Detection dogs are widely considered the most effective and adaptive method for explosives detection. Increases in emerging sophisticated threats are accelerating the demand for highly capable explosives detection, causing a strain on available supplies of quality canines worldwide. These strains are further compounded by rigorous behavioral standards required to meet mission-specific capabilities, leading to high rates of dogs disqualified from training or deployment. Ample research has explored the behavioral characteristics important for assistance, guide, and other traditional working roles, while those corresponding to more specialized tasks such as detection of explosives are not as well-understood. In this review we aim to identify the behavioral characteristics important for operational tasks of explosives detection dogs, contrasting with that of other working roles and highlighting key differences between explosives and other types of detection dogs. Further, we review the available research on methods for assessing and selecting candidate detection dogs and make recommendations for future directions and applications to the industry. Improvements and standardization in assessment technology allowing for the identification and enhancement of behavioral characteristics will be key to advancing canine detection technology in general.

探测犬被广泛认为是爆炸物探测的最有效，最自适应的方法。新兴的复杂威胁的增加正在加速对高能爆炸物探测的需求，从而导致全球优质犬只供应紧张。满足特定任务能力所需的严格行为标准进一步加剧了这些毒株，导致高比例的犬失去训练或部署的资格。大量研究探索了对于协助，指导和其他传统工作角色而言至关重要的行为特征，而与诸如爆炸物检测之类的更专业任务相对应的行为特征却未被很好地理解。在这篇综述中，我们旨在确定对于炸药侦查犬的操作任务至关重要的行为特征，与其他工作角色形成对比，并强调了炸药和其他类型的侦察犬之间的主要区别。此外，我们回顾了有关评估和选择候选检测犬的方法的可用研究，并为行业的未来方向和应用提出了建议。总体而言，评估技术的改进和标准化允许识别和增强行为特征将是推进犬类检测技术的关键。