DROOL: WONDERFUL DROOL
A Bloodhound’s drool is a very important part of equipment. Sometimes the drool is called “ropes”, because it looks like the Bloodhound has thin ropes hanging from his mouth. Drool serves three purposes:
► IT MAKES HUMAN SCENT USEABLE Just like you cook dry spaghetti in a pot of hot, boiling water, human smell is better if damp, moist, or wet. So, the drool makes smell useable for the Bloodhound. If a Bloodhound has to track along the highway on a hot summer day, the drool puts moisture on the pavement and the Bloodhound can smell better.
►IT PRESERVES HUMAN SCENT Sometimes, the Bloodhound has to come back to an area a second time or the next day to continue the search. Because the drool is so slimy and sticky, the drool acts as a cover to protect the smell. On the road way it sticks very well and won’t wash away in the rain.
► IT GLUES THE SMELL ON THE DOG’S EARS As the drool falls out of the mouth onto the surface of the road, the grass, or the floor, the long pendulous bloodhound ears drag through the drool. The ears wipe the drool off and the scent is now “glued” on the end of the ears---always close to the nose!!! This way the human scent is always available to the Bloodhound.