I Suspect It's Been Discussed Before But Why Can't We Track Bf With Dogs?

[Guest Scout1959]

Why hasn't anyone been able to accomplish this?  I know that Moneymaker was at one time training dogs (or was going to use somebody's dogs anyways) but as far as I've heard there's been nothing.

 

Perhaps dogs are afraid once they realize how big they are but if they're just another form of human as some believe why wouldn't a dog track them?

[Guest Scout1959]

http://bigfootforums.com/index.php/topic/4951-dogs-tracking-bf/

 

Okay, I found this thread which does answer the question.

 

But there are some seriously nasty dogs out there so I'd think you could train a pack that was large enough physically and in sufficent numbers to do the job.  You'd just need enough time and most of all money.  Money always seems to be the spoiler.

[Guest DWA]

Training dogs to do anything requires time and money.

 

Seeing a bigfoot requires neither.  And look how folks react to people who say they have.

 

There's gotta be a good reason to track dogs to hunt bigfoot.  And the main two problems are:

 

1) No one has as far as they're concerned any reason to spend the time and money;

2) You have to train them on, well, bigfoot.  Because evidence suggests that if you haven't, you are relying on luck that is probably not gonna pan out.

When I combine 1) and 2) I can figure out why this isn't happening.

[Guest Scout1959]

Training dogs to do anything requires time and money.

 

Seeing a bigfoot requires neither.  And look how folks react to people who say they have.

 

There's gotta be a good reason to track dogs to hunt bigfoot.  And the main two problems are:

 

1) No one has as far as they're concerned any reason to spend the time and money;

2) You have to train them on, well, bigfoot.  Because evidence suggests that if you haven't, you are relying on luck that is probably not gonna pan out.

When I combine 1) and 2) I can figure out why this isn't happening.

 

I have heard of folks training dogs to go after 'new' or unknown scents.  You'd likely need to have a place where a extremely recent sighting had occurred though to get them on the scent.  In the end it seems money is the big hurdle along with the difficulty of getting a pack of trained dogs to a site in a short enough period of time.

[Incorrigible1]

I believe Dr. Meldrum has taken to the woods with cadaver dogs. That would seem to be a reasonable approach. Of course not every carcass will be bigfoot, but they're large enough that a BF carcass would put up a significant amount of scent. Might be worth pursuing.

[hiflier]

Hello Incorrigible1,

Good point. Could you do me a favor and pop that post into the "Dead Sasquatch" thread if you can find it? It's really a very good ideaand probably should be included as a methodology for finding dead ones in the early spring as the winter thaws approach.

P.S. Do you think I'm paranoid?

Edited March 4, 2014 by hiflier

[Incorrigible1]

There's a gentleman that subscribes to every conspiracy theory I'm aware of, and many more, that I consider paranoid. You? Compared to the rest of BFF, no.

 

And the credit for the cadaver dog theory goes to Dr. Meldrum. Would like to meet the man and shake his hand, sometime.

[hiflier]

Hello Incorrigible1,

 

OK, fair enough, Dr meldrum gets the credit. And thanks for your opinion. My opinion? Someone has a type specimen already. My aim is to find out if that is the case. Do I need help doing this? Yes. Do I expect to get any? No

[Incorrigible1]

I place little store in the propagated story that detailed, close-up photos that would essentially prove bigfoot are shared privately. Pipe dreams and conspiratorial wannabes. 

 

I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. If ya know what I mean.

[Guest]

I think this would work, but there are some major concerns.  If you just had a pack of dogs chasing a Bigfoot, the dogs would probably just get killed and off goes Mr. Bigfoot.  They would not "tree" like a cougar or a tiger in all probability, unless it was a smaller juvenile.  This leaves a bloodhound on a leash with a handler following a track, similar to tracking an escaped convict in the movies.  The problem here is the slow 3 mph at most travelling of the handler and the dog.  The quarry would easily outdistance them.

