Breakout Session 3 B

Benefiting from canine olfactory capacity for detecting missing people, diagnosing diseases or supporting law enforcement has still not reached its end. This study investigates a dog’s ability to differentiate human scents.
Experiments were performed single blind, with one dog, trained in general scent discrimination. The number of samples was 2 x 12 cotton pieces, and 12 pebbles, scented with 12 unknown, different human odors, stored for 3 to 6 months, and afterwards being washed at 40º C. An unknown person placed the sample pebble into a pebble bed, the dog
handler presented the washed cotton piece.
The dog was successful in distinguishing the sample pebble in 10 cases. These results suggest that:
• the individual human odor is still present after washing
• properly trained dogs are able to identify any odor component
• the use of dogs to identify individuals from scented objects in law enforcement is promising and such training should be supported
• dogs, trained in general scent discrimination, are able to perform various detection tasks

Important information: The tester does not hold a master’s in science, and is open for scientific collaboration and further research.