08/17/2026
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3078300/
https://zinndogtraining.com/registration/p/confirmation-bias-webinar
I came across this study at how handler expectations can influence scent detection dogs.
Researchers tested 18 certified drug and/or explosive detection dog-handler teams in searches where there was no target odor present. Handlers were given information suggesting odor might be in a particular location.
The teams produced a lot of false alerts, and interestingly, alerts were significantly more likely to happen where the handlers had been led to believe odor was located, even when there was nothing there.
The researchers point out: “Cues may also include more subtle unintentional cues given by handlers such as differences in handler proximity to the dog according to scent location, gaze and gesture cues, and postural cues.” They also discuss how handlers may interpret ambiguous dog behavior differently when they have an expectation about where odor is.
And this is where confirmation bias becomes important in Nose Work training! When we expect or believe odor to be somewhere, are we more likely to notice and respond to behavior that supports what we already believe, causing the dog to offer an alert behavior?
This is one of the things I think is so valuable about Dog Driven Search: becoming aware of our own behavior. Do we move differently when we know where the hide is versus when we don't? It's about becoming more consistent, so our own behavior becomes less of a variable for the dog.
If this topic interests you, Dana & Sue's Confirmation Bias webinar is a great resource into how our expectations can influence how we see and handle our dogs.
In this webinar we discuss what confirmation bias is and how it affects our handling, how we narrate our dogs work, and how we analyze past searches. When we know where the hides are it’s easy to create stories around the search but how does that change when it’s blind? This webinar is a must-se...
