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Predicting signals in experiments to directly detect dark matter (DM) requires a form for the local DM velocity distribution. Hitherto, the standard halo model (SHM), in which velocities are isotropic and follow a truncated Gaussian law, has performed this job. New data, however, suggest that a substantial fraction of our stellar halo lies in a strongly radially anisotropic population, the 'Gaia Sausage'. Inspired by this recent discovery, we introduce an updated DM halo model, the SHM ++ , which includes a 'Sausage' component, thus better describing the known features of our galaxy. The SHM ++ is a simple analytic model with five parameters: the circular speed, local escape speed and local DM density, which we update to be consistent with the latest data, and two new parameters: the anisotropy and the density of DM in the Sausage. The impact of the SHM ++ on signal models for WIMPs and axions is rather modest since the multiple changes and updates have competing effects. In particular, this means that the older exclusion limits derived for WIMPS are still reasonably accurate. However, changes do occur for directional detectors, which have sensitivity to the full three-dimensional velocity distribution.

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The search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) by direct detection faces an encroaching background due to coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering. As the sensitivity of these experiments improves, the question of how to best distinguish a dark matter signal from neutrinos will become increasingly important. A proposed method of overcoming this so-called "neutrino floor" is to utilize the directional signature that both neutrino and dark matter induced recoils possess. We show that directional experiments can indeed probe WIMP-nucleon cross-sections below the neutrino floor with little loss in sensitivity due to the neutrino background. In particular we find at low WIMP masses (around 6 GeV) the discovery limits for directional detectors penetrate below the non-directional limit by several orders of magnitude. For high WIMP masses (around 100 GeV), the non-directional limit is overcome by a factor of a few. Furthermore we show that even for directional detectors which can only measure 1-or 2-dimensional projections of the 3-dimensional recoil track, the discovery potential is only reduced by a factor of 3 at most. We also demonstrate that while the experimental limitations of directional detectors, such as sense recognition and finite angular resolution, have a detrimental effect on the discovery limits, it is still possible to overcome the ultimate neutrino background faced by non-directional detectors.PACS numbers: 95.35.+d; 95.85.Pw