Wind And The Effects On Scent Whilst Teaching Your Dog To Track - New Tracking Book Released

April 19, 2011 - PRLog -- Wind and Environment - Effect on Scent.

When talking about the different types of scent, I need to discuss what can affect scent:

1. Wind
2. Temperature - both ground and air
3. Humidity
4. Rain
5. Snow

Obviously, you can understand that all the above would have an effect on scent, however wind has the greatest effect on scent. Wind will have much the same effect as it does on smoke and
dust. In fact, one of the best ways of determining how wind will affect scent is by watching smoke as it is whisked around by the wind.

Another good method for determining how wind has an affect on scent - probably the best - is to close your eyes and imagine a large wall of water rushing in the same direction the wind would be blowing.

Picture in your mind how that water would react as it comes in contact with obstacles like a solid wall or fence. What will the water do? If it were coming directly at the side of two rows of houses with an alley separating the back yards, obviously an alleyway will serve as a sort of funnel for the water to rush down while the houses will cause the water to separate and see the path of least resistance.

This depiction may not be exact, (since water is obviously denser than air), - however it is a good analogy to understand the effect wind has on scent. Wind will do some very strange things to the rafts your dog is attempting to follow. You may notice during tracking that your dog
will follow a consistent 10 to 30 feet on one side of a track, depending on the wind velocity. What your dog is doing is following the rafts that have been blown parallel to the original line of footprints. Your dog is doing the right thing by following the rafts. This is referred to as Peripheral Tracking.

In order for a handler to become as perceptive as his dog, the handler must analyse the wind and at least understand what his dog is doing - hence why you should know exactly where the footprints are and the direction the wind is blowing. Your dog may appear confused and wandering at times, but before you interfere, stand back, and check the wind. Close your eyes and visualise the wall of water, and then if you still think your dog is not following scent, then
you can go ahead and guide him - do not scold him.

All other environmental influences have some varying effect on scent.

• Extreme heat will kill off bacteria quickly
• Snow and rain covers bacteria making it extremely difficult to detect odour.

Tracking can be very difficult when snow has filled in the track or even when the snow is melting. Water molecules cover and disperse scent making it difficult to detect.

A dog that is trained in only one climate such as an arid climate, may have as much trouble
with wet conditions (snow or wet grass) as dogs from a wet climate tracking in an arid climate.
If you anticipate the possibility of finding snow at a tracking test, we suggest you train for it as part of your preparation. Snow is just another condition, and shouldn’t be treated differently.
In scent work, we cannot be absolutely certain of the dog’s scent associations, nor do we know for certain whether or not the dog is performing correctly.

The emphasis here is placed on positive reinforcement of the desired behaviour and not reinforcing unwanted behaviour. If your dog is working very eagerly, it could be very difficult to tell whether or not he is tracking ground disturbance scent or following human rafts lying on the ground. Previous test tracks may lead you to think one way or another, but there will still be a certain amount of doubt.

Therefore, you should allow your dog to “do his thing,” using both types of scent with emphasis on the rafts or human scent. A dog’s natural scenting ability is more easily adapted to the vegetative scent, and vegetative scent is somewhat stronger at a given point.

A dog knows that there are many footprints in the grass whereas there is only one raft scent that belongs to the person that leads to the article he is looking for. Given proper scent discrimination training and a certain amount of time, a dog will learn to discriminate, thereby leading to more successful outcomes. A footprint in the grass with its corresponding vegetative scent is useful to reassure your dog that he is “on track”, but it is not wise to encourage him to follow footprints exclusively. Most people believe that a good deal of scent that dogs follow comes from the feet. This is not necessarily true.

Firstly, “body current” travels upwards from your feet to your head so; this automatically dictates that there would be more scent at your head.

Secondly, the feet are enclosed tightly in shoes, thereby trapping the rafts that would otherwise escape along with perspiration. One of the reasons a person’s feet smell in shoes is because of the increase in foot temperature, and subsequent increase in perspiration and the
accumulation of trapped rafts.

Thirdly, there are no particular glands or cells in a person’s feet that are more odorous than any other part of the body. The only thing a dog may be following that is directly relative to a person’s feet is the smell of leather, shoe polish, oil, or some other material generally
common to more than one individual.

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