Whether you’re searching for drugs or a missing person, K9 Scent Training will improve your K9 team’s capabilities in the field. Use proven techniques to train your dog for: Scent identification line-ups to indicate a scent connection between crime-scene evidence and a suspect. Tracking along a wide variety of track types, including the cold track, the broken-off track and tracks that run over or under cross-tracks. Detection work for searches in buildings, vehicles, open terrain and more. In this must-have guide for SAR teams and police K9 trainers and handlers, Dr. Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak present everything you need to know to build or improve a scent training program. Scent training involves high-stakes work, and in the case of a search for a missing person, the right training for your K9 can mean the difference between life and death. Beginning with the science behind odors and how dogs perceive them, Resi and Ruud show you how to harness that knowledge to eliminate training problems and maximize your dog’s potential. You’ll learn how to start scent training for young dogs using simple exercises before building up to more complex training. Finally, using techniques they’ve perfected over decades, Resi and Ruud share their specialized, step-by-step programs for advanced scent identification training and tracking. Get a free ebook through the Shelfie app with the purchase of a print copy.

This book on the training of scenting dogs explains the composition of scent, how it works in the dog's nose, and what affects scent. It contains chapters on the sense of smell, anatomy and physiology, the human as scent source, the transmission of scent and factors that influence the working with scenting dogs.

This step-by-step guide will help you teach any dog the basics of groundtracking, air scenting, or how to simply have fun finding objects.

What is it? What is the reason that allows us to train dogs to find whatever it is we seem to be seeking? Dogs are an amazing animal with a nose to prove it. There are also the advantages of being able to use this domesticated and loving animal to perform tasks for us just because they love the attention, food or the toy at the end of the task. There really is no greater joy than to watch your dog do what you have trained it to do and do it well. But how does this work? What is scent theory? Do we really know how and why our dogs do what they do? The word theory means an idea, an opinion in some cases. There is real science behind the structure and abilities of a dogs olfactory but a theory about what they do with that scent is just that, a theory. I have been a search and rescue K9 tracking and trailing handler for over 10 years and have been shown and made a believer out of a scent theory that works, and works well, not just on some dogs but all dogs I have worked with. In this book I will present what I was taught, what I have found to be realistic and workable and what can help you train your dog to become a master tracker, trailer, air scent, drug or cadaver dog. The information in this book is also derived from experiences of not only myself but many handlers I have worked with over the years, some in search and rescue and some from law enforcement.

Renowned K9 trainer and handler Jan Kaldenbach brings his considerable expertise to bear on the subject of scent detection in K9s in his classic work on scent detection, now back in print. Beginning with some notes on canine intelligence and observation, Kaldenbach also covers topics such as the perception of odors; the structure of the nose and how it works; the right dog and handler for scent detection work; and how dogs can find human beings. Each topic is accompanied by detailed diagrams and illustrations. He then includes detailed instruction on how to train a K9 in scent detection for tracking work, drug detection and human scent discrimination. Two approaches round out the book. The first is a description of Police Detector Dog Requirements in the Netherlands, to help police administrators develop specific targets for their K9 units. The second is a series of case files from Kaldenbach's own experience, providing insights into the benefits and problems of training and using K9s for scent detection work.

A “haunting meditation on trust, hope and love” by a woman who adopts and trains a Golden Retriever puppy to become a search-and-rescue dog (People). In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Susannah Charleson’s attention was caught by a newspaper photograph of a canine handler, his exhausted face buried in the fur of his search-and-rescue dog. Susannah, a dog lover and pilot with search experience herself, was so moved by the image that she decided to volunteer with a local canine team, plunging herself into an astonishing new world. While the team worked long hours for nonexistent pay and often heart-wrenching results, Charleson discovered the joy of working in partnership with a canine friend and the satisfaction of using their combined skills to help her fellow human beings. Once she qualified to train a dog of her own, Charleson adopted Puzzle—a smart, spirited Golden Retriever puppy who exhibited unique aptitudes as a working dog, but was a bit less interested in the role of compliant house pet. Scent of the Missing is the story of Charleson’s adventures with Puzzle as they search for a lost teen; an Alzheimer’s patient wandering in the cold; and signs of the crew amid the debris of the space shuttle Columbia disaster—all while unraveling the mystery of the bond between humans and dogs. “A riveting view of both the human animal bond and the training of search and rescue dogs. All dog lovers and people interested in training service dogs should read this book.” —Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make Us Human

This comprehensive book takes you, the handler, from the basics through challenging advanced exercises. Color photographs and helpful diagrams, plus step-by-step instructions, walk you through the basics, coach you on improving your skills, and help you to work through errors and challenges. Fred's years of professional experiences provide a wealth of insights and help you understand that professional scent problems are much the same as yours.