I have not yet seen the book, but the author was quite engaging when interviewed by Terri Gross, 4 October 2016, WHYY.
Of necessity, this is a somewhat scholarly book but the author certainly offers the information in a more popular form than do the sources she cites. She knows her apples, as they say. Early on she notes the changes desired by a dog that is being walked in comparison to the human accompanying the dog, the latter having a time limit or a different agenda.
"The tracking dog's skill is not just to find the person's scent, but, perhaps more impressively, to distinguish it from the thousands of other scents gurgling and enticing his nose. A bit of pepper may cause a sneeze, but not a system collapse. Should a track grow dim, dogs search for the 'scent cone,' the invisible blooming of smelly air that spreads out from an odor source. Smell radiates from its source, getting weaker but its reach getting wider. By zigzagging, crossing perpendicular to the odor corridor, all the while moving forward, dogs zero in on the target."
I ran across the book on the 'free' book truck yesterday (11 June 2018), and had forgotten about wishing for it. I find I am 7 of 19 and will kill my wish, allowing 8-19 to move up one step. The top half inch of the pages from the start of the book are rippled but not stained from a liquid spill of some sort (diminishing to nothing by page 70), so I will send this to the bookshelf at the old soldiers and sailors' home. It isn't too likely that we will get a customer (few readers) but I fear to offend PBS comrades with rippled pages, no matter how many years they await a nice copy.
Index, notes with bibliographic citations. Some drawings.
Of necessity, this is a somewhat scholarly book but the author certainly offers the information in a more popular form than do the sources she cites. She knows her apples, as they say. Early on she notes the changes desired by a dog that is being walked in comparison to the human accompanying the dog, the latter having a time limit or a different agenda.
"The tracking dog's skill is not just to find the person's scent, but, perhaps more impressively, to distinguish it from the thousands of other scents gurgling and enticing his nose. A bit of pepper may cause a sneeze, but not a system collapse. Should a track grow dim, dogs search for the 'scent cone,' the invisible blooming of smelly air that spreads out from an odor source. Smell radiates from its source, getting weaker but its reach getting wider. By zigzagging, crossing perpendicular to the odor corridor, all the while moving forward, dogs zero in on the target."
I ran across the book on the 'free' book truck yesterday (11 June 2018), and had forgotten about wishing for it. I find I am 7 of 19 and will kill my wish, allowing 8-19 to move up one step. The top half inch of the pages from the start of the book are rippled but not stained from a liquid spill of some sort (diminishing to nothing by page 70), so I will send this to the bookshelf at the old soldiers and sailors' home. It isn't too likely that we will get a customer (few readers) but I fear to offend PBS comrades with rippled pages, no matter how many years they await a nice copy.
Index, notes with bibliographic citations. Some drawings.
