A guide to a dog's tracking ability

A Guide to Dog Tracking

Comparable to the importance of vision or hearing to humans, a dog’s sense of smell is their most relied upon sense. The noses of dogs feature a much higher number of scent receptors than humans, giving canines a sense of smell that has been estimated to be at least 1,000 times superior to humans. The brains of dogs are also more highly developed at detecting scent. As a result, a dog’s sense of smell is so powerful it can detect scents humans cannot. Dogs can also detect faint scents that are heavily masked by other scents in an area. In nature, dogs used their sense of smell to track down food. They also use scent as a means of communication. For instance, when dogs urinate around an area, they are leaving their scent and marking their territory, a sign that other dogs will be sure to notice. When male dogs sniff the urine of female dogs they can also detect pheromones to let them know she is in heat.

Dog tracking takes the natural ability of a dog to detect odors and uses positive reinforcement, training, and other incentives to teach dogs to track a variety of specific odors and for different purposes. Canines can be trained to detect bombs, locate missing persons, find drugs, hunt down criminals on the run, detect dead bodies, track other animals, and even sniff out bed bugs. These dogs are used by the police, military, government agencies, and by hunters to track down game. Tracking is also a sport found in competition.

Here are some excellent resources covering all aspects of dog tracking.