Dogs in the Service of Humans

A dog is able to pick up the scent of these flakes and follow them. The average dog's nose has an estimated 125 to 220 million scent receptors, while the human nose only has around 5 million (Healthy Pet Magazine, Summer 2002 issue). In fact, depending on the conditions, a dog can pick up a scent up to half a mile away. There is no computer, or robot that is able to do anything close to this. Instead, we use dogs because they are the best at helping us find human beings. .
             Air scent dogs use their noses to detect human scent present in a certain area. This kind of dog is trained to pick up and follow indiscriminate human scent. The handler gets the dog downwind of the place the lost or missing person could be. Once the dog is able to pick up the scent, it will follow it to the source: the lost person. Some types of dogs used for this type of work are Labrador retrievers, Rottweilers, bloodhounds, and German Shepards. Trail and tracking dogs are similar to air scent dogs. These dogs are trained to follow the residual scent of a particular human as he or she passes through an area. The dogs learn how to identify the human's unique scent from a piece of clothing or something he or she had come in contact with. The dog then follows the trail of skin flakes left behind by the lost person. .
             Disaster dogs are air-scenting dogs, yet they are trained to focus on any human scent. They must be well trained in agility, obedience, and endurance. These dogs may have to enter a collapsed building, so they cannot be afraid of sharp objects, heights, or broken glass. There are other types of search-and-rescue dogs who specialize in a few other areas. For example, avalanche dogs. This area requires special skills of the handler as well as the dog. The dog must have the ability to ride a chairlift or to dig a buried victim out of the snow. Since scent drifts upward through snow, dogs are able to locate humans who are buried by avalanches.