Search and rescue dogs are specially trained canines that find survivors after disasters or locate people lost in the wilderness. But how are they trained? And how do they manage to find people?
How search and rescue dogs find people
Dogs have an excellent sense of smell due to the extremely high number of olfactory receptors in their noses – the neurons that detect odours. Humans have roughly six million of these receptors but dogs have up to 300 million, nearly 5000% more. A dog’s nose also has the ability to separate odours, allowing them to identify a specific smell amongst a range of others.
This keen sense of smell can be honed through training to identify human scent and breath. This is how search and rescue (SAR) dogs are able to locate earthquake survivors under rumble. They are also trained to follow ‘ground disturbances’ where they follow footprints and scent traces which are how they’re able to track missing