TRACKING VERSUS TRAILING K9s

TRACKING VERSUS TRAILING K9s

Tracking Dogs follow a specific subject’s footsteps. They are oriented to the mixture of human scent and ground disturbance where the person walks. Tracking involves having the dog follow a specific set of footprints, not deviating from the track of those footprints. Tracking dogs are trained to keep their nose to the ground. To reiterate, the tracking dog stays on the track of the victim and does not deviate from that track.
Trailing Dogs follow the scents that are left by a victim on the ground or objects like trees and brush that the victim touches along their route, as well as scents left in the air. Unlike a tracking dog, if a trailing dog detects the same scent left in a track in the air, then the dog will follow the air scent. Where there is wind drift, the trailing dog will leave the path of the victim and follow the “air scent” to locate the victim. Some trailing dogs work off-leash and are utilized as “area search dogs.”