A sniffer dog uses his keen sense of smell to detect the presence, or follow trails of mainly explosives, blood and drugs. These dogs get a remarkable level of training to also detect human remains, plants, animals, firearms, mold, food remains and phones!

Photo: national-army-museum.ac.uk

The training is done to such perfection that dogs are able to distinguish the distinct smells of all the items mentioned above and can also detect them when present in a combination.

For instance if a person tries to get away with drugs camouflaged with the strong smell of eucalyptus oil or disinfectants, hidden well in his clothing, a dog can still find out that presence of drugs and stop him!

Some dogs are sharp enough to sniff out and detect bloodstains more than a decade old! Labradors, German Shepherds, Siberian Huskies are all popular sniffer dogs and are always in great demand because of this.

Meanwhile scientists are involved in creating an electronic sniffing device that can "smell" as well as a dog. According to CNN, Yushan Yan, a professor in the University of California and his team are involved with such a project.

The device will be hand held and will prove to be an asset in airport security, baggage checking and in military operations, according to Yan. The advantage, according to the professor, is that the device can be deployed without investing time and money on training and maintenance, as one would do with dogs.

With the successful completion of this project will the demand for sniffer dogs decline? This we will have to wait and watch…..

While electronic noses wait to jon the fray of sniffing dogs, there are attempts to create an "ideal" sniffer dog. Seven cloned sniffer dogs, the first of its kind in the world were born in South Korea in 2007. They are called "Toppy" meaning Tomorrow’s Puppy and are born of three surrogate dams in a $300 million project funded by the state.

The "Toppies" seem to possess all the hereditary qualities and behavior that together single out an efficient sniffer dog, according to Lee Ho the South Korean Customs Representative.

The dogs are reported to have started working after an initial round of training and it had been easier to train them than the usual sniffer dogs, says the Repesentative.

Lee Byung-Chun is credited with a fundamental role in carrying out the dog cloning successfully when he helped create a 36 month old Afghan Hound’s duplicate. The nuclei of the somatic cells of a Golden Retriever have also gone into the cloning process.

Meanwhile, in another part of the globe, a "Super Sniffing Dog" was developed. That’s right! The Russian Aeroflot Airlines has its very own breeding center. It has now helped develop a sniffer dog to detect bombs and drug trafficking in the Moscow Airport. The dog is a cross between a Turkmen Jackal and a Siberian Husky!

It took the breeding center an awesome 27 years to perfect this dog! According to the Airlines, this special dog is superior in its sniffing qualities as compared to the normally accepted breeds of sniffer dogs.

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It is commonly admitted by the majority of dog trainers that the best way to train your dog is to use an established method known as "Positive Reinforcement Training". What this means is that when the dog behaves badly he/she is ignored and when the dog behaves correctly he/she is rewarded and praised.

Photo: steadfastcanine.com

Positive reinforcement is completely the opposite of conventional methods of training used in the past. With old methods the dog was punished or beat to get them to behave. This is not the case using this method. A dog’s natural instinct is to please their owner any way possible. When you strike the dog it interprets this energy as positive and as approval that what it has done is ok with you. When the dog is ignored there is no energy for it to misinterpret and soon realizes that you are upset and not approving what he did. The dog will quickly learn to do things you like because he will get a positive reaction from the owner (you).

Positive reinforcement works by using a dog’s natural instinct to please its owner to get them to learn right from wrong. This has proven to be much more effective than using force. A dog tends to rebel when the owner is not around after force has been used.

Some tips that you can use to help with your training are:

1. Meaningful Rewards- Dogs are very intelligent and will get bored easily with just a quick pat on the head. It works better to use small treats. It may take a while to find the one your dog goes crazy for but, when you find that one it works like a charm. To start you will want to give a treat each time the task is done properly, the more sporadically so they don’t expect one each time. Also, the treat must be given immediately after the task to show which task was correct. The other meaningful reward is physical attention and praise. This could be anything your dog likes such as a game of fetch, a rub in their favorite spot, or just some lap time with you.

2. Clicker Training- Training can be helped by using this method in conjunction with positive reinforcement. A clicker is a small gadget that makes a clicking noise when pressed. In this method, you press the clicker at the exact moment that a dog does what is asked of him. For example, you would say "sit". Click the device the moment his backside hits the floor. Immediately following you would give positive reinforcement as discussed above. The clicker lets the dog know exactly what action cause him to get a treat or attention.

3. Consistency- Most important of all you want to be consistent or you will just be wasting your time.
When you give a command make sure it is the same command each time. For instance, if the dog is barking he will not understand if one time you say "stop", one time you say "no" and one time you say, "knock it off". He will just be confused at this point. Dogs can not understand us but they associate different sounds with different actions with repetition.

Dog training can be very frustrating at times. You may feel like you will never make any progress but, just stick with it and apply some of the tips above and you will be amazed at what you and your dog can accomplish.

Greg K. is an accomplished writer and animal lover. If you want to learn more about dog training please visit his site at http://gkdogblog.blogspot.com