Different types of scenting in dogs.

B

Bob Peters

Well-known member
I have heard and read many different thoughts on this subject. Some have told me that pointing dogs air scent and flushing dogs ground scent. And that there are advantages to one over the other. One thought struck me that some dogs may start one over the other but learn to do both as they gain experience. I admittedly don't know much about this as I'm a tyro. Appreciate any info.
 
That is correct for the most part. Although I have owned Wires that hunted ground sent. And a beagle that ran rabbits from the sent cone. I would not have traded them for anything, but they were about 50/50 on whether they would get there head up and point before they bumped the bird. Both excelled on tracking cripples. The beagle was the best and fastest I ever saw. She had some weird quirks, one of which was that she was so fast she would lap the other dogs then quit! She would never give up a track when she was alone but simply refused to run with other dogs!
 
That's a general rule of thumb. Some breeds are more predisposed to using both ground and air scent and I'm sure some individual dogs that come from breeds that use only air scent or ground scent will learn to use both. I know my dogs will use both air and ground scent and different times depending on the situation.
 
I always went by the old rule of thumb. But after thinking about it I think the rule of thumb might be crap. Some breeds certainly are more skilled at tracking and do so by scenting the ground as it holds scent longer than airborne scent. But put a springer and a English setter down wind of a ribeye on the grill........ Ain't no nose hittin the ground.

But seriously I am involved with Auburn university's Vapor Wake and Gun Metal detection programs. They are hands down the leaders in canine detection studies and training. They use primarily Labradors because of there "environmental stability" and acceptance by the public. Nearly all scent articles are located by airborne scent whether its a Glock in a someone's back pack at a football game or a shell casing ejected in the grass at a crime scene. I have watched them use smoke bombs in a city type landscape to study scent dispersal, it is absolutely amazing the maze of scents these dogs work through to spot a gun.

An interesting side note is that drug sniffing dogs are nearly non existent. And the demand for gun metal/explosive detection dogs is off the chart. Anyone that wants to be a dog trainer should start a business supplying private security firms with detection dogs. These dogs live a great life, they go for walks with their handler at events of all kinds. Lots of times they are under cover as "service dogs" or "service dogs in training".
The St Paul police just got a new dog just for crime scene investigations, he is a black Labrador that looks a lot like the dog in my avavtar;).
 
My first pair of Weims the female was a ground scent trailing/tracking/retrieving specialist that even with her head down 98% of the time didn't bust birds. The male ran around working the wind and was usually way ahead of her in pointing birds. I did find that mature hens run all over,maybe as a attempt to keep their chicks gathered. Roosters often ran in big circles if they didn't bee line it and flush wild. Those 2 dogs were a blast to hunt with.
 
Air to locate. Air/ground to find downed bird.

If my dogs are released off point and start to ground scent ... they be running.
 
This is very interesting and my first time hearing this question. I am the proud owner of one of those "over discussed versatile dogs" so I don't even want to go there...but she is a pointing lab.
She does hunt both ways but until reading your post, I had never thought about it.

Her "birdie" indicator is easy to identify, but it isn't the same each time. I notice when she is "air scenting" her mouth is open, head high and her tongue is suspended straight out, like she is trying to take in all the scent she can. As soon as she get close to the bird or on a running bird her nose is on the ground and she will be running in "S" or figure eight's, but her mouth is closed and nose is on the ground until the flush.

If the birds stops, she stops and locks just like a pointer and will hold the point until released or someone flushes the bird (most of the time this is a hen). If during the point, the bird moves again, she doesn't hold and you better be ready because she is going to kangaroo hop to wherever the grass is moving...fortunately, because of the lab traits, most of this happens in range!
 
This was always my experience until my last Lab. He was a weird one. As a flushing Lab he ground scented everything until the age of three then he did both. This was especially true if hunting into a decent breeze. I have pictures of him standing at the beginning of the draw, head held high and nose dripping. He would take a minute or so to try and figure out what direction to take, then hold on as he would be moving. Occasionally if he lost the trail he would stop and begin to air scent again. He was a lot of fun to hunt with.
 
carptom1 said:
This was always my experience until my last Lab. He was a weird one. As a flushing Lab he ground scented everything until the age of three then he did both. This was especially true if hunting into a decent breeze. I have pictures of him standing at the beginning of the draw, head held high and nose dripping. He would take a minute or so to try and figure out what direction to take, then hold on as he would be moving. Occasionally if he lost the trail he would stop and begin to air scent again. He was a lot of fun to hunt with.
Click to expand...
I can vividly image the nose drip followed by the "charge"...

I guess I have reached the point of my life/hunting career that watching my dog and everyone else's dogs is the best part of the day. I will continue to carry a gun so on the rare occasion that I connect on a shot, the dogs get their reward, but if there are plenty of others to "reward" the dogs, I would really be fine carrying a camera watching them work and trying to catch some images of them in action!
 
My Brittany, a pointing dog, is all about air scenting. She puts her nose in the air, moves it around, and thereby homes in on birds. It's a sight to behold. Now if a bird is running, her nose is low on the scent.
 
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