Trailing dogs will follow the route of a specific person’s scent deposited on the ground as a person moves through an area.
A scent article is necessary so that the dog can discriminate the scent of the missing person from that of other persons or searchers in the same area. A scent article can be anything with the victim's scent on it, but it should not be tainted with scent from someone else if possible. They are usually packaged in a sealed plastic bag to keep it pure. This scent article will hopefully match deposited scent in the search area that the dog will pick up and trail. Scent is affected by temperature, humidity, time and other factors. Because of this, it is very important to field a trailing dog as soon as possible.
How They Are Trained
Trailing dogs are trained to follow a specific scent that is unique to the person that has gone missing or is lost. A scent article is used during training to teach the dog to follow only that specific scent. In the early stages of training, the dog is taught to follow that specific scent in an area that is free of contamination from other human scents. As the K-9 progresses in training, they are taught to follow the specific scent through areas that are increasingly more contaminated, such as residential neighborhoods, parks, and urban downtown areas and shopping centers. The age of the trail is gradually increased as well, teaching the K-9 to search for weaker scents that may have dissipated over time. The reason for this is that it is common for several hours or more to have passed between the time someone may wander off or get lost, and the time that emergency services are called to assist in the search efforts. As the K-9 team progresses in training, more and more distractions are introduced to improve the ability of the K-9 team to deal with a wide variety of scenarios and situations.
Qualifications:
See SAR K-9 Standards with the International Police Work Dog Association
Some uses of a Trailing Dog:
- Locating an Alzheimer or elderly patient who has wandered off from a care facility.
- Locating a lost or missing child who has wandered off from family or home.
- Locating an injured person who may have wandered off from an accident scene.