Toronto police are sending out teams of cadaver dogs this week to some 100 properties linked to alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur.

The dogs are sniffing for human remains, according to Homicide Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga, the lead investigator in the case. Police will excavate parts of the properties if the dogs find anything relevant to the ongoing investigation, he said.

Police aren't disclosing the addresses of the homes where the dogs will be searching. However, the force says the properties being checked are sites where McArthur worked as a landscaper.

The dogs are trained to smell the gasses that are emitted from decomposing remains, said Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray in an email.

McArthur, 66, has been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the disappearances of several men. The remains of a number of the men turned up in garden planters at a home where McArthur worked.

Bruce McArthur is accused of killing these eight men. Top row, from left to right, Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, Andrew Kinsman, 49, Selim Esen, 44, and Abdulbasir Faizi, 44. Bottom row, from left to right: Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37, Dean Lisowick, 47, Soroush Mahmudi, 50, and Majeed Kayhan, 58. (Toronto Police Service/CBC)

McArthur was most recently charged with the first-degree murder of Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, who moved to Canada from Sri Lanka in 2010 and lived in Scarborough.

The other murder charges are in connection with the deaths of: Selim Esen, 44, Abdulbasir Faizi, 44, Majeed Kayhan, 58, Andrew Kinsman, 49, Dean Lisowick, 47, Soroush Mahmudi, 50, and Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40.

Many of the men had ties to Toronto's Gay Village.