  In the cosmological paradigm, cold dark matter (DM) dominates the mass
content of the Universe and is present at every scale. Candidates for DM
include many extensions of the standard model, such as weakly interacting
massive particles (WIMPs) in the mass range from $\sim$10 GeV to greater than
10 TeV. The self-annihilation or decay of WIMPs in astrophysical regions of
high DM density can produce secondary particles including very high energy
(VHE) gamma rays with energy up to the DM particle mass. VERITAS, an array of
atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, sensitive to VHE gamma rays in the 85 GeV-30
TeV energy range, has been utilized for the search for this DM signature. The
astrophysical objects considered to be candidates for indirect DM detection by
VERITAS are dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) of the Local Group and the
Galactic Center, among others. This presentation reports on the observations of
five dSphs, and the results from a joint DM search from these objects.
