Just like people, we SAR Dogs have different skills. Some of us are good at one thing, while other dogs are good at several things. Our skills depend on our breed. But the skill all us canines have is the way we can smell with our nose. That's what makes us dogs an important part of the Search and Rescue Team.
I'm an Air Scent Dog. You can see me smelling the air in this picture. Lots of people think we sniff the ground to find people, but we actually smell the air for a human scent. Here's how we do it.
Kind of like the way dogs shed hair, people shed cells. The bigger cells fall to the ground and the smaller particles float in the air. Even though these cells need a microscope to see them, dogs can smell them. Our noses can be up to 10,000 times better than humans!
When looking for people I follow the scent of any human, not just a particular person. That's why Air Scent Dogs work best in large parks or private lands closed off with no other people around. Early mornings or late afternoons on cool, cloudy days when there is a light wind is best for our searches.
Of course there are dogs who sniff the ground. They are Trailing Dogs, sometimes also called Tracking Dogs. They work at a fast pace and follow the scent of the lost person.
To find someone who is missing, Trailing Dogs need to smell something which belongs to that person, like a shirt or socks or even a hat. When they know the scent, they look for just that smell. Their nose is used to find the exact scent, much like you would use your eyes to find a red crayon in a box of crayons.
Trailing Dogs give both negative and positive responses along the scent trail. Negative responses tell the handler the scent isn't as strong or is gone. Positive responses mean the dog found the trail and is working it.
Another search and rescue canine skill is the Water Search Dog, like Sookie in this picture. Looking for drowning victims, Water Search Dogs work along the shore and in boats to locate the scent as it rises through the water.
On this mission, Sookie stands at the front of the boat, leans closer and closer to the water and then slaps and bites at the surface when a person underwater is found. Sookie's handler, Bud, then drops a marker into the water and the boat returns to shore. Divers return to where the marker is to locate the drowned victim.
In this picture, handler Tish and her dog Izzy search a burned down building for a possible fire victim. Izzy is trained as a Human Remains Detection Dog, frequently called a Cadaver Dog. Their job is to find dead people. That doesn't sound so pretty, but it is an important job to families of the victims and to the justice system if there was a crime. HRD Dogs are trained to detect the body's scent rising from the soil, the same way dogs find where they buried a bone.
HRD Dogs can find very small parts or even blood and may work above or below ground. They are frequently used after disasters like tornadoes or hurricanes. Many of these dogs, along with their handlers, worked long hours searching for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The final skilled canine is the Avalanche Dog. We don't have any of these dogs in Kentucky, but in areas where skiing is a big sport, these dogs are important. They search for people who are trapped under the snow. Avalance Dogs can find someone under as much as 15 feet of snow.
Now that you know all about us dogs, it's time for me to tell you about my first Search And Rescue. Just click my picture on the bottom right to go to the next page.
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