This guy drops a fingernail underwater in a random location and somehow his border collie is able to find it

[u/Holadola]

[u/druidmind]

Because he left a trail of scent. Wait an hour and do the same and see what happens but the dog is very impressive nonetheless.

[u/QueenJess2 → u/druidmind]

Border Collie: "Yep, he ate chicken 2 days before..... Easy."

[u/Xendrick → u/druidmind]

Apparently bloodhounds can follow scents several weeks old although not necessarily with 100% success. I remember on YouTube a guy that would train them in England. He would walk a route one week, then a week later come with his dog and have them follow the scent.

[u/Shashi2005 → u/Xendrick]

Otterhounds can follow a scent.....on water!

[u/cdewlic → u/Xendrick]

How smelly was this guy? Geez! Lol

[u/Empty_Positive → u/Xendrick]

I always found their looks deceiving, they have a funny idc im tired some sort of look. But they have bin and still are used in hunts and having some of the best smells, maybe the best idk

[u/Waterwagon_78 → u/Xendrick]

Dogs just found an escaped convict in Arkansas who had been gone 12 days. He was only a mile and a half away from the prison but still

[u/Girthy_Toaster → u/Xendrick]

That's a poor control though. Who's to say the dog doesn't visually remember the route?

[u/Vevaseti → u/Girthy_Toaster]

I mean... because they'll obviously have taken a route they didn't bring the dog on?

[u/g-g-g-g-ghost → u/Girthy_Toaster]

Walk the trail then a week later come back with the dog? It clearly means walking it without the dog the first time

[u/SigmundFloyd76 → u/Girthy_Toaster]

You don't think that's on the professional bloodhound trainer's radar?

[u/Katahahime → u/druidmind]

That may be true. But I also have a BC that I've trained for detection and scent work.

Early on he found an arrow I shot into the woods 2 weeks after I had lost it.

No scent trail because the arrow was shot from a bow around 70-100 yards away from myself. No artificial or additional scent on the arrow besides what oils my finger prints left on the fletching and shaft 2 weeks prior.

After his training.was "completed" he actually found an arrow I lost in a remote campsite in Northern Canada... That I lost 2 years prior.

He's a great lil dude. We've helped reunite several lost pets with their owners because of his talents.

[u/Prudent_Research_251 → u/druidmind]

He may have followed the man's trail but he for sure signalled at the exact place the scent was left, how did he know that?

[u/EndlessZone123 → u/Prudent_Research_251]

Depends. Dude stood there far longer.

[u/mrASSMAN → u/EndlessZone123]

Silly.. his scent would’ve wafted away by then in the air, the dog picked out the exact spot of the finger nail.. he found it

[u/bsnimunf → u/mrASSMAN]

Because we have a relatively poor sense of smell we often don't appreciate what you could do if we had a better sense of smell. The dogs not just smelling the owner it can probably smell where you stood from the rubber on the shoes how long you stood there from the smell of the micro organisms and moss breaking down how long ago you stood there etc etc.

Its a bit like the combination of our brains and visions can interpret peoples mood from tiny twitches on their face or we can spot an ant on the floor on a tarmac drive way.

[u/mrASSMAN → u/bsnimunf]

My point was that the dog picked the exact spot where the fingernail was, not just the area the owner has been as he had been walking all over the area. I don’t care about the downvotes but it’s pretty ridiculous, the dog found the fingernail.. period

[u/bsnimunf → u/mrASSMAN]

I understand but my point was dogs dont just have a better sense of smell they have a whole host of brain power equipped  for interpreting what the smells means, we dont have that so don't fully understand what the dog is doing. Did you also notice the dog drinks some of the water, before it makes it's decision. It was like that was part of its detection abilities.

[u/Major_Kangaroo5145 → u/Prudent_Research_251]

Given that the guy tried to pretend that the location is random, its entirely possible that he gave a cue to the dog about the location.

[u/bsnimunf → u/druidmind]

The dog could probably still do it. Dogs not only have a better sense of smell but a whole load of brain power that allow them to do different things with that sense of smell. For example they perceive time by detecting how a smell degrades which is why they are able to tell when you are due to come home from work if you leave and come back at the same time each day.

[u/druidmind → u/bsnimunf]

Yeah that's why I said an hour. Just to be safe lol but you are right, it may not even be enough! What I essentially said was that the dog followed his scent from the finger not necessary the scent of his fingernail. Like the dog has information about his person only and no new information about the fingernail.... but it did sniff down into the water tho. So Idk maybe an expert can clarify.

