Lusi Air Scenting

Short video clip of a close up of a Dalmatian nose, air scenting. The video clip is made after several minutes of a stationary posture, movements only in the head as the Dal makes a 180 degree sweep of the landscape. The weather has just changed to give a thaw; the temperature is about 3 degrees C and the young 8 month old Dal is almost overwhelmed by the air scents. 

The canine olfactory system comprises approximately 200 million olfactory centres which allow the dog to analyze the landscape. This young Dal will often pose in a typical stance to air scent: What is unusual today is that she is doing it almost next to me so that I can film her. She usually does this at a distance, often at the crest of a hill and into the wind. The second thing that is different today is that there was almost no wind; usually this Dal will head into the wind to do this. Presumably the thaw has created a rich accumulation of  air scents which is why she has stopped to analyze the landscape. 

Why am I making a big deal of a dog's nose in the video?

Well it has to do with understanding exactly what behaviours and body movements Lusi makes when she is either ground scenting or air scenting, so that when we are tracking I will read her body language better and be a better handler because of it.

Lusi in the cornfield: more on Dal body movements when tracking a scent.

Nose down working the cornfield.

The weather similar to yesterday, sunny and a light NE wind  but a bit colder at minus 6 degrees. My husband takes Lusi out for a run in the corn fields and then moves to the open pasture land. He catches a great series of photos showing more about the natural body movements of a Dal when tracking animal scents, ( see previous posting). These are a few of them showing the natural but already now familiarly typical postures that Lusi adopts when picking up and following a ground scent.

Nose down: getting started

Nose down: we're moving now

Nose down and running

Air scenting at the top of the hill

The instinctive movements of a young Dalmatian tracking an animal scent.

Prompted by a recent reading of a tracking article, Read any Trailing or Tracking Dog: Negative Indications I have been watching Lusi closely on our walks and have been trying to read Lusi's instinctive body language. With perfect weather conditions, a light wind/sunny/7 degrees C, and melting snow cover on the ground, I watched Lusi closely as she displayed her natural prey instincts in following several animal scent trails.


I was unable to record the first images of Lusi jumping up about three feet into the air from all fours, as distinct to when she does this on her hind legs, because it occurred so suddenly and unexpectedly. I also could not gauge what it was that she was responding to. It did, however, occur more or less at the start of our walk when she was let off the leash. There were also two distinct and separate times when she was "pointing."


Learning how to read a dog's natural movements is an important part of what a handler must do if they are going to work a tracking dog successfully. I have tried to piece together what it was Lusi was responding to and indicating by the changes in her behaviour and body movements in the series of photos here. 


This was in effect my first real opportunity to observe and record what Lusi does naturally when she is following an animal scent. ( I have a video of Lusi at 5 months old showing her early "nose to the ground" work in the forest when we are on a walk together and also videos of our early tracking lessons when Lusi is 6 months old and is learning to follow a human scent.)

#1. Facing into the wind: Air scenting 

In the stance shown, (photo #1), Lusi is indicating air scenting. She was facing directly into the wind, standing quite still, attentive and apparently gazing into the distance, but definitely focused. Her head movement was quite subtle, a gentle, rhythmic lifting of her nose, as though she was literally catching the scents in the breeze. 

#2 Following a ground scent-nose to the ground.

In photo #2 Lusi is actively engaged in following what is presumably an animal ground scent, probably squirrel. Her nose is to the ground and she is carrying her tail upwards.

#3 Tail has gone straight up in the air like a flagpole.
She is very animated, and digs and scratches at
the ground but after two or three minutes moves
away from this "hot spot" when she finds no prey.

Her behaviour changes dramatically as she reaches an area in the brush. Photo #3 shows how her tail changes position to an almost vertical stance like a flagpole indicating a scent "hot spot." I suspected that this might have been a squirrel's food store but I can only guess. After some very animated and determined scratching at the ground and uncovering of the area Lusi appeared almost surprised and perhaps a little confused that she had not found her prey. 


She appears to pick up a scent track again and moves a few feet over from the "hot spot" but by now her tail is no longer standing vertical, (photo #4). Again no prey, and at this point she loses interest and we continue on our walk.

#4 Finding no prey. Lusi  moves a few feet away from where she gave the "hot spot" tail up indication. Shortly after this she loses interest and we continue on our walk.