Priority Action Report

Dogs and Sensors

Kenneth G. Furton, Ph.D.

David R. Kontny

February 22, 2016
Subcommittee Leadership

Position Name Organization Term Email

Chair Kenneth Furton, Ph.D. Florida International 

University

3 furtonk@fiu.edu

Vice Chair David Kontny U.S. Department of Justice –

Joint Program Office for 

Countering IEDs

3

david.kontny@ic.fbi.gov

Executive Secretary Susan Stejskal, Ph.D. St. Joseph County (Michigan) 

Sheriff's Department

3 sue.stejskal@gmail.com

2
Subcommittee Members

# Name Organization Term Email

1 Terry Anderson Retired - City of Pasadena (Texas) Police Department and 

President of National Police Canine Association

2 t_bandit94@hotmail.com

2 Deborah Burnett Federal Emergency Management Agency Task Force TNTF1 

and Fayette County (Tennessee) Sheriff's Department

4 Yappindogs@aol.com

3 Frederick Helfers III Retired Police Detective for City of Everett (Washington) and 

Pacific Northwest Police Detection Dog Association

3 helfers@arczip.com

4 William MacCrehan, Ph.D. U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology 2 william.maccrehan@nist.gov

5 Herbert Nakamura Retired Honolulu Police Department and Hawaii K-9 Koncepts 4 hik9k@yahoo.com

6 Cynthia Otto, D.V.M., Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania and Executive Director of Penn Vet 

Working Dog Center

3 cmotto@vet.upenn.edu

7 John Pearce Director of Education, AMK9 Academy 3 john@amk9academy.com

8 Donald Roberts U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and 

Technology

2 don.roberts@HQ.DHS.GOV

9 Suzy Perry Perry, Sumner County (Tennessee) Emergency Management 

Agency

2 olddominionsar@hotmail.com

10 Craig Schultz U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation 4 craig.schultz@ic.fbi.gov

11 Rex Stockham U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation 2 Rex.Stockham@ic.fbi.gov

12 Terry Uetrecht Retired - Union Pacific Railroad police officer and Secretary of 

the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association

3 nnddasecretary@yahoo.com

13 Paul Waggoner, Ph.D., Auburn University 4 waggolp@auburn.edu

14 Barbara Weakley-Jones, M.D. Retired State Medical Examiner and Jefferson County 

(Kentucky) Coroner

3 morguemom@yahoo.com

15 Vacant

16 Vacant

17 Vacant

3
Discipline Description

The Subcommittee on Dogs and 

Sensors will focus on standards and 

guidelines resulting in continual 

improvement of consistency, 

performance, and legal acceptance of 

deployed detection teams. Focus areas 

will include the optimal integration with 

other sensors designed to improve 

overall detection capabilities.

4
Summary of Standards/Guidelines 

Priority Actions

Priority Working Title of Document

HIGH General Guidelines

HIGH Terminology 

HIGH Canine Career Field Progression

MEDIUM Narcotics

MEDIUM Tracking/Trailing People Based on Last Known Position

5
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document

Document Title: General Canine Guidelines

Scope: To establish consensus-based best practice general 

guidelines for training, certification, and documentation pertaining 

to all canine disciplines. Discipline specific guidelines are found 

within the corresponding subcommittee documents.

Objective/rationale: Ensure consistent application of guidelines 

for training, assessments, certification and documentation that can 

be used throughout the specific detector dog disciplines. 

