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TERRA PO Box 293366 Nashville, TN 37229 1.866.927.4601 |
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TRAILING DOG Trailing dogs are also scent-discriminative. They follow the ground trail laid by the skin rafts falling from a person as they travel through an area. As time elapses and weather conditions change, this limited scent pool dissipates; this is why it is so important to call in SAR efforts as soon as possible. |
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Training Training is very similar to the scent-specific area search dog because they are both scent-discriminative. Trailing dogs search for individually specific scent on the ground. The search progresses from runaways to weaker trails that are contaminated with heavy foot traffic and increasingly aged, all to recreate the real-life common time-lapse between when the subject went missing, when the subject was reported missing, and when SAR dogs are called in to assist. Weathered trailing dogs are capable of awe-inspiring feats of following scent.
Common Uses · Locating subjects in the same scenarios as listed above for scent-specific, air-scenting, area search dogs. · Finding a direction of travel away from the PLS · Indicating that a subject moved from the PLS by car instead of by foot · “Missing scent”—when there is no scent article
Common Questions What is the difference between a tracking dog and a trailing dog? Trailing dogs differ from tracking dogs in that they scent human scent on the ground, following the general path of a person through an area, while tracking dogs scent the vegetative decomposition of tread upon ground, which is commonly inconsistent.
What is the difference between a trailing dog and a scent-specific, air-scenting, area search dog? Trailing dogs scent from the ground while air-scenting dogs scent from the air. Often, trailing dogs work on-lead while air-scenting dogs work free. While both are scent-specific, trailing dogs follow the general path travelled by a subject while air-scenting dogs will go directly to a subject, cutting-off the trail and diverting to the subject through the highest concentration of scent in the air. Air-scenting dogs are beneficial in highly time-lapsed searches where the remaining ground scent has almost disappeared; the air-scenting dog will locate the scent in the air being given off by the subject from their current location, increasing the probability of find because this is now the highest concentration of scent. Trailing dogs often offer a direction of travel that assists in placing air-scenting dogs in areas of most probable find. There are also many instances though where trailing dogs are more beneficial to search efforts than area search dogs. In these and many other ways, best results are available through a collaborative effort of air-scenting and trailing dogs.
*TERRA commonly works in mutual-aid capacities with local Tracking/Trailing teams and individuals from the surrounding area who specialize in this type of K-9 SAR. Thanks to their commitment to excellence, we are able to provide the most capable search effort(s) to Middle TN. |
