004. Tracking and Trailing
Description
This article is from the Working Dogs FAQ, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
004. Tracking and Trailing
There are two major ways to follow the trail of a person, although they're really on two ends of a continuum. _Tracking_ is the process where the dog follows the person's exact path. _Trailing_ is the process where the dog follows the person's scent, which may or may not approximate the path the person took because of factors affecting the dispersal of scent such as wind and temperature. Contrary to popular opinion, water does not disrupt a tracking or trailing dog, the dog will simply cast around for your trail on the other side, if the water has carried surface scent away (if the water is still, the scent remains on the surface of the water). In addition, trained dogs can locate corpses in the water, so the theory that water does not hold scent does not, well, hold water. Dogs can even trail people in cars, from the scent that blows out of the window or through the vents of the car.
Some common terminology: A Track Solid dog follows a track, and usually the newest. A Track Sure dog will follow the track associated with the scent he started with, and will not follow a track laid by a different person as long as the second track was laid at a different time. A Track Clean Dog will follow the correct trail even if it crosses other trails laid at the same time. For example, for disaster work (e.g., finding victims in rubble), dogs lead their handlers towards any human scent from the rubble; this is "tracking solid." A Bloodhound, given a scent article, will "track clean," finding that same individual regardless of whatever crosses the track.
To start trailing a specific individual, the dog needs an uncontaminated scent article. Best items are underwear, T-shirts, or something that the person has directly handled. The scent article is just as much evidence as the "smoking gun" is, unfortunately, many people (including law enforcement folks) are still unaware of how to use scent as evidence and often handle, and thus contaminate, potential scent articles. Dogs can still get around this by doing the "missing member" search: the dog takes note of which scent on the article is not immediately present and searches for that person.
Traditionally, people think of SAR dogs hunting through forest or wilderness for lost hikers or children. While this is still quite true, SAR dogs also find escaped prisoners, lost [mentally impaired] patients, lost children in the city or the suburbs, suspects fleeing a crime scene. As a result, urban SAR is rapidly growing.
Bloodhounds are by far the best for performing difficult and long trails. They are large (100-120 lbs), capable of covering great distance, and their facial structure (loose skin) allows them to cup and catch even the faintest scent. Their stubborn and patient temperament allows them to stick with trails that are miles long. Bloodhounds were originally bred for large prey, and have been used to track people since about the 16th century. For smaller game, other hounds were developed, with shorter legs and smaller size. These type of hounds cannot cover trails as old or as long as the Bloodhound.
Labradors and German Shepherds are often used in tracking. They do not do as well with older or longer trails, but are more than capable of following trails within their limitations. Also because they can work off leash better than the Bloodhound can, they can work more rapidly if there is a need for haste.
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