Air scent dogs will search for ‘non specific’ human scent and are often the quickest way of locating a missing person. The benefit of using an air scent dog is that they can cover extremely large areas of land when the missing person may not always be visible.
What is it? Air scent dogs are skilled at finding any missing human within a search area. They will distinguish human scent particles that are carried in the air so they don’t need a specific individual human scent to be effective. However, dogs can be trained to work off a target scent.
Air scent dogs will search for ‘non specific’ human scent and are often the quickest way of locating a missing person. The benefit of using an air scent dog is that they can cover extremely large areas of land when the missing person may not always be visible.
If someone is missing and there is no target scent to help distinguish them then a trained air scent dog is capable of covering the same ground of 20 human searches. This can be especially effective if the victim is not responsive and is not able to respond to searchers.
Once a dog has identified a human scent they will try to locate the missing person and once found, will then indicate this to their handler, normally by barking. Air scent dogs can cover a range of different and difficult terrain including forests, mountains and open country.
When searching an area, wind strength and direction are critical factors to consider. Dogs are assessed on their ability to cover large areas of ground, to locate the missing person and to indicate to their handler.