Trailing
Trailing dogs work on lead with their handler and are scent discriminate searching for one specific human scent by use of a scent article and will follow that scent trail until they reach its source. Trailing dogs can provide the direction of travel from a missing person’s possible point last seen and are capable of working in urban and high traffic areas as well as wilderness and rural.
Handlers are trained to obtain clues by reading their dog’s behavior, together employing a search strategy based on factors such as terrain, wind, weather, time of day, and lost person behavior.
K-9 teams are a highly effective first response. We are an efficient tool to use when time is critical and resources are limited. Our team can deploy quickly and our K9s are capable of covering terrain that ground teams cannot. We are capable of searching at night and in almost any weather. SMK9SAR trains their trailing K9s to follow aged trails, and can follow a trail for miles. K-9 teams are most effective when deployed in areas of high probability in consistency with lost person behavior.