The dog’s nose knows!

All dogs have a natural ability to hunt with certain breeds developed and bred for specific types of hunting. 

Bird dogs are bred to hunt birds, herding dogs hunt missing herd members, fox hounds hunt fox, etc. 

Bloodhounds are the most well-known and oldest breed of dog bred to hunt people and the breed is classified as a trailing dog due the way they hunt.

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How to Train Dog to Return to Owner or Handler

 Teaching Refind or Return to Handler

Teaching your family dog to “refind” or return to handler after they find a person or object is another way your dog can indicate or alert you of the find. 

Area search dogs and air scenting dogs who work off leash to cover large areas of land like in an avalanche are usually taught upon finding a person or evidence to return to their handler and bring the handler back to the person or location. 

Dogs who work on a leash have the handler with them; therefore there is no need to go back to the handler. I teach my Bloodhounds to take me back to my truck or home on command because I seldom know where I am once we trail a person several miles in the woods. 

Back to the truck !

I teach my dogs by simply telling them “let’s go home” or “back to the truck” each time we start back after we are finished with the training session or real search. Then if I am ever lost, I know, I can ask my dog to take me home or to the truck. 

Family Disaster Dogs on and off a leash can use this skill to bring people and items back to you if you are unable to move or wish to stay with another person. If you are sheltering in place then you can send your dog out to get an item and bring the item back to you.

Let it be known that some breeds of dogs will not “backtrack” or return the way they came. Bloodhounds and other hounds especially do not like to go backwards on the same scent trail. Some breeds and bloodlines are bred not to backtrack and when a dog is trailing and tracking we do not want them to backtrack because this defeats the purpose. 

Another reason backtracking is not encouraged or bred for is that if a dog encounters a place where the quarry or person walked in circles the dog will get lost in the scent overlapping on its own trail.  

A good hound will hit a place where a person or animal walked in circles and go right in one side of the circle then out the side the person exited while another dog will smell and smell, going in circles themselves trying to figure this puzzle out. Give time they might figure it out or sit there and look at you to figure it out.

Daisy doesn't want to go back the way we came

With backtracking in mind, if your family dog refuses to go backwards on a course to return to you or the person then you may have a very smart dog on your hands that you have to out smart by taking a different route back.  Just move a little bit to one side of the original trail the dog traveled on, maybe 30-50ft so your dog gets a chance to use a different path to reach you.

We do not want to teach them to backtrack either so moving off of the course is a good idea and changing the locations will help too.

Refind and return to handler can be taught at the same time as all the lessons here at Family Disaster Dogs.  This skill is incorporated into your other lessons as you practice with your dog you will add the instructions below into the end of the lessons.

Always praise your dog for a job well done.

Instructions

To teach your dog to return to you after finding a person you will send your dog to search or find them as detailed in the other lessons.

When your dog arrives at the person the dog is rewarded by that person then told by the person to “go back” or use your own name, like “Go to Joe”. 

You stay a distance away when your dog finds the person and you call your dog back to you after the other person praises your dog. 

You praise your dog when they come back to you then ask your dog to find the person again, sending the dog back to “refind” the person.  When the dog refinds the person the second time, if you are not there by then, the person should send your dog back to you again until you reach them as a team. 

Repeating this will help your dog learn they are bringing you to what they have found a person. And, they are not only running between two people. Dog’s like to have a purpose for what they are doing otherwise it is play.

You should adjust the distance between you and your dog according to your own dog’s way of working. Some dogs run along at a fast pace while others work slowly. Some find the person long before you get there no matter how hard you try to keep up while others might seem to take their time smelling every bush. Each dog is different. 

The trick is to give your dog space to find the person and return to you. So don’t follow to close at first then later add more distance to the space your dog has to cover to return to you. As you give the dog more distance to cover they will learn to find you as you get out of sight and to bring you back to the person as both of you come back together.

In time and with practice your dog can be sent out to search over a large area of land to scout and pin point locations for you then come back and take you to those locations.

Adding refind or return to handler to area searching and evidence or building searches saves you valuable time because your dog alone can cover much more ground that we can. 

When your dog is searching every item they find that holds the scent of the person they are looking for will be found too. This is evidence of where the person has been.

When your dog takes you to objects you must always believe the item belonged to the person you seek because your dog is showing you a clue. Trust your dog.