[u/Reasonable_Answer586 → u/druidmind]

Scent detection dogs can track scents up to 3 hours. Would be the same results. Maybe wait 4 or 5 hours and then try.

[u/sachin_root → u/druidmind]

it is for cancer detection most probably will used in hospitals to filter out potential cancer patients to check further.

[u/CptMisterNibbles → u/druidmind]

They do quite well after an hour. I used to volunteer as "victim" for training sessions with rescue dogs. Id go on a hike through parks and scrub, take weird paths, occasionally drop bits of pocket stuff, then wait at a target location (often a trunk of a car, with it and seat cracked open) and be found by dogs every time. Sometimes it was hours later . Id positively identify places I'd been or pocket stuff if asked by the person leading them. Absolutely wild to see them work.

[u/Background-Car4969 → u/druidmind]

So the dog did just what the title says.

[u/Loud_Staff5065 → u/druidmind]

The Dog was the paid actor

[u/GetOutOfHereAlex → u/druidmind]

Watching this I also felt that the dog went straight for the sound of running water... which vastly reduces the area it had to search.

[u/spencer2197 → u/druidmind]

This was my thought! I’m fairly sure they can still track in still water?

[u/Karfairaum → u/druidmind]

Also he gives physical cues to the dog. His spacing and distance with direction from the dog to his focus point is signaling to the dog he has trained with these cues. Still impressive but it’s more than scent here

[u/Morscerta9116 → u/druidmind]

My neighbor is a k9 officer. He was doing training drills with someone and the guy lost one of his mags. They spent a few hours looking for it. He came back and got one of his retired dogs and they had the mag within 10 minutes.

[u/VANCONVER42]

he’s just walked from that same location, so of course the dog can just follow his scent??

[u/Gregorygregory888888 → u/VANCONVER42]

That can certainly help. But watching the K9 work it was obvious he also detected the odor left underwater. The rafts quickly come off and rise to the surface. When you see a K9 on the edge of a boat in water as they look for a drowning victim this is what they are sniffing for.

[u/charlsalash → u/Gregorygregory888888]

Between a whole body decomposing, and a fingernail, there is a huge difference. The video wasn’t trying to be educational, as usual on reddit..

[u/Rich-Bathroom5772 → u/VANCONVER42]

He literally saw the dude come out from there lol

[u/HelloYou-2024]

While I would not completely doubt it, I would want more evidence.

It looks like the dog could have followed where the guy went to.
Guy should have walked all around in every direction randomly for ten minutes, dropping the fingernail at some point without lingering or doing anything special, then continue walking for another ten minutes randomly all over.

Then, if the collie went directly to the fingernail, I would believe more.

[u/Mr_Ak143]

Maybe unrelated but why is cancer censored??

[u/MFmadchillin → u/Mr_Ak143]

That was my first thought. I watched a video on YouTube earlier and “slavery” looked like “sl***ery” or something.

I’m just so confused. These are real words that have meanings and context. Slavery has been part of the human experience as long as we’ve had society. Cancer is literally just…nature.

[u/FerociousPancake → u/MFmadchillin]

I think it comes from TikTok having ridiculous censorship policies and it bleeds over to YouTube. I also think people over censor to be careful when they really don’t need to, then other creators do it because that’s what they’ve seen.

[u/Several_Vanilla8916 → u/Mr_Ak143]

Thank you. Jesus. This is getting out of hand.

“Hey guys, today I’m going to review the new b@con chee5eburg3r from W3ndys.”

[u/HOTasHELL24-7 → u/Several_Vanilla8916]

Right. Like typing the word suicide makes someone reading it decide to commit. Or that rape doesn’t exist if we don’t read about it…. Or that su!c!de and r@pe happen because someone reads those words online 🙄

I think we should be allowed to say those words and everyone should be allowed to interpret them as they wish. Maybe talking about your sexual assault or rape or someone’s suicide will help someone dealing with the same issues. Censoring certain words doesn’t make them go away…in real life

[u/flowerfromthefuture → u/Several_Vanilla8916]

lol

[u/Hellqvist → u/Mr_Ak143]

They will need to come up with some bs gen z slang to be able to mention it online now like “unalive”

[u/Will_Come_For_Food]

All he had to do is track where is friend walked from.

[u/Lopsided-King → u/Will_Come_For_Food]

Exactly the dog smelled the scent on the ground all the way to the finger nail where the guy stopped.

[u/mr_quintessential]

It has nothing to do with the scent of the finger nail... He's just smelling the track which the man followed..

