System apparatus and method of training dogs to detect complex hazardous …

Description (excerpt)

RELATED APPLICATIONS The instant U.S. patent application claims the benefit of domestic priority from and is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/814,385; DEVICE FOR TRAINING DOGS TO DETECT COMPLEX HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES; Docket Number 102006; filed on Apr. 22, 2013; whose inventor is Lisa Lee Albuquerque; and where said U.S. Provisional Patent Application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. “Other material . . . incorporated by reference . . . non-patent publications” (MPEP 608.01 Specification 608.01(p) Completeness: (Lazarowski, Lucia et al., (Edited by Lisa Lee Albuquerque (Inventor)), Explosives detection by military working dogs: Olfactory generalization from components to mixtures, Applied Animal Behaviour Science (2013) pp. 1-10 [Internet: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2013.11.010] accessed Dec. 26, 2013, Elsevier) herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to detection of Improvised Explosive Devices, regarding defense of cities, military installations, forces and assets and civilian personnel against attacks, involving Home-Made Explosives. More particularly, the present invention enables training of scent detecting working dogs to detect individual components of home-made explosives such as ammonium nitrate (AN), potassium chlorate KClO3 (also known as PC) and similar chemicals in close proximity to an array of fuels such as sugar, powdered aluminum or petroleum jelly without requiring the components to be mixed into an unstable, explosive, compound, as the combined components would be normally encountered in an operational environment. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Scent detecting dogs are routinely trained to detect certain substances, such as drugs or explosives, by using samples of the actual substance(s) of interest. However, the capability of training scent dogs to detect an explosive compound, where the explosive compound is made up of two or more elements combined (each element having separate and distinct odors) which are mixed to produce the compound is not well settled. Attempts to train scent detecting dogs using psuedoscents, or inert substances or individual components of a normally mixed/combined compound have been ineffective and not authorized for use within the U. S. Department of Defense (currently, the Department of Defense trains with ammonium nitrate (AN) for AN based Home-Made Explosives (HMEs) and potassium chlorate for PC based HMEs, with only a little success; however the Department of Defense has not determined adequate ways to train with actual HMEs. (NOTE: Furthermore, psuedoscents are not authorized for use within the Department of Defense). In the case of Home-Made Explosives using either ammonium nitrate (AN), which is widely used as a fertilizer, or potassium chlorate (PC), the combination of possibilities of using, as a booster, different types of fuel oils or numerous types of powdered aluminum (AL) components with the widely-available bulk explosives, i.e., ammonium nitrate (AN) or potassium chlorate (PC), would be almost infinite, for example, sugar or wood pulp are among the readily available fuels that can be used (NOTE: throughout this disclosure, KClO3 and PC are used interchangeably to represent potassium chlorate). Furthermore, production, storage or use of such training aids made with the actual substances combined is not allowed under service Arms, Ammunition and Explosive Safety regulations. The classification status of Interim Hazard Classification (IHC) for AN+AL is in place; however, none of the PC based HMEs are stable enough to pass tests to make them eligible to qualify for the IHC status. Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and, to a lesser degree Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) have demonstrated that coalition freedom of movement can be curtailed by an adaptive enemy using Improvised Explosive Devices having a main charge of either ammonium nitrate (AN) or potassium chlorate (PC). Scent detecting dogs have demonstrated great success at providing standoff detection of buried Improvised Explosive Devices which use military grade explosives, for which the dogs have been trained to detect. However, the vast majority of Improvised Explosive Devices in Afghanistan have had a main charge of ammonium nitrate (AN) or potassium chlorate (PC). There are anecdotal reports of widespread failures of scent detecting dogs attempting to detect Improvised Explosive Devices having ammonium nitrate (AN) or potassium chlorate (PC) based main charges, where those dogs had been trained to detect ammonium nitrate (AN) or potassium chlorate (PC). Battalion After Action Reports (AAR's) since 2009 have identified the problem of such failures, where scent detecting dogs failed to detect Improvised Explosive Devices having ammonium nitrate (AN) or potassium chlorate (PC) components. However, many AAR interviews and lessons learned reports also indicated that acquiring Home-Made Explosive samples from unexploded Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), then training scent detecting dogs to detect these unexploded IED samples in theater proved to be highly effective; but, this approach relies on access to the Home-Made Explosive device, and requires time and training expertise, which is not always readily ava