Tracking dog Versus Trailing dog
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Before we get started, let’s all get on the same page— to clear up some controversy over what a dog can do, what a dog should do and what kind of dog is it.
A tracking dog. For all intents and purposes, a dog that has been trained to take scent without a scent article, and follow the scent path of the subject that lies within the footprint or a lead-length of the actual track shall be called a TRACKING DOG. This is a very common and useful resource for law enforcement because most often, the tracks that they are dealing with on the job are between 20 minutes to two hours old — and due to it being a criminal scenario, there is usually not a scent article available to the handler.
Under most scent conditions there will be human odor / vapor (not dead skin cells known as rafts; depending upon the footwear of course) available to the dog within the actual footprints of a track that is two hours or younger. Certainly on hard surfaces and completely sunny areas on hot days this is not likely even on young tracks. This odor / vapor most often does not last nearly as long as the rafts (solid / liquid / vapor – composition) that have fallen off the subject’s exposed skin (often just hands, head and maybe arms; as in your upper body parts) and clothes.
On vegetative surfaces a tracking dog will also key into the vegetative disturbance made by the subject. This can enhance the overall scent picture and make it a little easier to follow in pristine wilderness settings, but when there are a bunch of humans tracks all over a large vegetative area that are the same age as the subject’s tracks, and the dog follows the correct set of tracks, then this tells you that the dog is still following the human odor / vapor and not the vegetative odor / vapor.
A trailing dog. A TRAILING DOG is following the “scent path” of the subject, not the track. A trailing dog certainly can follow a track if there is one available. But if trained properly, it will focus on the highest concentration of the scent path — which often is not where the actual track of the subject was laid. Again, the track does offer human odor / vapor, but for a shorter amount of time — depending upon the scent conditions.
A trailing dog is trained regularly on aged trails, and should be capable of doing trails at least up to 24 hours old. Trailing dogs should be deployed in the first operational period (12 hours), but when trained well they can respond on 24 – 48 hour old trails if scent conditions permit them to do so. I have only seen a few instances in which a well-trained trailing dog could not pick up scent on a trail aged 24 hours or younger: it many not be easy, but a dog should always able to get a direction of travel at the very least. Trailing dogs that train on trails ranging in age from 0 – 24 hours old regularly are a terrific resource to search and rescue and law enforcement. As with all resources at an incident, knowing how to appropriately utilize them to get the most out of them does not always happen.
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