Tracking

Everyone smells differently, some more than others The parts of the human body most recognizable by smell are the armpits and genital areas. (Moisture is crucial for bacterial growth that produces much of the human scent). Both of these areas contain eccrine sweat glands, which produce moisture; sebaceous glands, which produce oils that bacteria turn into carboxylic acids; and apocrine glands, which produce steroid-like odour molecules. Together, they form BASE (Bacterial action on Apocrine, Sebaceous, and Eccrine secretions) scent. Prepubescent children lack apocrine glands (which is why they do not need to wear deodorant) and therefore do not have full BASE scent. Children naturally smell different to adults and a dog will recognise a child as a child through their scent and lack apocrine odour. Older adults smell differently to young adults as hormones change in the body as we mature (think menopause and declining testosterone). The odourtype of people with health conditions can also smell odd to a dog. A person with mental illness such as depression, bipolar or schizophrenia will have a distinct scent to a dog compared to a healthy person as the chemistry of these people is often distorted. People on medication can also smell strange to a dog as medications can change a person's odourtype. It is not unusual for a dog to be a bit standoffish with people they normally know and like when that person is unwell or on medication, because the person smells odd to the dog. In training it is important to use a range of tracklayers from different age groups, sex and in differing health. I have heard many times from different handlers that their dogs will not track a person who smokes cigarettes, and this may well be the case, however in tracking competition often you will have no choice in the tracklayer and will not be able to specify the scent of the person, so it is important to practice with tracklayers who smoke. It is the responsibility of the trainer to make sure the dog has been exposed to many different odourtypes so that the dog learns to track the specified scent no matter the tracklayer. Understanding the language of tracking: Reading your dog In order for us to communicate with our dogs we must firstly understand what the dog is saying. Dogs are very good at understanding human body language, mood and intention. This is why we must be hyper vigilant about the body language we are using when working our dogs to minimise any unintentional cues we may give them. Unfortunately humans are very poor at understanding dog (and human) body language, mood and intention. Dogs don't really understand that we, their handlers, can't read their body language so they continue to give us what they perceive as strong communicative cues about what they are doing. Handlers need to study their dogs when they are working scent in order to begin to recognise the cues our dogs use to indicate a range of things to us, their handlers, about the scent. Each dog is an individual and will have different body language they use to indicate when they are in a scent pool or cone, following a scent trail, lost the scent, searching for the scent and when other scents are present. The best time to study this is when the dog is running free looking for rabbits or a lost ball. Observing your dog while it solves scent problems unhindered by leads and a handler will help you to start to read your dog's body language and what different actions mean. Dogs know far more about scent than we do, what we have to do is learn to interpret what they are saying.