Search and rescue dog

A dog trained to find missing people by following human scent or searching an area. Teams use these dogs in wilderness, disaster, and other missing-person operations.

Canine olfaction: A dog's sense of smell, supported by a large olfactory system and specialized scent-processing brain regions. Scent discrimination lets dogs detect human odor trails amid complex environmental smells.
Wilderness search and rescue: The organized search for people lost or injured in natural, often remote terrain. Dogs can cover forest, mountain, and other terrain where visual searches are difficult.
Trailing: A tracking method in which a dog follows the scent trail associated with a particular person. It focuses on an individual trail rather than any human scent in an area.
Search and rescue personnel: Trained people who plan and conduct searches for missing or endangered individuals. Human searchers provide judgment and coordination; dogs contribute specialized scent detection.
Human scent: The mixture of airborne and deposited chemical compounds emitted or shed by the human body. Dogs can follow these odor cues even when the person is hidden or out of sight.
Disaster search dog: A dog trained to locate survivors or human remains in collapsed structures and disaster debris. Specialized rubble searches differ from finding a missing person in open terrain.
Tracking: The practice of following signs left by a person, animal, or vehicle across a route. Search dogs may follow ground scent and other trail cues to reconstruct a route.
Unmanned aerial vehicle: An aircraft operated without a human pilot aboard, often by remote control or onboard automation. Aerial imaging can survey terrain quickly but does not reproduce a dog's scent detection.
Scent discrimination: The ability to distinguish one odor from other odors or mixtures of odors. It underlies both tracking an individual and searching for any human scent.
Human remains detection dog: A dog trained to detect the odor of human remains, including buried or submerged remains. This specialization can support searches when the missing person is deceased.

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