MARK9 will seek to certify canines that assertively seek out human scent, reliably follow that scent to source and independently indicate the find.

MARK9 encourages the training and deployment of strong, confident, independent, hunt-driven canines so as to make more likely the rapid resolution of missing person searches.

MARK9 requires its wilderness air scent search dogs to have a strong trained indication. Most MARK9 air scent dogs perform a trained indication at the handler and refinds to the subject. Any which are cross-trained for structural collapse with a USAR team are expected to stay with the subject and perform a bark alert as their trained indication. Search dogs which are used exclusively for wilderness may elect whether to use a bark alert or a trained indication at the handler along with a refind. Dogs are not permitted to cross-train in both forms of trained indication, as our experience is that training both a refind-behavior and a bark alert at the subject causes some deterioration of one or both of the learned behaviors.