 

However in small forest area this could work, but then again, how often would you find a Bigfoot in a smaller wooded area of just a few miles across?  I like the idea however, so if anyone has trained bloodhounds lets get them into service.

[hiflier]

Hello Incorrigible one,

 

I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. If ya know what I mean.

 

indeed I do.

[Guest Crowlogic]

First you have to have a track-able sighting and get to it quickly.  The last  well publicized time this happened was when Roger Patterson shot his film at Bluff Creek.  If for instance when the Memorial Day sighting/video was done had they got dogs there quickly then perhaps tracking could have been done.  It seems to never happen for any number of reasons.

[hiflier]

Hello Crowlogic,,

999 and counting!

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

I agree with the hypothesis that it has never, or rarely, been done due to financial constraints. The investment is great, with little chance of a payoff. I would estimate that the majority of people who could afford to undertake such an endeavour are not so interested in sasquatch that they would attempt something like this. I think it is the training that is the most difficult. How do you train a dog to track a bigfoot? And if you can pull that off, what next?

 

I would estimate that if the dogs were on the trail of a sasquatch, the sasquatch would be moving through some very thick scrub, and a human would not be able to follow, or if they were, it would be too slowly. So the dogs would be the only ones to see the bigfoot most likely, and unless you attach cameras to them, there isn't too much that they can do.

 

They cannot win in an attack, even in a pack. At least I highly doubt it would be feasible. Perhaps if they chanced upon a lone adolescent, they could take it down by utilizing pack tactics, but honestly, I've seen programs that showed how canines attack in numbers, and I don't think their natural or instinctual tactics would be sufficient. Even a young sasquatch is probably as strong as your average human weightlifter, well above the human average I mean, and couple that with their ability to turn ferocious if the need arises, and I would bet that even the young bigfoot would have at least a chance of escaping, if not outright winning the confrontation.

 

They used dogs on an episode of Finding Bigfoot, and "supposedly" the dogs were trained to track non-human primate scents. Okay, I suppose that is possible.  If that is true, and they really would only react to such a scent, then they likely were on the trail of a sasquatch. I highly doubt that the people involved in making the show, or the cast members, were involved in any type of hoaxing of that incident. Which would mean that either the handlers were lying, or the dogs truly were as advertised. And like I mentioned earlier, they hit on a scent in some thick brush, and the cast members and handlers didn't follow because of that fact.

 

This is partly what irks me with researchers...It seems many of them expect to walk the trails and just happen upon a bigfoot. Even though it happens relatively often, the percentage of people who visit or live in sasquatch territory never have an encounter, which would mean that the probability is VERY low of having an encounter that way. Plus, we are talking about EVERY PERSON who ever goes through the woods where sasquatch live, and that is a lot more people than those who are actually out there looking for bigfoot. So my point is that without getting off the beaten path, especially if one is on the trail of a sasquatch and the sasquatch senses the person, there is virtually no chance of a favorable outcome. In general of course, or on average.

So we've established that there are some obstacles to be overcome in utilizing such a strategy involving trained canines, and we could also all agree that the majority of those who research sasquatch do not have the means for undertaking such maneuvers. Therefore the likelihood of this tactic being utilized very often is pretty low from what I can tell. Even though it would be somewhat difficult to accomplish the training process and getting the dogs into the field, there are even more obstacles and problems once one arrives and is ready for tracking. The dogs could run into the possibility of picking up a very old scent, for one, thus the tracking of the trail could be useless, since it would likely be lost somewhere, or even more likely, the sasquatch has just travelled too far by that time.

 

And there is the possibility that it would take many outings to even pick up a fresh scent in the first place. And some might get discouraged long before they even got that far. It could take a lot of determination and confidence. Especially if someone who didn't believe in bigfoot, but who wanted to give the search a try just on the off chance they could accomplish something so great, was the one attempting such a search. The longer they go without any payoff for their actions, the more likely they are to halt their expedition. With someone who knows bigfoot is out there, they would not be discouraged as easily. So it would depend on the type of person as well as their beliefs regarding bigfoot. There are probably some intangible factors as well, if one wanted to get a bit microscopic with the analysis.

