# Air Scenting



## Eric Zelaya (Dec 21, 2014)

Alright everyone, 

I have been involved with SAR for 7 years, but have only recently become a handler. I currently have an area search K-9 and my question is this. How important is it to work the dog into the wind? Is there a significance in locating a subject when you have the wind to your back or the wind to your face? The reason I ask this is that it appears when I deploy my dog and there is no to minimal wind, she doesnt locate the subject until we are significantly close. When I deploy her into the wind, it appears she catches the scent and locates faster. I have also noticed that when she is not in scent, she tends to range very close to me. When she is in scent, she will range farther. Any input is appreciated


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## angelo sintubin (Jul 21, 2013)

Eric Zelaya said:


> Alright everyone,
> 
> I have been involved with SAR for 7 years, but have only recently become a handler. I currently have an area search K-9 and my question is this. How important is it to work the dog into the wind? Is there a significance in locating a subject when you have the wind to your back or the wind to your face? The reason I ask this is that it appears when I deploy my dog and there is no to minimal wind, she doesnt locate the subject until we are significantly close. When I deploy her into the wind, it appears she catches the scent and locates faster. I have also noticed that when she is not in scent, she tends to range very close to me. When she is in scent, she will range farther. Any input is appreciated


Imo. And I don't do that work. It seems very normal. If the dog doesn't have the wind in his nose. But works with the wind from behind. He can not smell the subject from far away.
Question. If you go on a walk off leash. How far do your dog go away from you?


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## Eric Zelaya (Dec 21, 2014)

Depends, on leash in the woods she will go a little in front of me, off leash in urban she stays next to me


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Mostly working into the wind but our major winds are variable and light so it is more a matter of working with the terrain.

In a heavy wind I have worked with it at my back with broad sweeps and have the dog hook into the odor. Works very well that way on water.


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## Eric Zelaya (Dec 21, 2014)

I have noticed 2 things, If I do a crescent sweep or start gridding, she will pick up scent, and if I sweep run her along the outside of the woodline (subject in woods) she will also hook onto the subjects scent


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

How close is very close. You may want to work with your flankers at training and try to get her to range between them. You will be doing a ton of extra work if she is not ranging while scanning to pick up odor. 

You can build some muscle memory with that in training in an open field with flankers left and right.


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## Eric Zelaya (Dec 21, 2014)

It all depends. When not in scent, she will range about 40 feet or less in front of me, when in scent, she will range farther then this and will follow the scent until she reaches the subject


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## Eric Zelaya (Dec 21, 2014)

I should also let everyone know (for those that dont) that I have a Cathoula. They tend to be anywhere from short to medium ranging in the woods


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

It would be good to expand. One way you can do that if she is moving out front is to zig zag yourself. When you zig she should change direction with you and move out--you will have to move less than she does. I tweet a whistle to notify my guy I am changing direction on sweeps but he ranges out closer to 100 feet in open terrain, 50 in dense woods (HR,not live)


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## Eric Zelaya (Dec 21, 2014)

I will try that. I have researched other Catahoula owners and found this out, Cathoulas will make short sweeps away from the handlers and then come back. This is the dogs way of indicating that it has searched the current area you are in and is ready to move on.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Probably more info than you wanted.....

First I would suggest you read a couple of books to help explain what is going on. 

Scent and the Scenting Dog by Wm Syrotuck – this was one of the original books on using dog for SAR work. Some of the info is old and knowledge of how the dog’s nose actually works has improved but it does lay a good foundation of scent theory.

Practical Scent Dog Training by Lou Button – this lady belonged to a sar team out west and professionally trained dogs. Her book is a mix of airscent and trailing work but probably one of the best books I’ve seen for the money.

Christy Judah has written several books and are good general knowledge books. 

I would ask your teammates and see if they have anything in their dog libraries to loan you. And think about books on other scent issues. The methods used for bomb detection may not be so far off from human detection or cadaver detection. Instead of searching a truck or a room, you are searching 40 – 120 – or 160 acres. In order for the dog to detect the odor one of two things have to happen. Either the odor gets to the dog’s nose or you have to get the dog’s nose to the odor. If neither connect then the dog won’t find it.

Most of what you are now building knowledge of is we all call the Theory of Scent or scent theory. Basically imagine yourself as the Peanuts character Pigpen. That’s you. You are throwing off huge amounts of odor which is a combination of old skin cells, oils, volatile compounds, gases, etc . To help yourself understand how the dog is working try pulling some examples from your life experiences. If you stand upwind for the local Burger King you probably won’t smell too much but if you stand downwind, you get all the smell of hamburgers cooking. From the upwind side of the BK walk toward the restaurant, how close do you have to be before you start smelling something? Now try the downwind side. Now you catch the odor hundreds of yards downrange. Then try walking perpendicular (or across the prevailing wind) so that you move in and out of the downwind air flow. Why do you have to be very close in one instance and not in the other? How come you smell nothing one minute, get a noseful of odor the next and, as you continue to walk crosswind, then lose the odor? The answer is the wind or the movement of air. The wind helps carry and move scent to the nose as does terrain and terrain features. When the dog is working and catches scent on the crosswind, that’s when you get the head snap or hook that Nancy talks of.

