Rubble, slash, wood, debris, buildings and wide area Searches
Searching is what our dogs life for: this is their game! No matter if on concrete or mixed rubble, on slash or wood piles, through debris or in wide areas our dogs will go out to find live human scent or – for our cadaver dogs – human remains.
They all love the “hunt”, using their instincts and incredible nose to find the scent they were trained to locate. The search in itself is reinforcing to them, but ultimately they are looking forward to their reward: some play with their favorite toy! 
While searching they navigate difficult surfaces and areas. Loose rubble, unstable debris, slippery slash and burned buildings are only a few terrains they need to work in. They need to deal with rain, heat, humidity or freezing temperatures and are still willing to go out and search for hours and hours.
Buried victims often have very difficult scent pictures. Debris or structures contain or channel scent. Most often there are plenty of distractions like food, clothing, animals, rescue workers, or bystanders. All of those also give of strong scents. A disaster dog needs to work through this and only find the “missing human scent”.
Click on the links to see our dogs working: