Scent Detection Ideas

[fuzzy82]

I was reading up on this, and found that some people start with treats, then put the target odour in with the treats for a while, and then eventually remove the treats. But like you I see no reason why you can't put the target odour in with the treats right from the start, or just shape to detect the target odour right from the start.

I have already started with treats, so I will stick with that now, but I will start adding the target odour as well, to speed up the process.

[Lollipup]

The other drama is that those dogs are also trained on drugs so what would happen if the dog finds 1g of C on a passenger in a wallet with 2k cash???

Do you thrown in for finding the C??? you bet you do.... And again you have also just rewarded the dog for finding a lesser amount of cash.......

We were told the pro dogs are not cross trained for different scents for this very reason. So in this case they would be either a cash detection dog or a drug detection dog. Another example is that they do not cross train for drugs and explosives. If the dog indicates on a bag, how will they know whether to evacuate an entire airport or check the bag for drugs?

[rastus_froggy]

I trained one of my dogs with almond essence, it was the first thing I put my hands on when I opened the cupboard the day I decided to start teaching him.

[Yesmaam]

The other drama is that those dogs are also trained on drugs so what would happen if the dog finds 1g of C on a passenger in a wallet with 2k cash???

Do you thrown in for finding the C??? you bet you do.... And again you have also just rewarded the dog for finding a lesser amount of cash.......

We were told the pro dogs are not cross trained for different scents for this very reason. So in this case they would be either a cash detection dog or a drug detection dog. Another example is that they do not cross train for drugs and explosives. If the dog indicates on a bag, how will they know whether to evacuate an entire airport or check the bag for drugs?

Sort of..... You are right in that the dogs are not crossed trained on explosives and drugs (for the same reasons as the Customs dogs) but the AFP 'currency' dogs are trained on both drugs and cash.

Their repertoire is about 4 or 5 different powder drugs and a range of different currency from around the globe. They have only been online for a couple of years and prior to that they only had explosive detection dogs. More recently, AFP are now training their explosive dogs on firearms, making them Firearms and Explosive Detection Dogs or FEDD's (just like Customs).

You asked, how would a handler know what the dog is responding to if it is mutli-odour trained ie: is it explosives or a firearm? Good question........

I'm not sure what the policy is for the AFP regarding a positive response to a bag in the airport environment but when you think about the limitations in training, scent pictures for the dog, any training associated problems ie: false response or handling issues, the amount or lack of live seizures the dog has actually found operationaly or has got across in 'live seizure training', training patterns the handler may have unknowingly set ie: reward times, work to reward ratio's etc... Add to this 'dead scent' (term for target odour contamination) from shooters or mine workers/ shot firers etc... the list goes on... The dog response could be caused by a number of reasons. Fingers crossed it is odour related but this is not always the case so evacuating the airport is not going to happen unless there is overwhelming evidence to suggest something different.

Edited April 8, 2011 by Yesmaam