Alaska Solstice Search Dogs
Search, Rescue, and Recovery Statewide
In Search of the Missing.....
Our Training Specialties
It's all about scent:
All humans have an individual scent left behind by the 40,000 skin cells dropped per minute. These dropped skin cells, called skin rafts look like tiny potato chips and float easily on air currents. Temperature, humidity, sun exposure, and wind determine how long a skin raft can be detected. The hotter and drier the day, the shorter the life of the skin raft. That's why search dogs need to be called as quickly as possible to a search scene.
Human Remains Detection (HRD) Dogs also known as Cadaver Dogs:
A cadaver dog reacts to the scent of a dead human.
The dog is trained for above ground and buried cadaver searches. The cadaver dog is trained to only locate human remains. The training process includes the detection of only minute pieces of cadaver or even blood drops in a specified area.
Human Remains Detection (HRD) Water Dogs:
A water search dog is trained to detect human scent that is in or under the water, focusing on the scent of the bodily gases that rise up. As a team, the handler and dog usually work in a boat or along the shoreline. Because of currents and general changes in the water, it can be hard to pinpoint the location of a body. To enhance the chance of location, a diver should be ready to search as soon as the dog indicates. Additional teams, unaware of the previous teams' findings, work independently to indicate a location. This allows team members to determine the most likely location of the body.
Trailing Dogs:
The trailing dog is directed to find a specific person by following minute particles of human tissue or skin cells cast off by the person as he or she travels. These heavier-than-air particles, which contain this person's scent, will normally be close to the ground or on nearby foliage, so the trailing dog will frequently have its "nose the ground," unlike the air scent dog.Field contamination (scent of others) should not affect his work. He should be able to trail scents on pavements, streets, grass, water, etc. If there is a good scent article and a point where the person was last seen, a trailing dog can be the fastest way to find the victim. Without the scent article and a point where the person was last seen, these dogs cannot work effectively.
Avalanche Dogs:
An avalanche search dog is trained to detect human scent that is in or under snow, subsequent to an avalanche. These dogs are trained to detect the scent under many feet of snow, sometimes, 15 feet or more.
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