RUFF  work

"The single common ingredient of every SAR mission is a human being. It is therefore important to understand how basic body function is the link between SAR dogs and the subject of the search. The human body gives off a constant stream of scent, very much like a smoke grenade. The human body is comprised of nearly 60 trillion cells. It is constantly replacing and discarding cells, at a rate of nearly 50 million cells per day. Skin surface alone has some 2 billion cells, of which 40,000 cells are being shed each minutes. These cells that are shed from the body. carry along bacteria and a layer of body secretions, both very important ingredients of scent. The growth of bacteria on the cells produces a vapor that is the detectable odor of human scent. The bacteria count can approach 200,000 bacteria per square centimeter of skin. While these figures may appear ponderous, they are mentioned here to dramatize to what extent the scent is being transmitted to the environment."

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THE ABC'S OF DOGS IN SEARCH & RESCUE
   (excerpt from NASAR Paper No. 77-1015 by Jeff Doran)
   http://www.acadia.net/mdisar/k9abcs.html 
   

OTHER READINGS
Scent: Training to Track, Search and Rescue - Milo D. Pearsall and Hugo Verbruggen, M.D. "This is a well written book, particularly the first few chapters dealing with the nature of scent and canine olfaction."

Scent and the Scenting Dog by William G. Syrotuck "Everything you need to know about scent and scent theory. The pertinent aspects of some new theories are examined, and others are interpreted as they relate to the dog's ability to perceive a human's presence and to discriminate one human from another. Good information on how to apply air scent dogs to the field.First edition 1972, illustrations, softcover, 100 pgs. BSSD012 NASAR Voting Member $9.95NASAR Non-Voting Member $10.45Non-Member$10.95"
http://www.nasar.org ---select NASAR Bookstore On-Line Shopping ---then browse.

Sandy Bryson, Search and Rescue Dog Training (CA: The Boxwood Press,1976)[ISBN: 0-910286-47-7] p. 9-12