Issues/Concerns: None at this Time

Task Group Name: General Canine Guidelines 

Task Group Chair Name: David R. Kontny

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

david.kontny@ic.fbi.gov

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: January 28, 2016

6
Task Group/Subcommittee Action 

Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

Reformat Existing SWGDOG 

Guideline to ASB Style Guide

SDO 0 Kontny March 30, 2016

Coordinate Document Review 

Through OSAC Committees

SDO 100 Kontny TBD

Submit Document for SAC 

approval and SDO 

Submission

SDO 100 Kontny TBD

Submit Approved SAC 

Document to SDO

SDO 100 Kontny TBD

Priority 1: General Canine Guidelines 

7
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 2 Document

Document Title: Working Canine Terminology

Scope: To provide the industry with a comprehensive terminology list as it 

pertains to the working canine industry at large to ensure consistency and 

understanding of terms and the vernacular most commonly used across 

canine disciplines. This will benefit the forensic science community 

through consolidation of terms and definitions used for operational 

reports, testimony, report documentation, certification procedures, and 

training records documentation. 

Objective/rationale: Ensure consistent application of terminology that 

can be used throughout the specific detector dog disciplines. 

Issues/Concerns: None at this Time

Task Group Name: Canine Terminology

Task Group Chair Name: Craig Schultz

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

craig.schultz@ic.fbi.gov

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: January 28, 2016

8
Task Group/Subcommittee Action 

Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

Reformat Existing SWGDOG 

Guideline to ASB Style Guide

SDO 0 Schultz March 30, 2016

Coordinate Document Review 

Through OSAC Committees

SDO 100 Schultz TBD

Submit Document for SAC 

approval and SDO 

Submission

SDO 100 Schultz TBD

Submit Approved SAC 

Document to SDO

SDO 100 Schultz TBD

Priority 2: Working Canine Terminology

9
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 3 Document

Document Title: Canine Career Field Progression

Scope: Provide recommended best practice guidelines for career 

progression system to ensure proper training and experience 

within canine organizations.

Objective/rationale: Ensure consistent application of canine 

career field progression to include, handlers, trainers, certifying 

officials, supervisors, and executive management that can be used 

throughout the specific detector dog disciplines. 

Issues/Concerns: None at this Time

Task Group Name: Canine Career Field Progression

Task Group Chair Name: John Pearce

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

pearcejohn@aol.com

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: January 28, 2016

10
Task Group/Subcommittee Action 

Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

Reformat Existing SWGDOG 

Guideline to ASB Style Guide

SDO 0 Pearce March 30, 2016

Coordinate Document Review 

Through OSAC Committees

SDO 100 Pearce TBD

Submit Document for SAC 

approval and SDO 

Submission

SDO 100 Pearce TBD

Submit Approved SAC 

Document to SDO

SDO 100 Pearce TBD

Reformat Existing SWGDOG 

Guideline to ASB Style Guide

SDO 0 Pearce March 16, 2016

Priority 3: Canine Career Field Progression

11
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 4 Document

Document Title: Canine Narcotics Detection

Scope: To provide recommended guidelines for training, 

certification and documentation pertaining to narcotic detector 

canines.

Objective/rationale: Ensure consistent application of guidelines 

for training, assessments, certification and documentation that can 

be used within the canine narcotics discipline. 

Issues/Concerns: None at this Time

Task Group Name: Canine Narcotic Detection

Task Group Chair Name: Terry Anderson

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

t_bandit94@hotmail.com

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: January 28, 2016

12
Task Group/Subcommittee Action 

Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

Reformat Existing SWGDOG 

Guideline to ASB Style Guide

SDO 0 Anderson March 30, 2016

Coordinate Document Review 

Through OSAC Committees

SDO 100 Anderson TBD

Submit Document for SAC 

approval and SDO 

Submission

SDO 100 Anderson TBD

Submit Approved SAC 

Document to SDO

SDO 100 Anderson TBD

Priority 4: Canine Narcotic Detection

13
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 5 Document

Document Title: Tracking/Trailing People Based on Last Known Position

Scope: Provide recommended best practice guidelines for training, certifications and 

documentation pertaining to tracking/trailing people based on last known. Tracking or 

trailing people based on their last know position is the area of canine scent detection 

that utilizes a canine team to search for and follow a specific person’s track or trail after 

the canine has been started on the person’s last known position or a scented article 

associated with that person. 

