The Role of Dogs in Search and Rescue

Dogs are by far the most loyal companion to humans throughout the history of mankind. Dogs have about 40 times more smell-sensitive receptors in comparison to humans, ranging from about 125 million to nearly 300 million in some of the dog breeds, such as bloodhounds. Dogs sense odors by sniffing the inhaled air through the nostrils during aspirations while keeping the mouth often closed. Search and rescue (SAR) dogs are very important after any natural disasters for locating the missing people or their remains and incidents like mass casualty. There are seven types of working dogs, i.e., search and rescue dogs, police dogs, service dogs, therapy dogs, military working dogs, detection dogs, and herding dogs. The topmost breeds of dogs used for search and rescue work are bloodhound, basset hound, coonhound, beagle, St. Bernard, German shepherd, Labrador retriever, Belgian Malinois, Mudhol hound, etc. The formal and full training will normally last for 12 months, and the dog becomes a good working dog at about the age of 2 years and can be expected to be in active service up to 8 to 10 years of age. Search and rescue dogs can be categorized into different types depending upon their intended purpose of use like Avalanche and Urban Search and Rescue, Ground Disturbance Tracking, Water Search, Air Scenting Area, Search Scent-Specific Tracking, and Cadaver/Human Remains Detection.