In the next lesson we’ll be discussing sending your dog to retrieve first aid kits, food and other emergency supplies by name that you might need if you are trapped or unable to leave people who are injured. 

After over 30 years working with dogs, I really do believe any dog, any age, any breed can learn to do some of the lessons here to help their families and loved ones be safe and survive in an emergency situation. 

The smallest or oldest dog can learn to bark or nudge you in an emergency to alert you to danger, every dog is able to help in some way just as they would as a group or pack. Never underestimate your dog. 

Please pass these lessons on so others may benefit. 

Area Search Basics : Lesson 24

Air Scenting

Area Search and Detection Dogs

Area search, air scenting and detection dogs all have the same job. The dog smells the air for any trace of the scent they are seeking instead of following the scent foot steps or trail like a tracking or trailing dog.

When a dog is doing an area search for human scent and they are not given a scent article or individual scent to follow they will find every and any human scent in the area.

Air scenting detection dogs work by elimination of the discovery of scent in that area. Most air scenting dogs are trained to find one scent and a few are crossed trained in two or more scents.

Air scenting dogs who find people are detecting any live human scent in the area and not any one individual scent while a cadaver dog finds a person’s body after the person has passed away.

Drug dogs, bomb dogs and bug detection dogs are dogs that are trained to find that specific scent or odor. All these dogs are air scenting or scanning the area with their nose to find the scent they specialize in.

Avalanche dogs are trained to work in snow and harsh conditions. A good avalanche dog is cross trained to find both live and expired human scent. The training is basically the same, only the scent and location changes.

Airport dogs are trained to deal with the noise and activity in an airport while seeking the scent they specialize in while a rural tracking dog trains in a country setting and an urban dog trains in the city.

The family dog does not need to find bombs or drugs and in the event of a disaster, your dog will most likely be working at your house. Therefore, family disaster dog training will be done using live person scent and most lessons can be done at your house or location.

If you wish to cross train your dog to find live and cadaver scent, each on a separate command then you will follow the area search lesson to train both. First train for one scent and after that specialty is mastered, train for the next scent.

Do not train for 2 scents at once or your dog will become confused.


I highly recommend reading the pervious lessons for the best understanding of search dog fundamentals and to learn how to read your dog before you attempt to train a dog as a detection dog or area search dog.

Reading your dog’s indications and clues during a search are vital to finding a person quickly and safely.

When your dog is doing an area search and air scenting, your dog is usually working off a leash and may be a distance away from you in order to cover more ground in less amount of time.

Let’s face it, we humans cannot keep up with our four legged friend off a leash when they are hot on a trail or scent.

A dog can cover more ground and area in minutes then we can in days.

100 men doing a line search equal 1 Bloodhound or area search dog working the same amount of area.

Air scenting and tracking are a whole science of themselves that can be a very interesting study for those who want to learn more.

Certified Search Dog Akiela and her son, Chaos 2005

Bulls Shoals Lake Arkansas

The lessons here at Family Disaster Dogs are tailored for the family dog and owner so they can save themselves in the event that rescuers cannot reach them.

In other words, these online lessons are prepared with the novice in mind. The lessons would be much more technical if I were teaching you to be a call out ready SAR team.

Those of you who would like to learn more can use the contact page to receive more information.

The lessons here are for pets and owners to know how to save themselves and loved ones.

The lessons are simple without being set in stone for perfection because I trust your dog will love to help you in an emergency.

These lessons are effective if used like any other emergency exercise or drill and preparation.

These lessons are similar to learning what to do in an earthquake, fire or tornado but you will be practicing the exercise with your dog by your side.

All you do is incorporate these dog training lessons into the emergency plan you have for home, car and work.

Coming up: Step by Step How to train your dog to air scent.

Lesson 11:Scent Behavior

Scent Behavior

The most amazing feat of a detection dog is how they understand scent behavior and how the dog is able to use scent to find what they are looking for. Olfaction, the sense of smell, is the least understood of the five senses.

Therefore, the more you know about how scent behaves the better you will understand or read your dog when you both are looking for clues to where a person went or where they are buried in rubble.

Scent is defined in the Encarta Dictionary as a pleasant smell or a smell used as trail, or a perfume. The word is also defined as a smelling sense and as a hint or indication that something is likely to happen.

The scent a search dog follows is actually skin and chemical particles along with oils that are so small in size we cannot see the dander unless they accumulate to the point of dandruff or oily skin complaints.