Objective/rationale: The primary goal is for the canine to detect and follow the track or 

trail to the exclusion of all other tracks or trails, leading to a specific person, location, 

and/or article associated with that person. This is done within the canine team’s 

mission-specific environment. A secondary goal of this task may be to locate articles left 

by this specific person along the track or trail.

Issues/Concerns: None at this Time

Task Group Name: Tracking/Trailing People Based on Last 

Known Position

Task Group Chair Name: Sara (Suzy) Perry

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

olddominionsar@hotmail.com

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: January 28, 2016 

14
Task Group/Subcommittee Action 

Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

Reformat Existing SWGDOG 

Guideline to ASB Style Guide

SDO 0 Perry March 30, 2016

Coordinate Document Review 

Through OSAC Committees

SDO 100 Perry TBD

Submit Document for SAC 

approval and SDO 

Submission

SDO 100 Perry TBD

Submit Approved SAC 

Document to SDO

SDO 100 Perry TBD

Priority 5: Tracking/Trailing People Based on Last Known Position

15
Summary of Standards/Guidelines 

Priority Actions

Priority Working Title of Document

HIGH General Guidelines

HIGH Terminology 

HIGH Canine Career Field Progression

MEDIUM Narcotics

MEDIUM Tracking/Trailing People Based on Last Known Position

16
Standards/Guidelines Reviewed For 

Technical Merit

Title Developing 

Organization Status*

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., RA 

100)

General Guidelines SWGDOG Evaluation

Terminology SWGDOG Evaluation

Canine Career Field Progression SWGDOG Evaluation

Narcotics SWGDOG Evaluation

Tracking/Trailing People Based on Last Known 

Position

SWGDOG Evaluation

17
Research Gaps Identified (Priorities)

18

 Identification of odorant chemicals present in and above targets (particularly human remains, 

explosives and drugs) 

including novel applications (chemical, microbes, etc.). 

 Development of methods for monitoring levels of contamination of aids. Identify when training aids 

are contaminated, how long it takes to dissipate the contamination odor off the pure odor training 

aid. 

 Development of reliable surrogate continuation aids (particularly for drugs, explosives and human 

remains). These must provide controlled delivery of chemicals to allow for an assessment of 

threshold variance, but not to be used for certification purposes. (canine and possibly equipment 

calibration). This also pertains to emerging threats.

 Comparison of detectors: Critical comparisons of capabilities of certified detector dogs and 

electronic noses to reliably detect target odors in the presence of interfering (distractor) odors; 

Quantifying cost effectiveness of canine search teams over human searchers (with and without 

using instruments); Comparison of standoff capabilities of canines and instrumentation; Listing of 

complementary instrumentation for application with canines; Comparison of dogs to other biological 

detection entities.
Research Gaps Identified(Additional Considerations) 

19

 Evaluation of optimal storage and handling practices (including containers) to prevent crosscontamination of training aids. 

 Evaluation of dissipation of odorant(s) after removal of targets. How soon can you reuse an area – time for 

dissipation/ decomposition of residual odors? 

 Develop a scientifically valid odor list for testing detector dogs (particularly explosives). 

 Research on the effectiveness of training aids. Does extensive experience with the training aid help or 

hinder the later detection of the real odor? 

 Physical and physiological function of the dog as related to performance. 

Identifying genetic markers associated with success. 

 Conduct critical evaluations of the limitation of human scent dogs (aged trails, versus fresh trails, no scent 

article, large contamination) 

 REST/RASCO (RASCARGO)/MEDDS/Alternative Remote Sampling, etc. (Remote Explosive Scent Tracing). 

Need independent scientific evaluations of the capabilities and limitations of the REST systems

 Use of bio-physiological sensors for detecting and correlating changes in dog physiology and behavior in 

the presence of specific environmental cues for the purpose of supporting canine training and operation. 

 Devices used for the collection of scent in canine operational environments. 
Priority Action Report

Dogs and Sensors

Kenneth G. Furton, Ph.D.

David R. Kontny

February 22, 2016
21