Drug-sniffing dogs are influenced by their handlers
Study out of UC-Davis concludes that the beliefs of human handlers of scent-detection dogs affects the outcome of a search. This applies in drug and explosives cases. If humans think that drugs or explosives are present, they may assert a dog alert even if the dog didn’t make a response, or the humans may make overt clues to the dog to get it to respond.
This study could have huge implications in criminal defense.