Also in hilly or mountainous country the scent will move up and down the elevations based on time of day (warm weather the scent moves up slope, and downslope when it’s cooling off). Scent will also move and collect into drainage features (think of it behaving like water but it’s a gas). It will shift and move/consolidate into pools or patches of scent. We use terms like pooling, lofting, chimneying, looping, diffusion, etc to describe how the scent is moving. You never, ever, stop learning the scent theory and you will literally spend your whole life learning about it.

This is a good general description of how wind, terrain, and sun affect odor movement. https://houndandthefound.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/how-scent-and-airflow-works/

This link was about trailing dogs but he shows topo maps of how the trailing dog working back and forth across the missing subjects scent and how the terrain affected it. http://kylewarrendogs.com/2009/04/01/scent-movement-for-trailing-dogs/

Woods, as you are finding out “breathe”. Based on time of day, whether it’s overcast or the sun is shining, terrain features, etc you can use your scent theory to help your dog be a more effective search tool. Knowing how the scent moves you can perform hasty searches simply by walking the perimeter around a wooded area. I knew one guy who found all his subjects simply by walking down a boundary fire road and when he got the head snap sent his dog in for the find. Found all his folks in 30 minutes but spent the next 5 hours just walking around the woods doing map problems because the “search” was supposed to last a set amount of time.

This really comes up if you are doing hasty searches. This is why the dog folks may not work the whole sector but vital parts such as drainages, ridgelines, brushlines, etc. which are all places that puts the dog in the best possible location to quickly catch odor.

Most airscent handlers have little puffer bottle of chalk to use to help determine what the wind is doing. Something to remember is that what the wind is doing at your shoulder level can be vastly different then what is occurring at the dog’s level. One of the things I’ve seen people do is to take a 6ft stick and put flagging tape at intervals down the pole. Then stand it up and watch that happens. Throw a smoke bomb into a building to see how it’s actually breathing and venting. Do the same thing in woods. Watch how the smoke moves, that’s what scent is doing. Good dog handling and reading your dog is part art, part skill. When you are in synch and have a good partnership the effect is pure magic and you are a valuable asset to the search effort. Poor handling skills or a lacking partnership and you are no better than someone out for a walk in the woods. Right now you are asking all the right questions and looking for answers. Don’t ever stop. When you see your dog do something always keep asking yourself “why” did the dog do that. Science is still playing catch-up and we still don’t have answers for why the dog can do what it does but let the dog tell you what it can and can’t do. And what’s possible for one may not be for yours. That’s what makes this the best job in the world.


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## Nick Hrycaj (Mar 30, 2014)

Burger king analogy Is pretty sweet! I don't think its likely apples to apples for a human to replicate what a dog is smelling as far as whole picture but like the idea of it as a handler exercise in wind and scent tolerance. I'm going to look goofy walking around the building sniffing loudly...


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Nick Hrycaj said:


> I'm going to look goofy walking around the building sniffing loudly...


Ha, Ha. Try not to pee on the shrubs while you are out there sniffing around......

The next best example is someone one who smokes. I don't so when one walks past me I can tell. I can tell if he's just smoked recently or not. Stand downwind of one and you come away smelling nothing but smoke. Be in the company of one and your clothes reek of the scent transfer. Have someone walk past you smoking. You can actually trail them by following the scent cone of the cigarette smoke. Have them sit down and do the same thing working the odor to source.

You can do the same thing by putting out some good fresh MJ, blindfolding your handlers and having them work the smell to source. Stinky cadaver works good too. Nice exercise that works real well in a room with a little bit of a breeze or ventilation. Might help them to understand and think like a dog. If you want a laugh, skip the blindfold, make your hide and then put out visual dummy aids. See how much they forget to smell and use their eyes instead.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Speaking of stinky cadaver, I'm not sure why but I cannot smell it. At least not the same way other people do. First time I was ever around it, was a cinder block sized amount that had been cooking in a van. People started dry heaving once the door opened. I couldn't smell it. I got about 6" from it and only noticed it had a faint odor.

That was curious to me. So I tried it with other things and still nothing. So, your sentence caught my eye mostly because I smell everything, stuff most people wouldn't usually notice and even kind of bizarre yet, I can't seem to smell HR. Maybe it's the idea of what it is paired with the smell that gets to people?


