Air Date: March 14, 2007
You can get past a vicious guard dog by distracting it with a raw steak.
plausible
The steak successfully distracted the guard dog for several moments. Once the dog finished eating and realized there was no more food, it attacked Kari. After the test, the trainer claimed that the dog could be trained to ignore specific things like steak.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by acting aggressive.
busted
Aggressive behavior did not defer an attack.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by acting submissive.
busted
Submissive behavior did not defer an attack.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by distracting it with a pheromones from a lactating female dog.
busted
The pheromones did not have any effect on the guard dog. They are said to calm puppies.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by distracting it with wolf urine.
plausible
The guard dog hesitated significantly, but eventually attacted Kari.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by distracting it with urine from a female dog.
confirmed
The dog was absolutely distracted by the urine, allowing Tory plenty of time to get past it.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by distracting it with a robotic cat.
plausible
The dog was distracted momentarily but eventually attacted.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by traveling inside a 50 gallon barrel.
plausible
Tory built a wheeled barrel that to use as a protective shell. He nearly got past the dog but his attempt was called off when the trainer thought the dog might tip the barrel over and injure Tory.
You can get past a vicious guard dog by traveling inside of a metal sphere.
plausible
Kari built a metal sphere covered in plastic that she could walk inside of. Kari got past the dog but she did not have a good way to escape.
You can trick a trained bloodhound by backtracking, zig-zagging, and going up a tree.
busted
Adam, acting as a fugitive on the run, had five minutes to run in zig-zags, doubled back, and climb a tree. The blood hound easily found him.
You can trick a trained bloodhound by crossing a river.
busted
The bloodhound found Adam very easily.
You can trick a trained bloodhound by covering part of your trail with ground pepper.
busted
The bloodhound was briefly confused, but it soon rediscovered the trail and found Adam.
You can trick a trained bloodhound by washing your body and changing your clothes.
busted
The bloodhound was initially overwhelmed by the concentrated scent of Adam at the washing point. The trainer knew this and walked the dog in a wide circle until it found the escape trail. The hound then easily found Adam.
You can trick a trained bloodhound by rubbing your body with coffee and cologne.
busted
The bloodhound did not have any trouble finding Adam.
You can trick a trained bloodhound by traveling through an urban environment.
plausible
The bloodhound was overwhelmed by the multitude of distracting smells in the city. It did find Adam after 90 minutes, but did not actually follow his trail. The handler noted that a bloodhound with experience in cities could do better.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
busted
Adam and Jamie each trained a 7 year old Alaskan Malamute five new tricks in just one week.
Newer: Episode 75: "Myths Redux"
Older: Episode 73: "Speed Cameras"
In this line: “The dog was distracted momentarily but eventually attacted.”
‘attacked’ is misspelled.
Regards,
-Brian
June 23, 2007 at 7:15 PMThanks, fixed it.
June 23, 2007 at 8:00 PMNot having seen this episode I can’t say too much, but if they just walked across the river, thats not an adequate test, especially if its one you can actually walk through, instead of swim.
Really, you’d have to walk up or down stream a significant amount for that to work with any small body of water.
June 24, 2007 at 12:06 AM“The guard dog hesitated significantly, but eventually attacted Kari.”
Atttacked is mispelled there as well, just so you know.
Steven
June 25, 2007 at 10:12 AMHeh.. seems I can’t spell it either.. ;-)
June 25, 2007 at 10:12 AMBloodhound or not, any dog would be significantly and effectivly distracted by secretions from a “bitch on heat” used on a cloth or other object. used in conjunction with back tracking or some other simple diversion is extremely effective. shame they did not try this!
June 27, 2007 at 3:19 AMThe thing I thought was coolest was how the bloodhound and the guy worked together, the dog’s smell and the guy’s intelligence. Truly a beautiful synergy.
June 30, 2007 at 7:06 PMI loved this episode; I do feel, however, that describing the female dog (who’s urine successfully distracted the guard-dog) as being in heat is ESSENTIAL to the specifics of why this myth was indeed confirmed; don’t know if you’re worried about calling her a bitch, but it IS a technical term despite whatever pressure the P.C. team might like to put on programs to remain ‘child-friendly…’
July 5, 2007 at 4:35 PMI would have been curious if the bloodhound myth was tried with scent eliminating clothing and sprays which have become very popular in certain types of wildlife hunting. This type of clothing is lined with a carbon product that is used “trap” the human scent. As advertised by the various companies out there, activated carbon is the most absorptive substance known to man. This would be a great test if the myth is ever revisited.
August 5, 2007 at 6:06 PMThe overall “scent picture” that a dog follows is not comprised exclusively of the human scent. What the dog is following is a combination of human scent, and moisture released from ground disturbance, damaged vegetation, etc. The most significant factor is vegetation (think showering after being in a bar, and the wet ashtray smell). Factors that affect this are temperature, air movement, perspiration, ground/ vegetation disturbance etc. A fresh track is easy for a dog to follow, as it ages, moisture decreases, and the strength of the scent picture decreases accordingly.
August 9, 2007 at 9:04 AMAmend last comment - The most significant factor is moisture, not vegetation. OOPS!!!
August 9, 2007 at 9:05 AMDear Mythbusters,
I have a bloodhound and I have never seen the dog myths episode. Is it possible to purchase this episode? Or if not could you tell me when it might be aired again. I am an avid Mythbusters fan!! Keep up the good work guys!!