The chemicals that are mixed in with our natural odor come from the soaps and man made items we come into contact with. Everything we come into contact with contaminates our own personal body aroma.

These particles are shed ever minute of our lives and constantly changing but remain somewhat the same to distinguish each of us by our very own scent print similar to a fingerprint.

Whenever we stand, sit or lay a “scent pool” of particles falls, so invisible to our naked eye yet enticing to our 4 legged friends, these particles settle until a wind or movement swirls them to mix with other scents.

As we walk we leave behind a scent trail no matter how hard we try not to do so, we will leave particles behind.

When a person attempts to cover or clock their scent all they are really doing is adding to the unique mixture of ingredients which make up the scent. The overall scent may change but the ingredients remains and a dog taught to discriminate scents can detect even the smallest percentage of the scent they are looking for in the ingredients.

The wind and motion around the scent or person plays a role by moving the scent around and when two people come together their scents mix but a dog who is asked in the correct way can show you which person is the one they first set out to find.

As the motion of our body plays a part in how our scent is laid or settled so do a large number of variables that we come into contact with everyday. As we move through our homes or work places scent constantly trails behind us like our shadow.

We are never really alone and on every leaf or grain of sand we pass outdoors our scent settles, sometimes on branches several feet away where a particle of us may linger for days, weeks and indefinitely depending on the weather or inside climate conditions.

As our scent drifts to sit upon a surface the wind or motion moves it but eventually like all things, the scent will fall to the lowest surface we cross. As we step up a curb from the street our scent falls to the cracks and crevasses of the street and sidewalk. Everywhere we go, a piece of us is left behind.

The slower a person walks the heavier the scent trail remains because the particles have more time to settle in place.

This is true with less windy conditions too. The faster a person walks the less the scent will be contained in a trail or path because the motion dispenses more scent over a large pathway making concentration of scent but a larger area.

This is why a Bloodhound will track 3 or 4 feet off to one side of a person’s actually path of travel. This is always why we do not ask search dogs to stay exactly on a person’s foot print which can slow us down in finding the person.

Scent trails can be affected by drafts that are created from buildings or clear cut areas, roads, ditches and tunnels all can make a draft. A scent trail that comes out of the wooded area to cross a narrow road to another wooded area will hit a draft at the road.

The road will be like a tunnel the wind and air has more space to move the scent around and the scent will drift more regardless of the speed of the wind or even if there is a wind. In a city or urban setting the buildings, alley ways and all of a sudden open spaces create a draft to move scents.

In these areas, the handler often misreads the dog by thinking how the person crossed the road or traveled up the alley instead of thinking about how the dog smells the scent movement in these drafts.

Watch a novice dog at these crosses to learn how your dog will work a drafted area and follow your dog through the puzzle.

Never try to trick a tracking dog or trailing dog because you will only make the dog not trust you to give them the correct scent. A dog will refuse or ignore your wishes if they cannot trust you to know what you want.

A dog smells all the ingredients of a scent and it is up to us to tell them which scent particle we wish to find.

Caution: A dog’s nose can be damaged or desensitized by chemicals and common household cleaning agents or smells depending how close the nose comes to the produce. Never hold any scent to close to your dog’s nose.

Allow your dog to reach over to the scent at their own speed and distance because the dog knows how close they can get to the scent. They have actually smelt the scent long before you called them over to have a smell.

The average dog has a sense of smell much greater then man’s, some say as much as 1 million times greater then ours. Plus they can smell each ingredient which we cannot unless we practice or know beforehand what to notice.

Learning how scent behaves will help you to read your dog for clues that can help you find a missing person or evidence of the person’s whereabouts faster and help you to understand what your dog is telling you.

This lesson gives you the basic idea of how scent plays a role in your dog finding a person.

There are many good books on the subject of scent which can be very complex but interesting reading that will help you to learn how to read your dog better.

Every effort should be made to prevent contamination at the LKL (see glossary page) by other scents, including people at the location or on the scent article you collect.

Once contamination overpowers the person's scent on a scent article or location the dog has a much harder puzzle to figure out and often will become confused which is where the importance of " preventing the contamination the scene or article" comes into play.

I will cover how to secure a search dog location to work in later lessons, be sure to subscribe at the easy link at the left or below so you do not miss a lesson.

The next lesson will explain how handlers read their dogs for clues that help the dog communicate what they find along the trail route.