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Search Dog Types
Air Scenting Dogs or Area Search Dogs are trained to find people by locating human scent as it travels on the breeze. Quite often no scent article is available. Dogs trained in area search can be employed instead. These dogs air scent (that is, test the air rather than follow a specific scent) and search for any human scent. An 'air scent' dog usually works in a grid pattern with her handler until she encounters the scent of the missing person. The dog follows that scent on the wind until she locates the person. Racing back to the handler, she indicates that she has made a find by barking or jumping up then takes the handler to the victim.
Air scent dogs can follow scent through the air for up to 1/2 mile. These dogs are especially effective in dense brush, high grass, in the woods and at night - wherever visual search is difficult. Air scenting dogs and their handlers cover large search sectors effectively and quickly. One dog/handler team is the equivalent of about 20 well-trained foot searchers.
This is called the re-find. The handler and dog then bring the victim to safety, or radio for help from other rescue and medical personnel to treat and evacuate the victim.
 Tracking Dogs are trained to follow a person 'step-by-step'; is scent specific; usually guiding by the crushed foliage caused by walking on it. Tracking dogs follow the direct path taken by the victim by scenting the disturbed soil and crushed vegetation caused by the persons footsteps. They work with their heads down sniffing the ground. The dog is worked on lead with the handler following behind.
Tracking dogs can follow the scent left on the path and surrounding foliage by the victim. By following the victim's direct path, the tracking dog follows the victim's exact footsteps
 Trailing Dogs are trained to follow a specific human 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. To start trailing a specific individual, the dog needs a scent article that the person has directly handled. The dog is then started on the trail at the point where the victim was last seen (PLS). Trailing dogs will follow the route of scent deposited on the ground as a person moves through an area. This deposited scent trail is affected by wind and other weather conditions so the dog may not follow the person's exact footsteps. The trailing dog may work parallel to the path the individual actually walked. A trained trailing dog can follow the steps of someone who passed by several days earlier, discriminate between it and another's trail, and follow it over hills and through marshland. Dogs can even trail people in cars, from the scent that blows out of the window or through the vents of the car.
West Jersey's bloodhounds are trained to follow the scent trail left by the missing subject. It is important to preserve the subject's point last seen (PLS) and know where the hound handler can get an article saturated with the subject's scent. It is very important that only the bloodhound handler touch the article. Keeping human and vehicle traffic out of the PLS area optimizes the hound's chance of success.
Land Cadaver Dogs are trained to locate human remains on land by 'Air Scenting'. They are trained to find buried remains as well by ground air scenting - searching for human scent emanating from the ground. Handlers of cadaver dogs often make small probe holes in the ground for the dog to sniff. This vents air from deeper in the earth and give the dog more information.
Water Cadaver Dogs are trained to detect the gases given off when a body decays underwater. A trained cadaver dog can locate a body on land, in water, and under ice. Water search with canines has become an accepted method of locating and recovering. A successful search team in this medium must have a dog who is alert, stable and is able to focus for long periods of time. The handler needs to have a strong knowledge of water dynamics, river flow, and be trained in water safety in addition to all the other search skills necessary to be an operational team. Surface current and wind conditions can carry scent several hundred feet and repeated passes with the dogs from different directions have proven the most effective in pinpointing the location of the subjec
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We have had some very experienced land and water cadaver search dog/handler teams. These dogs employ the technique of air scenting to locate drowning victims by indicating where subjects' scent rises to the surface of the water. Similarly, the dogs can pinpoint human scent percolating up through rubble or snow.
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