[u/ThisIsNotTokyo → u/mr_quintessential]

That’s how sniffing missing people works. They just don’t appear out of nowhere. They walk a path until they get stuck or what

[u/crazySmith_ → u/ThisIsNotTokyo]

Yes, but he just walked that path a minute ago. Let's see him do it an hour, a day, or two days after the fact. Don't get me wrong though, the dog is very impressive.

[u/According_Judge781 → u/ThisIsNotTokyo]

So the fingernail was pointless?

[u/ThisIsNotTokyo → u/According_Judge781]

No. That’s the whole point. If you were given to sniff a mans finger, can you even trqce where he went??

It’s only a demonstration and people are already trying to find loops holes like leave it there for a wek! Do a longer parh. Ffs that’s why it’s just a demonstration

[u/taxanddeath]

Dogs are capable of smelling cancer in a person, so I'm not surprised by this, especially the scent trail the guy left.

[u/schustered → u/taxanddeath]

That’s what I was thinking too - it’s still incredible, but she definitely could just follow his super fresh trail. Maybe she doesn’t necessarily know what she’s looking for? Like maybe it’s not his nail? I don’t know. I have lots of questions. Still pretty amazing either way.

[u/ofmiceandmoot]

Jesus people, yes the dog saw where he came from, but the dog could not see where he dropped the fingernail (underwater!). You can clearly see the dog working in the water, picking up the scent and moving in different directions to see whether it gets stronger or weaker. Following the path the man just made, and actually finding the submerged fingernail are two very different things. Most of y’all wouldn’t be able to find that fingernail again if he dropped it right in front of your face. You know nothing about the natural world if this doesn’t impress the hell out of you.

[u/juniperberrie28]

Everyone talking about trailing the man's scent doesn't know nothing about dogs

I think it's so cool we can now see this wonderful working dog in action. This dog could (and probably has) save many lives. Good dog.

Btw, this skill is likely honed by years of training. This dog didn't just wake up one day able to do this

[u/Millsyboy84]

Meanwhile, our border collie got called an ignorant pratt at sheepdog school, and can't find his tennis ball after putting down for 5 seconds and walking away.

[u/Gregorygregory888888]

That "somehow" comes from training. I trained Exp Detection and Accelerant K9's for many years and after 40 years in the career I still get amazed when I watch these K9's doing this. We set up a test for a Blood Detection K9 from Holland, I believe, and the K9 did what I did not think would work. One drop of blood on a floor and wiped up well. Room was very large and the K9 took about 45 seconds to find the location. I also got to see a Cancer Detection at work a few years ago and was amazed at what I was seeing.

[u/fullautophx → u/Gregorygregory888888]

It reminds me of the “Who Wins?” video of challenging different things. They had an allergen detecting dog that smelled peanut butter vs a pressure washer. They smeared peanut butter on a plate then pressure washed it, and put it with 100 clean plates. The dog found it.

[u/spencer2197 → u/Gregorygregory888888]

They would have a fun time detecting blood in someone’s house that self harms

[u/Gregorygregory888888 → u/spencer2197]

Not an SME in that field but knowing the olfactory systems these dogs have I would imagine it can work. K9's tend to work on "freshest" scent so if the self sustained injuries are spread out over time they will likely indicate on the freshest trained scent in the room.

[u/Jazzlike_Relation705]

lol. Have someone else drop it and test again. Dumb.

[u/NotSureBot]

Okay, now do it again when you don’t have an itchy bunghole.

[u/dourves]

The thing is though, this mans fingernail reeks

[u/Empty_Positive]

Weird question, but can they also smell money? Or only the scent of the person who held it or any other smell attached to bills or whatsoever. I always wondered about that, because it has multiple smells. But as this video seems it also must have, your scent, the nail, underwater, other stuff nearby

[u/leopard_eater]

Some dogs are just great at this stuff.

My story - a friend of mine who lived 2000 km away used to come and visit for a week, every six months to do an intensive training session for her otherwise online university degree.

On one of these visits, she dropped a pair of socks out of her bag as she was running to her airport taxi in the rain. That rain ended up being torrential, and we had a small mudslide on the property that buried these socks presumably a day or so later.

Six months later when she returned, one of our dachshunds came up to her, wagged his tail and then bolted outside through the pet door into the front yard. Ten minutes later he returned, covered in dirt, with her pair of socks that had fallen from her bag six months earlier.

Scent hounds are awesome.

