Gold detecting dog?

[mattt]

They train dogs to sniff out drugs ,explosives and even cancer on people. Cant they be trained to sniff out gold? Was panning yesterday and my lab was very interested in the process and I told her why cant you make this easier and tell me where the gold is

 

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[Uncle Ron]

My dog, Patch, actually found a nugget and brought it to me....I had dropped it somewhere in our house and considered it gone, then one morning Patch jumped up on the bed to wake me up and had it in his mouth...He spit it out next to my hand...I used to show him nuggets and let him mouth them and then act all excited about it...The one he found was a nice one grammer.

 

[dave wiseman]

This question has been posted and argued about on many gold forums.Not being a scientist or canine expert I still think dogs could be trained to find gold bearing ores,sulphides etc.

 

[Duckshot]

I very much doubt gold has has any kind of smell whatsoever. Gold is mostly inert and very dense. It won't connect with gases to my knowledge except for chlorine. Not a lot of free chlorine gas in the atmosphere.

But dogs might be able to sense things associated with gold.

 

[N-Lionberger]

If a person can dowse why cant a dog sniff gold.

 

[DiamondDan]

If a person can dowse why cant a dog sniff gold.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Haha, now this a good thread. nonsense or genius, you be the judge!

I don't like dowsing but I'd never put anything past a smart dog!😉

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[mattt]

if gold was a biscuit I would be a rich yellow lab owner

 

[dave wiseman]

Duckshot,if you've dug on quartz veins you would know that there are odors associated with a vein in place.Whether these odors can be tied to a specific metal or mineral,I don't know.

 

[dave wiseman]

Duckshot,if you've dug on quartz veins you would know that there are odors associated with a vein in place.Whether these odors can be tied to a specific metal or mineral,I don't know....https://www.google.com/search?hl=en....34.heirloom-hp..17.17.2684.vxt82xW3RNg#spf=1

 

[cyberdan]

I had a bunch of vintage MD books last year and I remember a story about a guy who is doing just that. He described how he is training one of his dogs.

I used to coin roll hunt or buy lots of junk silver coins. I can still remember after handling and counting lots of silver coins my fingers had a very distinctive metallic smell. So I know a dog can be trained to smell silver. As pointed out above a dog can smell things that humans can't possibly smell. So, yes, I think a good trainer and a good dog might work out.

 

[goldog]

I used to dig with a friend who brought his dogs. One was always sniffing around. I noticed he seemed more interested in the good dirt. I gotta admit I jumped a few of his "claims".

 

[rodoconnor]

Gold does not have an odor. Some of the associate minerals do. Sulfer,copper and silver for example. A dog could be trained to locate these . It may put you onto a spot worth sampling

 

[BIGSCOTT]

where large bodies of gold bearing materials are found there is almost allways the presence mercuric chloride vapor, thats
how some of major mining companys know where to dig next.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Dogs sense things even without smell. How do they sense earthquakes? pretty sure those don't give off an odor

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[Goldwasher]

They can't find nuggets or placer deposits. Gold doesn't decay it doesn't give of any thing to smell. Ore deposits are different. If dogs could smell gold nuggets minelab would be out of business.

A nose for new mineral deposits: the ore-sniffing dogs transforming mine location - Mining Technology

This is from 2012....and not much more on it. The guy has pretty big plans for an unproven technology that isn't 100% precise.

Animals have been known to sense things for ages. Beside much stronger senses than humans the way animal genetics work and evolve with nature is amazing. It is believed that maybe it is part of the fight or flight response.

I figure if dogs could smell nuggets it would have been figured out a long time ago.

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/