there are errors in the summary compared to the individual reports from the dog handlers themselves.

You still dont need 35 pages to type the basics