Can a basset hound be taught to sniff gold?

I am getting into the hobby of metal detecting, and I used to breed basset hounds. To keep me company I was going to bring my dog(s). I was wondering if they could be trained to sniff out gold or other metals and bring the location to my attention.

When you find out, let me know. Best of luck!!

Nice thought, but no. Gold is odorless. If it were possible people would be utilizing dogs to do this already.

I wish!

No, it won't work because gold and other metals do not release volatile particles for the dog to smell. They will still enjoy the "hunt" though!

I'm not sure but my dolphins can detect gold using sonar.

Hmm. I wonder if anybody ever thought of this before, and tried it?

If any particular dog has the intuition to smell out the scent he has been trained to search for, I do not see why not. But, does gold give off an odor? I know iron does. Maybe you could talk to a metallurgist to see if in fact gold has an odor. Someone who teaches police dogs may know this as well. Sorry my answer is so vague. Good luck to you.mastiffs360.com

Okay, I've been involved in AKC and ASCA tracking as a judge for many, many years. I've had hundreds of students.I'd say off the top of my head, maybe.First of all, it is estimated that a dog's sense of smell is approximately 10,000 times more acute than ours.Gold is odorless? Knowing what I know about dogs, I wouldn't be so certain to state that as an absolute.There are LOTS of things that we humans would consider odorless, that certainly are not odorless for a dog. Following a human scent would be a primary example. I know that I can "smell" a difference between some things made of aluminum and steel. Why wouldn't a dog?Dogs have been trained to find cancer in humans. Dogs can smell the difference between two twins. I know that dogs were trained to detect (nothing added) natural gas leaks in pipelines in Canada. I'd have to try it with a couple of dogs, and not succeed, before I said it couldn't be done.

I want one!!

It couldn't hurt to try.In Glen Johnston's book on tracking, he described having his German Shepherds detecting miniscule leaks in natural gas pipelines buried deep in the ground under feet of snow.You'd really need to have a good motivation for a Basset Hound to work, though. You know they don't have much of a work ethic, unless it's for chasing bunnies. That's why they tend to use working breeds for tracking and scent work, even though Bassets have a better nose. But they will work for food.