Human Scent and Fear from a Dog's Point of View

The Scent of Fear or Panic

Human Scent and Fear from a Dog's Point of View

by Amber Higgins

An excellent working Bloodhound getting credit for his work in Florida, from my Incredible Sue and Homer Bloodlines

Search Dog Handlers have long known that each emotion in a person produces different scents or pheromones (detectable chemical substances) that our dogs are able to detect and follow. Prison Dogs are known to be able to detect a criminal who fears getting caught in a crowd of people who are not afraid and Area Search dogs are able to find lost subjects by smelling panic in the air because a person who is lost soon becomes disorientated, confused and panics, if they are trained for these panic pheromones.

Qualified K9 Trainers can purchase different synthetic scent or pheromones from chemical laboratories that manufacture scents and chemicals for perfume, medical drugs and research companies. Access to these chemicals is not allowed to the public because of the danger of some of the available chemicals.

A 2011 study published in Science magazine showed that tears act as a chemo signal or a chemical substance detectable by others. Not only did men who sniffed tears (which were brought on by negative emotions) find photographs of women’s faces less attractive, the men also reported that they were less sexually aroused, and the scientific data backed it up.

Not only are dogs able to detect different emotions and scents but also people can unconsciously detect whether someone is stressed or scared by smelling a chemical pheromone released in their sweat, according to researchers who have investigated the underarm secretions of petrified skydivers.

This is very interesting and explains why some dogs react to people who are afraid of them and also helps the dog handler to read the dog better through understanding how emotions affect scent.


Click here to read the article in The Guardian 

Pictured below is Bloodhound Search Dog Lilly and her owner/handler Tammy; about 2002

Lilly came to Family Disaster Dogs author's Arkansas kennel as a older dog
from Pam Andrew's well known Florida SAR BH Kennel, after a few years
Lilly went to live with Tammy so Lilly could teach Tammy mantrailing, our dogs do teach us.
Tammy also took home one of the author's Wrinkledpups Bloodhounds, Burt.
The three of them went on to be very successful team...

The newspaper article above is about how Burt and Lilly were Tammy's first Bloodhounds and on their first search after months of training the dogs trailed a missing elderly couple from a parked car in a wooded area to a vacant cabin in the woods. Nothing or nobody was found until the second try or restart when the dogs worked the trail right back to the cabin and refused to leave the cabin. Lilly laid on the old sofa then on the floor next to it, restless and pawing like to make herself a bed, circling to lay down then Burt would stare at a wall and lay there refusing to leave. Tammy called me for advice and I realized the dogs knew more then the eyes could see and advised her to look under the cabin floor and in the walls for evidence to the whereabouts of the missing couple.

The dogs were right, like they always are. The police upon opening up the floor and walls found the bodies of the couple who had been missing for months. It was an incredible and horrible discovery and closed a very well known case. Thanks to the dogs and Tammy dedication.

Never under estimate a dog's nose, especially a Bloodhound.

Below is great article I thought you might find interesting about a how a dog’s nose should be cared for and why the nose is so effective in tracking down odors.

On the Whole Dog Journal Page, Dr. Randy Kidd, DVM, PhD explains “The dog’s nose may be his most powerful organ and it is certainly one of the most dynamic of all animal systems, with activities that range from basic smell detection, to sensing fear, to memory, to emotions, to mate-and pack-selection, on to a genetic history carried from one generation to the next.

Fortunately, disease does not often way lay its functional capability, and fortunately again, most of the diseases of the nose are easily treated naturally.

You can read more of the article by clicking this Link 

Some of my dogs who are related to those in the pictures above; 3 Pictured below were certified SAR

A few of my Wrinkledpups Dogs from 1997-2013

Rea Valley's Incredible Sue 1996-2007
Foundation Dam of Wrinkledpups
Certified Expert Level Mantrailer
active duty 1998-2005

Wrinkledpups Daisy Mayham 2000-2013
She helped write the book

More reading

Teach your dog to find you in the

Family Disaster Dogs book

Tracking Dog: Theory & Methods K9 Scent Training: A Manual for Training Your Identification, 

Tracking and Detection Dog (K9 Professional Training Series)

Finding a Lost Dog

Tips and Tricks for Finding a Lost Dog

Realizing your dog is missing is a horrible feeling. Finding your dog can be one of the most difficult things to do because dogs can cover a lot of ground in a very short time. 

Dogs are friendly and will get into a car with strangers or follow a stranger home if they can not find you. The fact that your dog will return to the spot they last saw you in greatly overlooked when a dog is lost. Here are tips for finding your lost dog.

Irish Water Spaniel Kelly

An old Hunting Dog Trick

Hunters who use dogs know to leave their jacket where they turned the dogs loose if the dogs have not returned from the hunt by the time the hunters leave the field. The hunter will return the next day to find the dogs sleeping on the jackets.

When you first realize the dog is missing place a piece of your clothing at the last place you saw the dog. If the dog escaped from the yard or house then place the dog’s bed or blanket where they can find it.  Place the bed outside of the yard or house with a bowl of food.

If the dog got loose when you were walking it in a public place then leave an article of yours at the spot you lost the dog and then begin the search. Chances are when you check back at the Last Known Location of the dog the dog will be there wondering where you are.

An old Dog Breeder Trick

If the dog has ran off from your home or yard put some of your dog’s food or snacks in the dog’s bowl. This works best with dry food so if your dog eats wet food but likes dry dog treats use treats instead.

The idea is to shake the food in the bowl so that the dog thinks you are feeding. The dog can hear the food hit the bottom of the bowl from a very long way away. Keep this in mind as you make the food hit the bowl sound like feeding time.

You can use your hand to drop the food piece by piece into the bowl as a tease to prompt the dog to come to you. Rocks and a tin can will work too if a bowl and food are not nearby.  This works great for horses that are hard to catch too.

