Training a Sewer Odor Sniffing Dog

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Reach4

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Locating the source of a sewer smell can be hard. My idea is to train a dog for this purpose. The inspiration is how they train drug-sniffing dogs.

Create a dog toy that can pick up smells. I am thinking a strong cloth bag filled with activated charcoal (GAC) granules or non-treated charcoal. Dangle this toy down a roof vent for a while (day, week?) for the purpose of it picking up the smell. Retrieve the toy.

Then play with the dog and the toy. Play tug of war, or whatever motivates the dog. Play hide the toy, with increasing difficulty. The point is to get the dog to need its nose to find it as the game develops.

Let the dog think you have the toy and have hidden it, maybe with the help of a non-scented double that the dog sees but never touches. Then enter the space to be tested. See where the dog concentrates the sniffing.

A person with a suitably trained dog could perhaps offer the special service. The ideal dog would respond to sewer gas smells without having to be taught the specific smell of that particular system. Several people have posted with problems locating sewer smells. Some plumber who is good with dogs might be able to train a dog to have this useful skill. The dog could double as a pet.
 
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hj

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The problem with "sewer smells", and there are more than one, is that they move around the building depending on where air currents carry them, and they can accumulate is small areas like closets and bathrooms far from the source of the odor.
 
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