nihon ken as bomb sniffing dogs?? *hypothetically*
Hello everyone!
Sorry I haven't been participating for a couple of months. Been reading a lot of threads here, though. Wonderfully educational.
I just read an interesting article:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bomb-dogs-shortage-us-homeland-security-airport-195929824.html
It basically talks about how effective bomb sniffing dogs are, and how there's a high demand for certain breeds that are preferentially used for this type of work. (Labradors, Belgian malinois, vizslas, etc.) The dogs have to be "sociable, disciplined, and physically resilient". The article really doesn't go into any detail about bomb sniffing training at all.
I don't know much about working dogs and different types of training, but the subject fascinates me. I know that some members of this forum were looking into doing SAR type training with their nihon ken. Do you think that certain nihon ken breeds hypothetically would be capable of doing bomb-sniffing type of work as well?? Hypothetically, mind you, since there simply isn't enough Japanese dogs in the US to support the type of demand the article describes.
I will probably get a copy of the "Canine Olefaction Science and Law" book to learn a bit more when it comes out...
Sorry I haven't been participating for a couple of months. Been reading a lot of threads here, though. Wonderfully educational.
I just read an interesting article:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bomb-dogs-shortage-us-homeland-security-airport-195929824.html
It basically talks about how effective bomb sniffing dogs are, and how there's a high demand for certain breeds that are preferentially used for this type of work. (Labradors, Belgian malinois, vizslas, etc.) The dogs have to be "sociable, disciplined, and physically resilient". The article really doesn't go into any detail about bomb sniffing training at all.
I don't know much about working dogs and different types of training, but the subject fascinates me. I know that some members of this forum were looking into doing SAR type training with their nihon ken. Do you think that certain nihon ken breeds hypothetically would be capable of doing bomb-sniffing type of work as well?? Hypothetically, mind you, since there simply isn't enough Japanese dogs in the US to support the type of demand the article describes.
I will probably get a copy of the "Canine Olefaction Science and Law" book to learn a bit more when it comes out...
Comments
@HappyBrindle - Yep, the right NK would be great at it! It is just nosework, and NK are great at using their noses. The only thing that would worry me with using a NK is that the dogs need to be a little less sensitive than most NK. But, the right NK (one that is resilient, recovers quickly, and is a little less handler soft than normal) would probably out perform many of the labs in programs that I have seen.
Thank you for your post! I was initially thinking the same thing, that at least certain Japanese breeds would be too independent-minded for this type of work, but then, the dogs probably get selected based on individual temperament and then trained from very early on.
Sunyata, thank you for your insight! Glad to know nihon ken have very keen noses, I'm guessing because they've been bred as hunting dogs... I'm sure there are more discussions on the forum regarding working dogs and their training and look forward to reading them.
Regarding the off leash thing, T_Dog may have been referring to a particular passage in the article:
"Until a few years ago, canines were only taught to search for inert objects like cars and cargo while leashed. But a growing number of dogs are working off-leash in hopes of identifying a suicide bomber afoot, like the terror suspects seen pushing carts through the airport in Brussels. The dogs stay near their handlers, yet can canvass larger venues like football stadiums faster. 'Our dogs can search about 200 people a minute,' said Kjellsen of K2 Solutions, which recently contracted with the Army for further off-leash research and development."
An intriguing idea, although I don't know how effective off-leash bomb-sniffing would be against would-be suicide bombers. If terrorists realize they got detected and are about to get apprehended/shot/tranquilized, they would probably just press the switch right then and there...