LAS VEGAS, Nevada: Glistening red blood is spattered on the wall, pieces of broken glass litter the floor. And lying on the battered couch, with eyes still wide open, is a body - limp and lifeless. Music slowly fades in.

And then you know you can relax a little - it's just another episode of that gritty and grisly crime scene drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Forensic science has been catapulted into the lounge room by the insanely-popular and Emmy-Award-winning CSI television series.

According to Nielsen Media Research, CSI is the fourth-most-popular TV program watched in America, with over eight million viewers. Spin-offs, CSI: New York also shares fourth spot.

Each mind-boggling crime is solved by combining cutting-edge technology with human brain power. But humans aren't perfect - we all make mistakes and can miss evidence.Who is to say we are the best animal for the job? Can there be a better candidate?

Pet Shed proudly presents... CSI: Canine Scene Investigators. Okay, okay... so they can't wear a laboratory coat or analyze evidence, but canines, with their two extra limbs and superior senses, certainly make highly-effective crime scene assistants, if not investigators themselves.

So what exactly makes your four-legged pal a qualified candidate as a crime scene investigator?

1. Keen canine ears

According to the National History Museum, dogs possess super-sensitive ears which enable them to hear sounds that our human ears cannot. Whenever your dog pricks its ears, it is adjusting them for maximum reception. Now imagine a suspect who secreted a time bomb at a crime scene, ticking away underneath a heavy pile of sacks. A human CSI team would gather evidence unaware of the danger lurking underneath those innocent-looking sacks. But with a canine scene investigator in tow, our CSI team would have a great chance of hearing the bomb and disarming it or at least getting out of there in one piece.

2. Sharp sense of sight

To have canine vision means to have a wider field of view and a better ability to detect movement at a distance. Dogs can recognize moving objects from nearly half a mile (one kilometer) away. Though color blind, dogs can also see in the dark better than humans can. This sharp sense of sight would come in handy to a canine scene investigator when a suspect is hiding in the dark, waiting for a chance to attack a CSI team member. The slightest movement will alert a canine's vision and thus give warning.

3. Amazing canine sense of smell

As nhm.org puts it, dogs experience the world nose-first. They have about 25 times more olfactory receptors than humans, allowing canines to 'out-smell' their handlers. This amazing trait is also the reason why bomb-sniffing dogs are so good at assisting authorities during emergency situations. But aside from their ability to detect bombs, canines may also be helpful in detecting human scents, including blood. Even when blood is wiped from a surface and isn't vidible to the naked eye, our canine scene investigators can still detect it via smell and indicate whether a bloody crime has been committed.

4. Sturdy canine build

Dogs combine brains with brawn. Their canine bodies don't easily tire when running great distances. A working dog's extraordinary stamina allows for them to keep going in situations where humans would drop like flies. So when a suspect goes fugitive, you can be sure that he/she won't get far.

5. Therapeutic effect

Therapy dogs help people feel better by just being there for them. Even without really trying, canines help humans by being there to listen, to be hugged and to provide company. Being the victim of a crime can be very traumatic, and dealing with the trauma is a real struggle. Our canine scene investigators can always take time off their crime-fighting ways and be a much-needed companion to victims.

In real-life crime scene investigations, cadaver dogs are already being used to find human remains. Buried or disjointed corpses, bodies lying underwater or hidden in vehicles and buildings are unerringly located by cadaver dogs. Amazingly, cadaver dogs are trained to distinguish human remains from other distracting odors such as garbage, food and even deceased animals. In the same way, they can be used for 'clearing', or eliminating the chance that there is a dead body in an area. Now, even Gil Grissom can't beat that.

Police service dogs (PSD) are also used to help forensic specialists in gathering evidence from crime scenes, especially after considerable time has passed before authorities reach the crime scene. A real-life example was the case of a woman who was sexually assaulted in some bushes. In this case, the extensive nature of the crime scene made it hard for authorities to pinpoint the particular area where the crime was committed. But with the help of a PSD who sniffed its way through the bushes, they located the exact spot and gathered evidence that was used to prosecute the suspect.

Who says dogs can't be part of television's hottest crime drama? Given these outstanding qualifications, canine scene investigators could easily give the real CSI team a run for their money.