Training for happy dogs.
Scent work is a fun and natural activity for dogs which is mentally stimulating and enriching. Dogs can smell 100,000 times better than humans. Their sense of smell is so sensitive that they would be able to detect a single drop of blood in an Olympic sized swimming pool!
I love teaching, training and learning about scent detection and believe every dog and owner should be given the opportunity to try it and hopefully find it as equally enjoyable.
“The seeking system is one of the most important instinctual-emotional systems in the dog’s brain; scentwork will ignite this, awakening the ‘inner dog’.”
Rob Hewings
So what is Scent Work?
In short, dogs trained in scent work are trained to detect and identify a chosen target odour. Popular odours in pet dog training are Kong, Clove, Catnip and Gun Oil, but pet dogs can also be trained to find your keys and wallet if you have a habit of misplacing them.
Scent work may also be referred to as nose work, scent detection or sporting (competitive) detection. Additionally there is also tracking and trailing but these activities usually focus on following a human scent trail rather than a specific odour.
Many years ago dogs would have helped humans by tracking and hunting game, today dogs have multiple roles in medical and operational services as well as the sporting and pet dog world.
Scent detection can be broken up into 3 core segments: SCENT ID, INDICATION and SEARCHING.
Each segment can be and should be trained separately to the other to create a confident and effective search dog. Let’s look at each of these segments individually.
SCENT ID – the identification of the target odour the dog needs to find. First steps in Scent ID are to pair the target odour with the dog’s reward, so the dog learns to associate the smell with good things such as food or toys/play.
There are various methods used to train this step but a common and effective way is to use classical conditioning through a technique known as Pavlov’s Breakfast. Stuffing a Kong with your dogs food is a simple pairing method but for other odours which the dog should not make contact with, such as clove or gun oil, simply presenting the odour in a container at meal times will help to build an association.
Once your dog has scent recognition you can start to build up their training by increasing the number of containers in your line ups, adding in different odours, changing locations or working on and off lead, etc.
INDICATION – the way in which your dog tells you they have located their target odour source. When training pet dogs we typically categorise indication into two main types, being passive or active.
Passive indications are commonly seen as a sit and stare at source or freeze at source, providing a clear message to the handler they have made a find. The dog does not necessarily make direct contact with the source.
For an active indication the dog typically comes into direct contact with the source, usually seen as the dog retrieving the find to the handler, a similar practice to a gundog retrieving a fallen bird. Other active indications can include barking, pawing with front paws or spinning.
SEARCHING – the physical act of the dog seeking the target odour. This includes both on and off lead searching, including line ups, area, vehicle or building searches. In competitions when the handler does not know where the hide is it is called a blind search.
Line ups or linear searches are a great way to teach systematic searching in which your dog learns to always check every container in the line up. This can then be converted into methodical searching of areas, as the dog transfers learnt behaviour so investigates each part of the area perimeter without skipping sections.
When searching outdoors it is important to consider wind direction and speed, terrain and temperature as these can all effect how scent travels. Central heating or air con can also have an effect if training indoors.
What are the benefits?
Why nose work is so good:
- The act of sniffing makes our dogs happy because it releases dopamine, the feel good hormone.
- It is said that 10 minutes of sniffing is more tiring than an hour’s run: so if its pouring down with rain do scent work inside instead.
- Suitable for puppies, adult dogs, older dogs, nervous dogs, dogs in recovery, antisocial dogs, blind or deaf dogs.
- Stimulates a hyperactive dog in a calming way to reduce energy and provide an appropriate outlet.
- Boosts confidence and reduces anxiety by offering a focus point.
- A great way to share mental and physical exercise with your dog and build a happy relationship.
- Helps increase optimism through problem solving.
- Fun and easy to play anywhere.
Scent work is all encompassing and suitable for any breed of dog. It provides mentally enriching and diverse challenges for your dog that can help to overcome unwanted behaviours such as persistent barking or attention seeking and possessiveness of items or stealing tendencies.
Scent work is also highly beneficial for reactive dogs (although I don’t like to use labels), who struggle in new or stimulating environments or those that find being in close proximity to other dogs a challenge. You can also take part in classes if your dog has poor obedience skills or no recall and may find these areas can be improved along the way.
There are many instructors up and down the country offering scent work classes, workshops and online courses for pet dogs with more competitions form various groups also popping up. Scent work is becoming more and more popular as people are seeing the benefits it has for their dogs.
I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about scent detection. If you would like to start teaching your dog some basic scent work skills at home download my Free guide How to Start Searching for Fun below.
For more information about my Scent School in Shrewsbury visit www.deesdogz.co.uk/scentwork