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Nicole Stark said:


> Speaking of stinky cadaver, I'm not sure why but I cannot smell it. At least not the same way other people do. First time I was ever around it, was a cinder block sized amount that had been cooking in a van. People started dry heaving once the door opened. I couldn't smell it. I got about 6" from it and only noticed it had a faint odor.
> 
> That was curious to me. So I tried it with other things and still nothing. So, your sentence caught my eye mostly because I smell everything, stuff most people wouldn't usually notice and even kind of bizarre yet, I can't seem to smell HR. Maybe it's the idea of what it is paired with the smell that gets to people?



When the team I was on went to Dr. Bass's Body Farm in Knoxville there were a couple of teams from California there.

When one of the teams came in the "yard" we were already in there.

One of their team members walked in and started dry heaving. He immediately turned around and said

"I don't think cadaver work is something I want to learn".

If you can stick it out for 15 or so mins your nose/mind seems to adjust.

I do think there may be something to your idea of "what is paired with the smell."

Outside the yard was no more then 20 ft away from where the person was when he made the comment but on the other side of the fence where there was a bit of visual to go with the odor.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

My understanding is that humans acclimatize to a scent and then no longer smell it or notice it. Dogs on the other hand never do they constantly smell it. Think about when they reached saturation when they're working a trail or a heavy odor they have to leave it blow out their nose to be able to start working with it again. Well off to do stinky cadaver problems today rubble and shoreline. Come to think of it - when training at the FOREST at WCU-same thing. Overpowering at the start then you just don't notice it.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Nicole Stark said:


> Speaking of stinky cadaver, I'm not sure why but I cannot smell it. At least not the same way other people do.


I wonder if this is something genetically based (the way some people can smell the burnt almond odor of cyanide and others can't) Then could you extrapolate this to the canine world where some dogs' appear to lack the ability to smell certain odors? Could this be a reason why some dogs constantly walk past cadaver odor or don't show an interest in cadaver? That they really can't smell it all that well? Interesting thought....

One thing that also really souped-up my human sniffing ability was that I stopped using masking odors. I switched to "clear", allergy type products and got away from the stinky perfumed laundry detergents, dryer sheets, body sprays, etc. I found that the oils they use to keep you smelling it long after you should be nose blind to it really clogged me up.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

I know folks who can clearly distinguish animal from human decomp with high accuracy. I can to some extent but not as well as some others can. 

For a dog who can do so with all variations of animal remains vs human remains I wonder why I can't get him to distinguish MY STUFF from his toys, particularly my dust mop.

Some of the scent and taste variations among humans ARE genetic. It would be a major defect for a dog not to detect carrion though; they should be hardwired for that.

I got into an argument with one of my mother's caregivers about scented detergents. She thought I was strange for wanting unscented everything. The odor makes my eyes burn. The stuff makes my "tender areas" itch. (body wash that is)....can you begin to imagine what the dog goes through in our world of awful perfumy odors?


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

I've learned to notice the difference between human and animal. Sheep doesn't smell like cow. Nor horse, nor dog. Was on a search and smelled decomp. Called it in because the dog was not reacting to it (we were running a trail and I caught the scent as we went through the cone). They asked me what I thought it was. Told them I didn't know but it wasn't human and not an animal I was familiar with. Found out later it was a bag of dead cats. Years later, I was working a case and caught the smell of decomp. My flanker got all excited saying we found the body. I told him that it wasn't human and it reminded me of the cat odor. Turned out to be a dead cat. That was an eye opener that my brain remembered the similarities of that odor from the one so many years earlier. 
Human cremains smell sweet to me. A little bit like butter. A sort of creamy odor.

I sympathize with the smell sensitivities. I get nauseated with anything musk based. And don't get me started on Febreeze. That stuff should be banned.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

I get what you are saying about that. Remembering odors, distinguishing very small similarities or differences, etc. Normally, this is the case with me, which is why I found it odd that it seemed HR was nearly impossible for me to detect. In every case I had to get right up on it to actually smell it. And even then, I never got that ah ha moment and thought, oh this is what everyone talks about. 

It was more like that magic eye poster thing with me that everyone else in the world seems to be able to see. I've never seen whatever is supposed to be in them. 

Nauseated? The only thing that does that to me is the thought of rats. 

Although, I worked for a guy who was like that with mayonnaise. I couldn't even talk about it because if I did he'd have to reach for the trash can. Hell, he even broke up with a long term girl friend because one day she while eating a sandwich she had a small bit of mayo on her bottom lip. I said come on, you couldn't even try to imagine it was something else? He laughed and said no. He left and ended the relationship over the phone.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Not surprising about the recall on the cat scent.

It's been proven that our sense of smell will trigger more memories then any of our other senses. 

I suspect humans may have some sort of hard wiring also based on our ability to trigger memories from scent.

It's no wonder our dogs have such great recall on scent since that is primary of all their senses.

I don't the smell of Rice Crispys. They remind me of my grandpa clearing the kitchen table with his cane while I was eating a bowl of them. They went with the rest of the stuff on the table. :-o :lol: 

I still eat Rice Crispy treats though. :grin:


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