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Scent Theorysniff sniff sniff sniff
Shared by Permission of Jennifer Pennington of Lead With Fun LLC.Creative Commons 4.0 License. Do not change or sell, but share all you like. Must keep proper attributions to the author.
What is Scent?Each human sheds about 40,000 rafts of skin per minute
What is a Skin Raft?
cornflake like skin cell clusters that may also have:
bacteria, fungi, parasitessweat, enzymes, hormonespersonal hygiene products
Some are lighter than air and travel far in air currentsSome are heavier and settle on the ground
Bacteria that feed on skin rafts are different for every personDogs can smell the difference
So how does scent move?
Skin rafts are carried in currents of airPay attention to the movement of air
Scent and Physics
warm air rises (light)cool air sinks (heavy)
Air is made heavier
Cold - it becomes denserMoisture - humidity
Macro effects
general trendsa prevailing wind helpful with a subject that has been stationary for a longtime
Micro effects
Your sector down to where you are standingscent can move in different directions within a few feetmovement can be different at dog’s nose level
Diffusionin still air - scent moves evenly in all directions from its source.
Laminar Flowstraight flow of air not interfered with by anything
Turbulent Airflowlaminar air hits an obstacle that creates chaotic behavior
building
Turbulent AirIs the cause of all our scenting nightmares
#@*%!
$^#*!
Types of Air Movementsknowing different patterns of air movement will help you:
correctly analyze potential problems
--So you can--Set your dog up for success
Normal Daytime Air
Normal Nightime Air
Coning Plumesmovement of scent from subject downwind in the shape of a coneduring cloud covered days or nightstravels long distancesideal for dogs
Coning Plumes
Fumigating Scent
in the morning before sunupscents travel down valleys like watersubjects on a hill can be detected by dog down belowGet dogs out before sunrise
Fumigating Scent
Loftingafter sun setsground is cooling but aloft air is warmusually valleys first then other areas later onWork dogs on the high ground in the evening
Lofting
#@*%!
Fanning Plumesat night in stable airscent holds at the same elevation leveldog may alert across a canyon at the same level, but cant find a personReport your alerts
Fanning Plumes
?
Pooling Scentcollects in an areausually a low arealittle dispersal of scent by the windhard for dog to follow to the subject
Pooling Scent
?
Eddying Scent
circular air forms behind an objectprevents scent from traveling along prevailing windexample: eddies form at a line of trees next to an open field
Eddying Scent
?
Looping Plumesclear sky or with high cloudsat midday, a high convection situationscent rises, cools, falls, heats up, rises, cools, falls, etc.Dog will alert by putting his head up, but will lose the scent.
Looping Plumes
?
Chimney Effectair currents move straight up an objectalerts may occur nearby -but-makes it impossible for dog to find subjectcheck around tall objects in the area
Chimney Effect
?
Thermoclinecause by significant temperature and humidity differences in short distanceschanges in elevationdrastic changes in shade and sunny spotscreates a wall like barrier of scent
Thermocline
What affects scent movement?
windhumiditytime of daytemperatureweatherterrain
vegetationtime of yearobstaclesthermals
Use what you know in HOW you search
A search dog team will prefer to search into the windZigzagging into the wind on small areas parallel sweeps across the wind on larger areas often along ridges and downhill with normal daytime updrafts
See you in the woods!
WOOF!
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