Sniffing Dogs and Their Training

By: Barbara Joseph Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Do you ever speculate how dogs locate criminals in a passenger ship? It's simple: by sniffing. They are called detection or sniffer dogs. Trained to spot people and substances, through their senses, such as explosives, illegal drugs and blood; almost always the sense of smell, which is two thousand times much stronger, and fifty times more aware than that of a human's. In addition to sensitivity, a dog's sense of smell is picky.

It can discern a specific scent; meaning it can distinguish cheese in a fish and vegetable market a thousand miles away from where it is standing. Hunting dogs that search for game and search dogs that search for missing humans are normally not considered dogs. However, there is some puzzlement with cadaver dogs, only trained to identify human remains.

As to not make a fuss, they are taught to become skilled at two kinds of alerting: the passive and the aggressive. Drug dogs use an aggressive alert, where they dig and paw at the spot where they get a whiff of the dugs. On the other hand, there are several instances where this style of alert would be bad news. Placed in a situation where bombs are included, scratching can be very devastating. In these cases, a passive alert is used.

A good instance for this type are the beagles used by the Department of Agriculture where the dogs are trained to sniff out produce that are not allowed to come into the country. The Beagle Brigade, as how they are called, sniffs people's luggage while they remain in lines at airports and border crossings. In other countries, a few are also are used in emergency search actions. Because no one wants a dog digging in their belongings, the USDA beagles have been taught to basically sit down when they are able to smell it.

Trainers have come up with a approach for dogs employed to sniff out drugs. In odd instances, they seem to eat them when they have found the prohibited substance. Is it because they are addicted to those drugs themselves? In fact, the dogs have completely no interest in drugs. What they are really looking for is their much loved toy. In an article found in discovery.com, the "toys" that are regularly often used are white towels. Since dogs love to play this vigorous game of tug-of-war, they have generated the "White Towel Game" idea.

To start the training, the handler simply plays with the dog using a towel, which has been washed carefully to appear null and devoid of scent for the beginner. In a while, a bag of marijuana, for example, is rolled up in the towel.

After playing for a while, the dog starts to recognize the tang of the drug as the smell of his desired toy. The handler then hides the towel, with the drug, in an assortment of places. Each time the dog sniffs out the drugs, he digs and scratches, attempting to find his toy. He quickly comes to find out that if he sniffs out the smell of drugs, when he finds them, he'll be rewarded with a game of tug-of-war.

As training continues, various drugs are placed in the towel, until the dog is able to sniff out a multitude of unlawful substances. The same approach is used for bomb-detection dogs, except a number of chemicals used to manufacture explosives are located in the towel instead of drugs.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

About The Author: Barbara has been writing articles online for nearly 3 years now. Not only does this writer specialize in dog training, you can also look at her latest website on highestthreadcountsheets.com/>”>highestthreadcountsheets.com which reviews and lists the most excellent highestthreadcountsheets.com/600-Thread-Count-Sheets.html">600 thread count sheets.