Blue Mountain Search & Rescue Dogs
Supporting the Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Departments in
Umatilla, Union, Baker, Grant, Wallowa, and Walla Walla Counties within Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington
What is Scent?
Scent is the invisible fingerprint unique to each and every person. A live person sheds hundreds of thousands of cells, called rifts, every second. No two people have the same scent. Dogs are able to identify and follow a specific scent, even within a crowd of people. You can't cover it up or hide it with perfume, deodorant, showering or not showering, or cigarette smoke. When search teams call for a scent article, they are asking for an item that the subject solely used. Items like a hat, sock, pillow case, toothbrush, hairbrush, any clothing that is worn against the skin are all items commonly used. You can also retrieve scent from door knobs, steering wheels, car seats, other surfaces that the subject has touched recently.
This thermocline graphic helps to explain how scent moves and how k9 teams would use airflow to initiate a k9 search. Click on the graphic to be taken to the full story.
Try this book for further reading about scent.