How Dogs Tell the Difference Between You and Another Person or Object

Tracking and Scent Discrimination

This article explains how your family dog can tell the difference between you and another person or object. This information applies to Family Disaster Dogs, Tracking Dogs and Trailing Dogs as well as any dog who is using its nose to find an object, person or pet.

Scent discrimination can be a complicated and complex subject.

When I was first learning Bloodhound handling and training with my dog Sue, our SAR dog mentor and instructor, Lt. Ezra Roberts explained the basics of scent discrimination to me in what I continue to believe is the easiest way possible.

the author and bloodhound Sue

I smile in remembrance of Ezra as I write this..I couldn't of asked for a better mentor.

He said, " When a Bloodhound smells a chocolate cake they smell every ingredient of the cake. The flour, sugar, eggs and coco while other dogs smell only the chocolate cake. "

This is the difference between a dog trained to scent discriminate. They smell one scent out of many many scents.

Dogs that are not trained to scent discriminate will search for only one scent, such as, live human scent but not each individual person within that human scent. They will find any human scent and all human scent in a certain search area by air scenting, tracking and  grid working. They will find every person or object's scent they are trained to find, such as bombs, drugs, humans live and remains. They are trained using only one scent article or smell.

Other dogs are trained to find many different scents or a scent they are given by the handler. These dogs are scent discriminating when they find a drug or object the handler asked them to find.

Service dogs who are trained to get the newspaper, slippers and dropped items of their owners are scent and sight discriminating. They know your slippers from another person's slippers.

Bloodhounds are different in that they process the ability to scent discriminate naturally. When a Bloodhound is given a scent article they start looking for that scent without much training at all. The handler gets most of the training and not the dog.

We don't train Bloodhounds they train us. Family dogs of all ages act naturally like the Bloodhounds when they stay close to their owners, follow the owner around the house or bond with a special family member.

Most dogs want to follow a person leaving their company, especially when the owner or a member of the family leave a dog behind a closed door or fence. If allowed to go the dog will do its best to find/follow the person they love.

These dogs are choosing to discriminate. All dogs can discriminate and they do naturally.

It is up to us humans to take advantage of this natural ability in the dog and teach our dogs what we wish them to find or who.

Here is my dog finding my daughter. This is the first time I asked the dog to find this person. I have only asked the dog to look for another person 3 times. She is not a trained tracking dog but I know she will find people she knows and wants to be near.

We had a chance to video tape this first time for everyone on the Family Disaster Dog site to watch and see how easy it is to teach your dog to find a family member or friend. Read the Scent Article page for more info about to use Scent Articles that tell your dog who to look for.

Watch this video






Click to Learn how-to Evacuate with your Dogs Help

Watch How-to Teach any Dog to Find Family Members after Floods, Earthquakes

Watch us start training a search dog in basic skills and learn how to teach your own dogs to find lost or missing family and friends.

This is one of the skills you can learn more about in my Family Disaster Dogs book. (free on Kindle unlimited)

This fun game of hide and seek is perfect for families to play with their own dogs. Knowing how-to ask your dog to find your child or partner sure would come in handy in the aftermath of a disaster or if a child or elderly person wandered away on a camping trip.

Teaching your dogs how to look for friends and family is one skill I hope you never have to use.

While knowing how to do this with your dogs may never be used, it sure does not hurt to know how!

Plus this gives you a fun activity to do with your dogs and family.

Here's a video of a family dog I'm teaching to find lost and missing persons with her owner. Bella is three years old and did not have an formal training before starting to learn how to find a missing person. She knows basic manners and obedience, enjoys the dog park and swims in the river fetching her toy. This video is one of the first times we asked her to find the boy she lived with. Watch her go!

Your dog can do the same, ask a family member to go hide while you hold the dog until the person is out of sight then let the dog go and see what happens !

You can use a leash or not. We are teaching this dog to be an official trailing-tracking dog and the leash in this case is part of the job. Family dogs can get the job done anyway they are comfortable looking for a family member.

Please leave a comment and let us know what you think. Thanks and stay safe everyone!

