The “Too Much Scent” conundrum

I hear it so often… “he had trouble there because there was too much scent.” Why do I find this so offensive?

First, the obvious: we certainly wouldn’t want SAR dogs unable to find the missing human if they only got lost 4 hours ago—I mean, we wouldn’t delay the search until the track was 24 hours old because your dog is better on “less scent,” would we? (credit, Wally O'Brien)

It’s more than that though. Once we’ve labeled a problem we have limited our ability to look for other answers, and sometimes those other answers, while no more provable, offer us insights that will help somewhere else.

FACT: Some dogs cast off when they hit an area of the track that is scuffed. (Side point; in a TDX test, climbs into or out of ravines, or up or down steep slopes are going to be ‘scuffed’ just because the 2 legged human has to do that to get up or down the slope. Might be worth training that as a skill…but I digress)

Is it too much scent? Maybe….but lets take a walk down how we trained. We start beginners with a track that is either completely scuffed, or walked heel-toe, and we drop a lot of food in that path. Over time, the dog makes some association between the food, and some characteristic of the path (we don’t get to know what characteristic they identify). We then wean them to a scuff walk pattern, with the food in the walked section. What are we training there? We know we are showing them the food is in the walked section, we assume they are learning the scuffed section takes them to the walked section with food. What might be happening differently in the scuffed section from the walked section? It seems reasonable that there is more crushed vegetation (we can see that), and we can reasonably assume that gives off more crushed veg scent. There is probably also more disturbance of the soil…and that probably gives off an odor as well (after all, the bacteria are most numerous in the soil). We walk slower when we scuff/heel toe, so we probably leave more skin rafts in those areas. And yet, as they are learning, they don’t cast off at more scent, but rather seem to find it reinforcing. Why would that change?

As our dogs get more experienced, they might be learning to follow any one of those, any combination of those….and—they may be honing in on the concentration of scent. When they hit the scuff, perhaps it’s not “too much scent (ie, aversive), but rather, the dog chooses to find and follow the concentration of scent that they have stored in their nasal shelf. We see this at articles as well—the dog approaches the article, casts off, and circles in—following, possibly, the concentration around the edge until he can ‘hone in’ on the article (which apparently doesn’t have too much scent).

OK, you’re thinking, Judi, just get over it. If it’s concentration, it’s too much scent. I don’t think it is…..I suspect they are processing all of these things, and when any one of them changes, they cast off while working the change. I'm always asking myself, not why did he do that (I'll likely never know), but rather, what did he do, where did he do it, where did I put the track in relation to what he did, and how did I put the track in at that point? Maybe your dog cast off because some unseen animal crossed the track….and maybe some air current displaced some of the scent laterally, and the concentration/ratios etc changed. If you label that as "animal cross track," (and you didn't see the animal walking there), you are no longer looking at where he checked laterally, nor are you looking at any other questions--you are making an assumption and pushing on, and missing an opportunity to be taught by your dog. As I walk the dogs around the edge of & through the woods, I am always amazed at the many temperature gradients present. I have no way of knowing, but I am open to wondering if those gradients impact scent. In addition, I respectfully suggest cross tracks are maybe the dog comparing maybe different odors, and maybe 2 different concentrations (and any combination of that you want). And I’ve seen enough dogs take cross tracks to say with some confidence they don’t find that ‘too much scent’ aversive!!!!

Bottom line for me though…let’s stick to what we can see, and what we can KNOW. If we can avoid labels and assumptions, we can open our minds to possible explanations we haven’t even thought about. Furthermore, we acknowledge the dogs are the experts at this—if we watch them, and study them, they will teach us.

Finally, thank you to the 'too much scent' people...it gave me an opportunity to sit down and really think about why this concept peeves me so. Thank you!