# Investigation of the Impact of Extraneous Odours on the Detection Capability of Explosive Detection Dogs Under a Controlled Test Environment

## TL;DR

This study tested if certain odors could interfere with dogs' ability to detect explosives and found no significant negative impact.

## Contribution

The study introduces a controlled experimental setup to evaluate the masking effects of odors on explosive detection dogs.

## Key findings

- No significant negative effect of masking agents on dogs' detection abilities was observed.
- The experimental setup with six sniffing boxes and controlled environmental conditions was effective for testing.
- Results suggest that masking agents at high and low concentrations did not hinder detection performance.

## Abstract

This study describes an experiment designed to test how well dogs can detect explosives when exposed to substances that might mask the scent. It used six interchangeable sniffing boxes to test how the masking agents affected the dogs’ ability to detect TNT (a common explosive). The study involved eight trained detection dogs and over 1150 test runs. The main goal was to see if the masking agents at high and low concentrations would make it harder for the dogs to successfully detect TNT. The results showed that, under the conditions tested, none of the masking agents used had a significant negative effect on the dogs’ detection abilities. This experiment is important for understanding how environmental factors, like odour masking, might impact canine detection in real-world situations, such as security screening or military operations.

In this work, an experimental procedure that enables testing of canine detection capabilities is described. The developed testbed includes an experimental setup with six exchangeable detection/sniffing boxes for odour masking experiments as well as an air-conditioned (adjustable temperature and humidity) test environment. This design is used to test the masking effects of petroleum and n-decane in high and low concentrations on the detection probability of targets containing technical-grade TNT on explosive detection dogs. The potential influence of the masking agents at different concentrations was investigated with eight canines and, in total, more than 1250 test runs. Within the limits of this investigation, no negative impact of the masking agent on the canine detection capabilities (probability of the successful detection of the target) could be found.