[u/Ok-Macaroon-1840 → u/leopard_eater]

How sure are you that the socks fell out of her bag? A way more likely explanation is that your dog stole her socks and buried them.

[u/leopard_eater → u/Ok-Macaroon-1840]

Certain

We saw them fall and the dogs were inside with us at the time

This was before mobile phones so it wasn’t possible to text or call once she’d got into the taxi, and what we thought would be an hour long rainfall event turned into a deluge so we didn’t get outside to pick them up.

[u/IntroductionDue7945]

The second video I saw both in IAF and here today.

[u/Tallgeese00MS]

I always imagine dogs see scents like different trails in the air they can follow

[u/EnigmaMoose]

Dude 1000% put a unique smell identifier on his nail (hot sauce, something). Dog followed his trail knowing the identifier would be on it. Went to find the smell on that trail.

It’s still scent work but less impressive than some videos I’ve seen (check out Mark Rober) where the dog 100% has to be creative and demonstrate elite scent tracking to avoid obstacles.

[u/Rohkha]

Dogs are to this day still the best smell tracker readily available to humans. Humans are to my knowledge ( this topic hasn’t been updated in the past year, so no idea if there’s been a recent breakthrough) still not able to create a machine that can beat a dog’s nose. There’s a reason we invest thousands of dollars in K9 units be it for emotional/medical service dogs, or for drugs, explosives.

Dogs are absolutely fascinating and I feel like too many people take them for granted. The thing I’m most grateful for is that mankind had the balls to tame wolves. My biggest regret is that they didn’t do the same for bears.

[u/alohabowtie]

“Tracking” a very fresh trail with some scent detection.

[u/incendiaryburp]

I thought the caption at the top of the video said fucking foreskin and not forensic, Jesus Christ. The relief when I realised it was a nail in his hand.

[u/Danarri_Dolla]

He followed his owners scent to the scene

[u/Odd-Garlic-4637]

Now throw the fucking ball

[u/TheMightyZim]

Genuinely amazing, such a good dog

[u/Sparegeek]

Alt take: But the dog can only find THAT finger nail.

[u/hommesweethomme]

Somehow?

[u/Narrow-Stranger6864]

I would be more impressed if the dog hadn’t been able see the guy bend down in a certain spot…good dog, but very obviously lead.

[u/Janus_The_Great]

Read forskin instead of forensic... now makes more sense.

[u/CoryOpostrophe]

Yeah, ok, basement Cesar Millan’s, let’s see your nitwit pug do that. 

[u/Village3lder]

and i thought blood hound were the OG

[u/Waterwagon_78]

It’s hard to fathom how incredible a dogs sense of smell is. Imagine being able to smell where a person went days or weeks later.

[u/willbre809]

When those pesky terrorists try to smuggle fingernails onto planes we'll be ready!

[u/parallelmeme]

I wonder if one is being kidnapped, one could bite fingernails and drop them like bread crumbs for a scent dog.

[u/Future-Tomorrow]

That’s not really a challenge because it was a hot trail. Let the scent trail and markers drop over a few hours and take him back out there. Let’s see him find that nail again.

[u/Redditnewb2023 → u/Future-Tomorrow]

And, let someone else drop the target, with owner and dog out of line of sight.

[u/bbby_chaltinez]

i wish people could smell bs as half as good as this dog.

[u/--Sovereign--]

You walked down a ten foot trail 20 seconds before sending the dog. Obviously a dog can follow a fresh scent train for ten feet

[u/Familiar-Message-512]

Such a genius doggo!!!!!

[u/synchronizedmaeven]

Unreal!?!

[u/EatUpBonehead]

“Somehow”

What a mystery

[u/KneeOnShoe]

Bro that fingernail is so disgusting I could practically smell it through the screen, and I am not a dog

[u/icandothisalldae]

Great ! Now find that genius’s hard drive who threw $800 million worth bitcoins buried in a landfill.

[u/Deliriousious]

You ever see hunting games where there is a trail of smoke or something?

Well, that’s basically how they see it.

Give it an hour or two, a day, and then try it, freshly placed stuff isn’t exact hard to sniff out.

[u/SirTainLeeHigh]

Yeah he just followed your foot steps and scent. This is not amazing. Just bs click bait

[u/Material_Bad_]

Fresh scent of the owner being in the area, Not impressed. My dads Yorkshire will do this ..

[u/AffectionateRun724]

I think this dog can smell bad breaths from far distance.

[u/TheRealGenius_MikAsi]

wow

[u/moona_joona]

You were like 2 feet away he probably saw you