This week police bloodhounds from across America gather in Los Angeles to put their noses to the test in the National Police Blood Hound Association certification exam.
Passing the exam is an annual requirement for both newbie and veteran police hounds.
Doing so is no simple feat. Bloodhounds and their trainers must undergo a 40-hour, four-day course of rigorous testing to demonstrate a hound’s ability to rescue victims and follow scent trails across complex landscapes.
This year about 20 hounds from a dozen different law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department, are participating in the event unfolding in Granada Hills, Van Nuys, and Downtown Los Angeles and ending on Thursday, Feb. 9.
Police forces use a variety of dog breeds to assist in tracking scents, because their sense of smell is about 2,000 times stronger than that of humans, said Los Angeles Police Department officer and bloodhound trainer Josh Leon.
However, when it comes to sniffing skills, bloodhounds are first in class.
Their nasal cavity is six to seven inches long and filled with a mucus membrane that traps scents, Leon said. Even their characteristic droopy faces and drool serves a purposes — it ensures that smells stick to them and don’t dissipate with time.
Bloodhounds are also fiercely determined.
“They will track until they literally die,” said Leon. “You have to physically pull them off of the track, which is another reason why we use bloodhounds to trail.”
Bloodhounds are one of the only dog breeds that can pick up a scent track that is more than 24 hours old, and are they able to scent discriminate between different people on a single track.
“They’re really amazing,” said Leon, “so it’s pretty incredible to watch them.”
This week’s certificate exam drew police from LAPD, Arcadia, La Verne, Grants Pass, and other cities; and from sheriff’s departments in Riverside and Orange counties and other jurisdictions.
The National Police…
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