Let’s Go Trick

If the dog has just now ran off or became lost try honking the horn on your car. Animals often come to noises to investigate what is going on. If your dog knows the sound of the horn they will come to the car. Starting the car can work the same way. 

Dogs learn how the cars in the family each sound like and they know when you are leaving you start the car. If the dog is lost in a strange place and arrived in the car when they hear the car start they will not want to be left behind and will return to the car. This works at home for dogs who like to go for rides in the family car. 

I hope these tips and tricks help if your dog is ever missing.

Sorry if we missed you at the Dec 12th book signing. The weather and flu prevailed. I look forward to meeting you at the soon to be rescheduled event as well as the upcoming book tour starting in February. Check back soon for updates or sign up for updates on the right sidebar.

If you would like to set up a book signing or dog training event feel free to use to contact box at right.

Happy New Year

Holiday Book Signing

Holiday Author Meet and Greet !

Book Signing !

Dec 12th 2015   Saturday  11am to 1 pm

Learn how your dog can Rescue You! 

Siuslaw River Coffee Roasters

1240 Bay Street (at the bridge)

Florence, OR 97439

(541) 997-3443

How a Dog Follows its Nose

How a Dog Follows its Nose

Understanding Tracking Dogs

The most effective and quickest way for your dog to know who to look for is if you have the ability to tell the dog who the person is. Then the dog can go straight to the person.

Otherwise, if we can not tell the dog which person to look for, the dog can only work by finding any and all human scent in the area which is often contaminated with many other persons odors.

This is why there are different types of search and rescue dogs. Air Scenting Dogs do an Area Search to seek out any human scent in an area while a Tracking or Trailing Dog follows the exact path of only the one person they are told to find.


The family dog already knows the members of the household and friends by name who visit while the professional search dog is usually only called out to find strangers.
This difference is an advantage in training our pets for this job because the person's name can often be used to tell the dog who you wish to find instead of having to gather a scent article as outlined below.


You can teach your dog to know everybody's name by using the person's name when you talk to your dog and by reading many of the lessons here at Family Disaster Dogs.


To be on the safe side, it is always a good idea to Prepare to Train and Prepare to Use your Family Disaster Dog ahead of time by gathering "scent articles" in order for your dog to know exactly who to look for in case the odors from a disaster are overwhelming and confusing.


The gathering of a scent article is usually preformed at the search incident by a search dog handler who speaks to friends and family of the missing person before starting an actual search. Sometimes this is done by incident command and the information is passed onto the search dog handler.


For family use, we will skip the middle man because you, the family, will have this information and the scent article ready ahead of time.


Keep in mind, a scent article is a life saver and if you ever have to call on a professional search dog team for a lost family member, critical time will be saved if you are ready when help arrives.


with your own dog and any other search dog who comes on-call to help you.


One of the easiest ways to find a lost person is to give a dog the person's scent and watch him find the scent.


The dog is only looking for the smell and not for the actual person. They do not necessarily associate the scent with the person unless the person is somebody they know very well with that scent.

When you are using a "scent article" your dog will be "tracking" or "trailing" the exact person.

One piece of information that is often misunderstood about a dog hunting with its nose is how the dog is using the nose, the dog has different ways it can use its nose.


These different ways are called, Tracking, Trailing and Air Scenting.


"Tracking" or "Trailing" are different forms of following the exact scent of one person.


The two ways are different because;


When a dog "Tracks" he follows the exact footprints of a person but when a dog "Trails" a person, they follow the scent cloud left behind by the person's footprint trail.


This scent cloud can drift away from the exact location of the footprint, therefore a "trailing" dog may be working a few feet away from the person's actual footprint spot in the dirt.


A dog that is, "Tracking", will work the exact footprints and often lose the "trail" if the person does certain things that confuse the dog and handler's ability to read the dog but the dog is smart and if allowed by its handler, the dog will switch to "Trailing" the person's scent via the scent cloud above ground when this happens.


Some trainers and most Tracking Show Dog courses do not allow the dog to switch methods. They want the dog to use one method or the other. When search dogs are certified to work they and their handler have to a pass test in whichever methods they specialize in.


We are going to disregard the show dog rules and save the advanced dog rules for the advanced lessons.


On this blog we are working with pets and we want to give our dogs the advantage of using whichever method that works for them to locate the person we ask them to find.


Bloodhounds like Bo pictured below, work by using any of these 3 methods that work at the time depending on the situation. The trailing Bloodhound may have its nose on the ground then 6 inches above the ground or a foot high in the air !! ...And they always find their man!


The other way search dogs find people is by air scenting the area for any person's scent, the dog works on eliminating all human scent in that area. Air scenting dogs work an area for any scent they are given or trained to find. Some are trained to find people, alive or dead and others are trained to find evidence or items.


Cadaver dogs are trained to find the scent of a dead body, and a dog trained for water rescue would have to learn how that same scent changes in a watery condition.


Air Scenting will be covered in separate and advanced lessons.


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Get The Family Disaster Dogs Book for all the lessons and lists of needed items so you can be prepared !

Next you should Read How to Gather a Scent Article in the article called Gathering Scent Articles 4 Your Dog 2 Find You !

My "Wrinkledpups Daisy Mayham" AKC Bloodhound

Here is a great article about the science of smell from the Iowa State Univ.

Although the research and article is about a person's olfactory response, the knowledge can help you to have a better understanding of your dog's abilities which 

The Science of Smell from Iowa State

Olfaction, the sense of smell, is the least understood of the five senses.

An odorant is a substance capable of eliciting an olfactory response whereas odor is the sensation

resulting from stimulation of the olfactory organs.


Thank you Iowa State Univ. for providing this helpful article.