  Current cosmological models and data suggest the existence of a cold Dark
Matter (DM) component, however the nature of DM particles remains unknown. A
favored candidate for DM is a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) in the
mass range of 50 GeV to greater than 10 TeV. Nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies
(dSphs) are expected to contain a high density of DM with a low gamma-ray
background, and are thus promising targets for the detection of secondary gamma
rays at very high energies (VHE, E > 0.1 TeV) through the annihilation of WIMPs
into Standard Model (SM) particles. The VERITAS array of Imaging Atmospheric
Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), sensitive to gamma rays in the 100GeV to 50 TeV
range, carries out an extensive observation program of dSphs. Presented here
are results of the observations and new statistical techniques for constraining
properties of WIMP DM models.
