Heroes have always been a part of our life, but how many times have you had something other than a person being your hero?? Mostly it’s just someone who is your hero. Have you ever had a dog be your hero??

Rescue dogs that are specially trained have for a very long time been the only way to reach to survivors in earthquakes, fires, floods and other major disasters. Their keen sense of smell has made them very useful.

Rescue dogs are hard working and coupled with their keen sense of smell have proven to be very useful. They are very loyal and obedient as well and expect very little In terms of returns. Mostly it is just a special treat, a hug or even just a little play session that keeps them going. They go to places fearlessly where humans fear to tread.

There are a variety of breeds of dogs that make good rescue dogs. Some breeds tend to be better at rescuing than others. In the case of Bloodhounds, they are known for their prowess and can uncover criminals easily. Newfoundland dogs are good at rescuing in avalanches and Labrador retrievers make great cadaver dogs. To become a great rescue dog, any dog needs to work on the tracking scent. With that they can easily recover easily. Golden retrievers, German shepherds and Belgian Malinois are good at this.

Each rescue dog runs through an extensive set of evaluative activities before it is allowed to work on the scene. It is trained to detect scents and the development of its skills happen through regular sessions. The dog will track the scent from skin cells which tend to flake off from the human body. The flaking skin cells float and land on the ground as the person moves on. In the case of water, the cells float to the water surface if the person is underwater.

The people who train these great canines are special volunteers who have a penchant for training dogs and love spending time outdoors. They take great pride in the fact that they can train and communicate with these rescue dogs. These people normally are from a rescue team like SWOSAR or SOSARD and are called up by the local police departments to help in scent tracking. They are often called up to remote locations where bad weather and rough terrain is more suitable for a dog to search in. they go around on search and rescue missions looking for missing children, lost fishermen, accident victims and hikers who may have got caught in some danger.

Another type of dog is the one which specializes in structural incidents. These dogs known as air scenting dogs can track scents from the air and are used where human searchers may have contaminated the air previously. These dogs are unsung heroes in the eyes of the people who have been rescued by them.