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With climate change rising seas and heatwaves, floods, wildfires and storms everywhere it's time to prepare for the worst and pray for the best.

my Wrinkledpups Daisy Mayham 2000-2014

Hot Weather Pet Tip--Weekly tips from Family Disaster Dogs

 Here's the weekly tip from FamilyDisasterDogs.com

Keep pets cool by using frozen water bottles 

placed in crates or sleeping areas where pets can lay 

next to the water bottle and stay cool!

Great for other animals like chickens, rabbits and birds!

all photos copyrighted

Have a great summer !

Here's a great idea for your dog's next car ride or outing in the hot weather!

Working Dogs in Summer Heatwaves-Tips to Know when Your Dog is Hot

The hot days of summer are here again and dogs generally know what to do when the weather is to warm. Unless we ask them to go with us or to do something for us dogs slow down in the warm weather, they find the coolest spot to relax and stay out of direct sunlight if possible.

There are plenty of articles online about what to look for when your pets are overheating, and I highly recommend reading a few to learn more about heat-related canine conditions because a heatstroke can kill your dog, cat or rabbit and actually any animal, including yourself. Here's a good article to start with from the AKC Canine Health Foundation


As a master groomer who has worked in many pet grooming shops and show or boarding kennels without air conditioning in some of the hottest locations in the USA, I have dealt with animals overheating and saved the life of quite a few. I also worked search dogs in 100 degree weather and have shown weight-pulling pit bulls in Texas summer heat over 100 degrees.

Here's a few tips I've learned through the years of raising and working with dogs indoors and outside. 

1. Watch your dog in the heat of the day, usually between the hours of 10am-4pm if they are not in a cool place.

2. Do not leave pets where they can overheat and not reach water. Like in cars, yards without shade, kennels on cement slabs without dirt or shade. Sunny house rooms without AC-pull the drapes to keep the heat out.

3. Always try to make sure they are in a nice cool place with plenty of water.

4. Beware of grooming shops because when there are many pets in one room, in cages and hair dryers blowing the room can overheat quickly. Dogs die often in grooming shops because of this. (No I never lost a pet while working) Ask your groomer if they have AC ? and what do they do to ensure pets stay cool when hair dryers are running? Do they cage dry pets? Cage drying is Very dangerous in hot weather if they use heat. It's best to get an early morning appointment if you can.

5. Ask boarding kennels and pet sitters about air conditioning and how they keep pets cool too. Just think of the number of animals housed in one spot and how quickly that spot can heat up. Be sure to inspect the place your pets will stay in hot weather. Many kennels run misting water spray over outdoor runs and this keeps the wire and cement cooler. Pets can get burnt feet too if dog walkers or kennels are not careful.

source

Panting with the tongue hanging out is normal for dogs to do in many areas of daily life, they pant when they are happy, stressed or excited and also as a means to sweat off heat in the body. They cannot sweat like we do because of the fur covering their bodies so they sweat where there is no fur, the pads of the feet, a little bit on the ears, the belly or underarms a little but nothing like we humans do. Dogs don't get smelly sweaty underarms, thank god!

Panting is a good indicator for when your animal is overheating, especially in pet birds, chickens, rabbits and cats who do not pant unless they are overheating or really stressed out. When you see these animals panting then the time has come to cool them down by spraying water around and over them or moving them to a cool place. If stress related, calm them.

Keep an eye on panting dogs who are working or in warm location and watch for the dog's tongue to roll over at the end when they are panting and the mouth drying up, not slobbering as much means the dog is starting to overheat. Time to act and cool them down, now!

Frozen water bottles are great to place in cages and crates when transporting animals in hot weather. A large frozen soda bottle of water lasts a couple hours in outdoor rabbit cages or dog crates. Tie in place so the animal can lay next to the bottle. Of course make sure they have water or they will try to get the ice.

Stay cool and safe this summer everyone!

copyright A. Higgins Daisy's pups pool 

Did you know they make dog scarf that acts like a cooling off aid??

Here's a good one to try!

Here's one like a collar too!


Last but not least, a really good idea for crates, car rides, elderly pets and puppies-a cooling blanket





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