training bitework tracking/trailing featured kennel

February/March 2015
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training
featured kennel
Tactical Obedience Training for Police
K-9 Deployments: Introduction
bitework
Improving Your Bitework Related Control
tracking/trailing
Debunking Tracking Myths:
#1 Rain and Water Destroys the Track
Authored by Battelle staff members: K. Good, N. Knebel, S. Lawhon, L. Siers, D. Winkel
These authors, who have degrees ranging from HAZMAT to chemistry to chemical engineering, have contributed to
numerous canine R&D programs at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH, providing scientifically defensible
study design and procedures, unbiased evaluations, and rigorously tested products for our nation’s working dogs.
VAPOR PLUME DYNAMICS
Readers of this magazine are
well aware that a canine’s keen
sense of smell enables it to
detect targeted contraband that
would otherwise go undetected.
However, to fully capitalize
on a canine’s innate abilities,
it is imperative that handlers
understand the behavior and
nature of odor plumes so that they
can direct the animal in performing
a complete and proper search.
One well-understood (but
sometimes ignored) handling
concept is starting/working
downwind of suspected items.
While molecular diffusion alone
will yield odor dispersion in
all directions, studies have
convincingly shown that even
the smallest of air currents will
dictate odor plume movement.
Thus, getting the canine downwind
significantly improves the
likelihood of encountering any
emitted odors. Another handling
concept that warrants more
emphasis in day to day training
and operational searches is the
identification of odor escape
points; all things being equal, odor
molecules/particles will travel
5 8 • K- 9 C O P M A G A Z I N E
Photo by Pierre Courtejoie
wearethemighty.com
6
almost exclusively via the path of
least resistance. Thus, luggage
zippers, box seams, door gaps,
window sills, etc. all represent
likely productive areas for detection
canines.
One common, but unsubstantiated,
belief in the detection canine
community is that ‘odor falls’. In
reality, the buoyancy of a vapor
plume (i.e., heavier than air, neutral,
or lighter than air) is characterized
by the Richardson number, a
dimensionless quantity based on the
density and concentration of the gas
making up the plume. Richardson
calculations for several common
explosive formulations reveal that
their odor plumes are actually
neutrally buoyant. In other words,
these odor plumes have no natural
preference to sink or rise – instead,
their height will be determined by
the location of the target material,
paths of least resistance, air flows,
and air temperature gradients,
among other parameters. Because
fully knowing and accounting for
the many influencing factors is
impossible, canine teams must
consistently employ a range of
search heights. Relying on odor to
be found low or on the ground can
have potentially devastating effects
on team performance.
Understanding these concepts
allows canine handlers to
appropriately structure their search
tactics and techniques, improving
their contribution to the team, and
thus, the overall quality of the
search. n
Fe b r u a r y / M a r c h 2 01 5 • 5 9