06/13/2026
Check out this article from Precision Explosives. https://www.pre-exp.com/post/training-dogs-to-find-guns-the-science-behind-gsr-detection-precision-explosives
This science is super cool. Many gun dog handlers & trainers are imprinting and training their GSR/fi****ms dogs on freshly fired casings and guns. (Me too). What they are not imprinting the dog on is the diphenylamine or DPA. DPA is a stabilizer found in 91% of all smokeless powder. Ever do a search for shell casings a week or 2 after a shooting and come up empty? Why? Because the human odor and associated odors on the fired casings have evaporated and/or degraded and are not detectable by your dog. However, an MIT - Lincoln Labs study found that DPA on the spent casing tested as "strong" on day 366 of testing as it was on day #1 after firing the round. So, if you give the dog a clear understanding of what he is looking for, (DPA) your dog will be more effective at locating spent casings days, weeks, or months after the shooting. Sure, the dog has always smelled the DPA on the freshly fired round. But he may not have had a clear understanding that he should alert to the DPA. Maybe I am super late to this party but I find this information to be a game changer. Thanks to Precision Explosives for the information
Thanks Pearson!!
What is your fi****ms detection dog actually finding? Not "guns" - Diphenylamine, a smokeless powder stabilizer present on every fired weapon in the world. Here's the science.
