title: Quantifying Search Dog Effectiveness in a Terrestrial Search and Rescue Environment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is widespread and longstanding use of dogs in land search and rescue (SAR) operations, and their effectiveness is well accepted within the SAR community. However, very little published research exists that quantifies that effectiveness within a realistic SAR environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 25 experiments, conducted between October 2013 and February 2014 with 10 dog/handler pairs, using randomized target placement to calculate the ratio of hits, misses, and false positives per dog. Each dog was fitted with a GPS receiver to record their paths and ambient temperature. Wind strength and humidity were recorded throughout each run.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no identifiable correlation between humidity, temperature, or wind speed and effectiveness, but the age of the dog has a small positive correlation. Using a standard effectiveness formula, basic descriptive statistics were generated, which showed that the dogs tested were 76.4% successful overall, with an effectiveness of 62.9%. Dogs covered a mean distance 2.4 times greater than their human handlers but travelled at roughly average human walking speed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work represents a first attempt to quantify and understand levels of performance in lowland search dogs, and these results need to be understood within that context. A repeatable experimental framework has been demonstrated and provides a foundation for further work in this area.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing, Kingston University London, London, UK (Dr Greatbatch and Ms Allen). Electronic address: i.greatbatch@kingston.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Greatbatch
authors.affiliation: Surrey Search and Rescue, Surrey, UK (Dr Gosling).
authors.forename: Rebecca J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gosling
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing, Kingston University London, London, UK (Dr Greatbatch and Ms Allen).
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D004739:England; D018635:Rescue Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055814:Wilderness
keywords: canine ergonomics; search and rescue; search dogs; search effectiveness