Student Article
What Do Mountain Rescue Search Dogs Actually Smell?
Rescue (verb): To save someone from danger.
Smell (noun): The sense that detects odors.
Scent (noun): A smell.
Trail (noun): A path or track.
Downwind (adjective): In the direction the wind is blowing.
Have you ever wondered how rescue dogs find people? Let's learn about their amazing sense of smell!
Super sniffers at work
Rescue dogs have a very strong sense of smell. They use their noses to find people who are lost or in trouble. A human nose has about 5 million smell cells, but a dog's nose has about 200 million! This helps dogs smell things much better than humans.
Two kinds of search dogs
Tracking dogs follow the scent trail of a person. They mostly smell skin cells that fall to the ground. Mountain rescue search dogs are different. They are called air scenting dogs. These dogs smell the air to find people. They can smell sweat, body odor, and even things like deodorant and perfume.
Following the wind
Air scenting dogs don't need to follow a trail. They can find any person in a large area. They work by following the scent that spreads in the wind. Sometimes, they can even find people who are downwind.
Rescue dogs are very helpful and can save lives with their amazing noses!
© Luis Villazon / Our Media
Rescue (verb): To save someone from danger.
Smell (noun): The sense that detects odors.
Scent (noun): A smell.
Trail (noun): A path or track.
Downwind (adjective): In the direction the wind is blowing.