Regards,
~Brett S.
P.S. Also I think comment #9 (scent trap clothing and sprays) would be a good myth re-visit to see if they actually work on trapping scent and if they can fool a bloodhound.
August 30, 2007 at 11:07 PMI think that the guard dog used in this episode was not very good. I know specialy trained dogs that will not take food from strangers (its a standard training for police dogs in my country, so they could not be poisened by food) and will not be destracted very much by a bitch on heat and if so, only for a short while
September 13, 2007 at 6:32 AMGood on them for even being able to teach a Malamute anything in a week.I’ve always found them pretty dumb.
September 17, 2007 at 1:43 AMYou get past a guard dog by:
a) Being more Intelligent than it.
b) Being more agressive than it.
For a
I have heard it said that the Fuzz use Alsations/German Shephards as they are
basically a stupid dog, they will charge a
man with a gun. The doberman on the other hand, once it learns what a gun is, will not.
Perhaps the B team should have tried an intelligent dog.
For b
I walk round the block most evenings, four
circuits takes hour and a half.
It is in the country, the houses are on
two to five acre plots. I wear army boots,
joggers only last a couple of months.
The local dogs don’t much like me,to cut a tedious story short one went for me the other evening, the propery owner had left the gate open.
I kicked its ***!!! head off, it ran away
whimpering, now when I walk past it runs
and hides, I like it like that.
If you want another one? PG is recommended.
There was a bloke at the ‘Shooters, he had
been a security guard over on the Shakey
Isles.I don’t think that they are allowed
hand guns, it being strictly verboten to shoot the natives.
He had a large Alsation on a fishing reel type setup, he could sent the dog off to
investigate then reel it back.
There was a bit of a ruckus one evening, he
sent the dog off to investigate.
There was a lot of barking and shouting
then the line went slack and it was all quiet.He went to investigate no dog, no
fealons.
He later on heard that the had barbequed
his animal.
redpigg
September 30, 2007 at 7:08 AMI believe the answer to that is: wtf…?
October 2, 2007 at 7:33 PMi dont care what dog it is or how meen it is if you gave it a big steak i definatly think it would distract it if not make you its friend forever
October 29, 2007 at 4:43 PMI suggested the steak guard dog myth test on the discovery website a year or more ago, glad to see it got used. :)
December 9, 2007 at 4:32 PMI’d like to see if a strong scent such as creosote would throw off the scent of a bloodhound, as in the Sherlock Holmes story “The Sign Of Four”
December 26, 2007 at 10:57 PMOoo… I like the idea from comment #19, to recreate Sherlock Holmes’ solution for throwing off the bloodhound. Since, we’re on the same subject, why not integrate the more successful results of the guard dog test with throwing off the bloodhound test, as the comment#6 said?
December 27, 2007 at 7:25 AMI also think that the throwing off the bloodhound by walking on a river is not complete. I think that it is not the matter of the depth of the river but how fast is it moving (I think they did said this in the episode, as far as I remember).
December 27, 2007 at 7:31 AMHi, I found this site while I was researching the subject of tricking bloodhounds.
December 27, 2007 at 6:24 PMWe had a local fugitive a few years ago, who gave the New York State Police a run for their money.
They never did catch him.
He had his 10 year old son with him on the run in the woods.
I spoke to the kid after it happened and he told me how his dad tricked the dogs and the helicopters.
He did something with kerosene, either spreading it all over the woods, or on his clothes.
It must have worked because the NYSP never caught the guy and he now lives in Florida.
Loved this one..However have a question and am wondering if u might have an answer for me…
January 12, 2008 at 11:08 PMIs a dogs mouth cleaner than a humans mouth?
Think u had it on one of your shows once however can’t find it and my son and i are at a disagreement with it… Thank you so very much and have a great day!
“had left the gate open.
I kicked its ***!!! head off, it ran away
whimpering, now when I walk past it runs
and hides, I like it like that.”
Erm. If somebody kicked you in the nuts and/or beat the living daylights out of you, you’d remember them and instinctively dodge, even if they only offered their hand to shake. The dog would probably remember your scent and not offer you a second chance or reason to strike it again.
Besides that, it’s just.. Cruel to beat things up that can’t make a formidable argument. Pick on something your own size, school-yard bully.
January 15, 2008 at 4:02 AMThe bloodhound tracking them accross the river is totally inaccurate, Adam only walked across a river about 6 feet wide if i remember right and it was maybe as deep as a foot or 2, in order to test this right i think it needs to be done on a real river, deep enough, and wide enough to have to actually swim accross it.
March 25, 2008 at 2:03 AMSean, wouldn’t matter. The handler would just go to the other side and pick the scent up again. The scent is not picked up in the water, it is refound on the other side. The river can be 50m deep and 50m wide and as long as he gets out it’ll be found.
Paul, try that on my dog and you’ll lose an arm. Dogs are trained to work how the handler wants them to work. If the handler wants them to take down a guy with a gun then it will, if they don’t, it won’t. It has nothing to do with breed.
A properly trained dog will not be tricked by anything. If the handler is intelligent and the dog has had a lot of training then you will not beat it.
Josh, dogs are only as stupid as their handler generally. Mallies are intelligent, if you could not teach one basic tricks then that shows more about your intelligence than his :)
May 3, 2008 at 1:58 AM