Young puppies can be taught to find people and things, and hiding places can become more obscure as the training goes on. Rewards are critical to the training food treats and lots of praise make sure the dog enjoys his work. Scent training is the most complex part of the program. It requires that owners learn how scent travels and that dogs learn to distinguish the scent of humans from everything else. Like Pigpen in the Peanuts comic strip, we walk around enveloped in a virtually invisible cloud of diffused matter and gases, said Sandy Bryson in Search Dog Training.
Scent can cling or be diffused, depending on the wind, weather, terrain, or humidity.
It travels differently in mountains than valleys, on rainy days than on clear days, in dry, cold air than in warm, moist air. Handlers must be aware of the differences in order to give the dog the best chance for success. Handlers of water search dogs must also know about currents that can carry bodies and affect the diffusion of scent. Training a dog to follow a particular scent begins with short sessions in which the dog finds his master. Gradually increasing the distance, the owner hides in the house or the yard, behind furniture or shrubbery, in all kinds of weather.