Customer Reviews

Scent: Training to Track, Search and Rescue

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first section of this book deals with scent theory and the canine gift of olfaction from a physical and anatomical examination of the dog. This is one of the best references to be found anywhere. The tracking portion of the book is a little weaker, but overall an excellent book!

I think for the overall comment on this book is " It is VERY tracking based". If you are getting it to help you in search and rescue you won't get what you think you are buying (I don't think). If you are getting it for tracking it will probably be your "bible". I really enjoyed the scent theory in the begining of the book.

The good: The principles in this book are sound, and much of the instruction is common in many other books that I have read on the subject of training a dog to track. The authors are very knowledgable and seem to present the material in a structured and logical fashion. I believe those interested in tracking titles will enjoy this much more than those of us who are intraested in search and rescue.

The bad: If the authors were to write a book on how to drive a car, they would probaby devote the first 4 chapters on how to build a vehicle from the groung up. My point is while the sections about scent theory are mildly interesting, I think they are a bit overblown and unnecessary. A much simpler discussion would have piqued the interest of the reader.

I WOULD NOT recommend this book to serious trainers wanting to learn more about tracking. The main idea is very blurry and hard to grasp. THe author gives theories and not facts and not very good training for tracking dog. The author has confused the ideal of tracking and air scenting. Even though it says "S&R", this book has a poor approach to it. This book was published in 1982, so much has changed since now in tracking. I truly think this author wanted to make a book more than educate people about tracking.