 

Even though something of this nature would be extremely challenging, aside from just blatant luck, I still believe it could be done. And I would go as far as to say that it is probably one of the best methods for going about searching for sasquatch. That of course doesn't mean it will be successful right off the bat, but if the strategy is consistently used over a long period of time, I think the probability of success would be much greater than any of the strategies that are currently being used in the hunt for sasquatch. And if the handler or team is willing to actually fight the wilderness and go where the dogs lead them, the probability of success goes up.

 

The last thing I wanted to talk about is what I already mentioned regarding attaching cameras to the dogs. I wasn't really being serious when I said that, but it actually is a decent idea, considering that it would not take the dogs as much time to get through hard to reach places, thus the bigfoot would not have as much time to escape. I am thinking that most handlers would not let their dogs run loose after the scent, since then the handler loses all control, and has little hope of catching up to the dogs, who may or may not wait for them. Probably not. But if the dogs were highly trained, and the handler could let them loose with cameras attached to their backs, they could potentially get close enough to the animal to capture some visual evidence.

 

I don't think the dogs would have to be trained to attack either. I think doing that is a bad idea all around, even if the plan was to let them go do their thing, hoping they take down a bigfoot that can later be found by the handler. It's just too risky, for both the dogs and the success of the operation. Notice I didn't say its risky for the bigfoot, lol. And if an lone youngster was the only thing the dogs could take down, the odds once again are against the searchers and dogs, since all of the adult sasquatch have been taken out of the equation...In an attack situation I mean.

 

I suppose I should also address the fact that reports suggest that dogs are afraid of sasquatch. Has anyone ever had an experience where the hair inexplicably stands on end for no logical reason? It's as if your subconscious mind and senses are aware of something your consciousness is not. I was running lights in a supposedly haunted theater one time, and above my small booth was a spotlight projection room, in the window of which many people had seen a figure. Well I knew nobody was in the small room, and while the play was going on my hairs started to do like I described. And I then heard footsteps walking above me, which came to the opening, as if someone were looking down on me, yet there was nobody there when I looked. As soon as the production was completed I double checked that no one was up there, and there wasn't. That was one of three paranormal experiences I've had in my life.

 

My point is that there was no logical reason for my hairs standing up like that. This same thing is sometimes reported with sasquatch. If you want my opinion on why this happens, I believe it is fear-based. Not a rational fear, and not a logical nor understandable fear. It seems very primal, like it is triggered by some sense that is buried deep within the mind, and thus inaccessible except at certain moments....Are you wondering how I went from talking about dogs to this? Well the fear exhibited by dogs is likely similar. That is the only thing that can account for the behavior that has been reported.

 

Had the dogs physically seen the bigfoot's size, that is one thing, but in many reports the animals never actually see what they are afraid of. It is as if the fear is like that I describe. And I believe animals have a much more heightened awareness for this type of irrational fear, because they live in a completely different world, a world where consciousness and subconsciousness, intelligence and instinct, are structured in a completely different manner.

 

So I ask whether even trained canines would be willing to approach a sasquatch. Maybe it depends on the particular dog, but if that is the case, then the probability of success is decreased, since one cannot know which dogs will react favorably in such a situation. But I still believe the idea to be a good one, and it definitely could not hurt the field, considering that not proving the existence of bigfoot has been the mainstay, so if this method is utilized and also fails, it is just a drop in the bucket so to speak. But I believe that if vigorously applied by a dedicated researcher who has the time and means for such an undertaking, especially if they are willing to analyze and learn from their mistakes, such a method can increase the odds of finding bigfoot quite considerably.

[Cotter]

I would be a bit concerned that any trained pack of dogs, trained to scent a BF, would/could come upon some campers or hikers that had been out for a couple days and perhaps have some similar scents (BO), but who knows.