Join us to learn about the latest advances in canine scent detection, and take your scent detection to the next level at the WDDO 15th Annual Conference. There’s only one week left to register for live online seminars on April 8-9, 2021. You can’t beat the price, at $50 for two days of K9 Scent …
Don’t Miss Out! World Detector Dog Organization – Setting the Standard, April 8-9, 2021 Read More »
This blog has been updated in the IAABC Journal, Spring 2020: https://spring2020.iaabcjournal.org/the-clever-hans-effect-scent-detection/?fbclid=IwAR28KpQBKKbCRY5GyAy73ssB2pWiEyyokkwxYJIZ0jHDeN556UsObQ3fHhg Clever Hans was a horse who became famous for answering math questions by counting with his hoof (1). For example, when asked what’s the square root of nine, he tapped his hoof three times. He was featured by the New York Times and …
Avoiding the Clever Hans Phenomenon in Scent Detection Read More »
One great way to build toy drive is chasing a ball on a rope. Softer toys with squeakers grab attention from most of our students. Even if they haven’t been interested in balls before, they can hardly wait for their turn. The rope makes it an interactive game, preventing running away, destroying or burying the …
NEW Scent Dog Foundation Course – Class begins Aug. 1, 2018. From bed bugs to birds, from narcotics to nosework, Hunter’s Heart motivational scent training has helped hundreds of teams to reach their potential, since 1999. Learn the secrets to motivate your dog to love searching for odor, whatever your dog’s age or level. We’ll show you how, from fun foundation games …
NEW Scent Dog Foundation Online Course Starts Aug. 1, 2018 Read More »
What makes your scent dog happy? Is he more interested in checking out distractions than working with you? In our new ENGAGEMENT FOR DOGSPORTS classes, we use games to transform naughty dogs into nice partners for dogsports. Everyone says you should “be the cookie”. We’ll show you how. You’ll learn: How to Build Engagement = …
Ticks are one pest you and your dog can pickup during outdoor activities, which carries a risk of disease transmission. This fascinating macro video of ticks attaching to human skin and feeding on blood and demonstrates removal. Talk to your vet about the risk of ticks in the areas where you live and travel. (For …
How to Remove Ticks to Lessen Blood Meals with Associated Disease Transmission Read More »
Nosework Makes Us Smile – Join the Fun at our Calgary Classes starting May 30 at Kayenna Kennels, Calgary. Level 1 – Motivate your dog to love searching for scent. No previous experience required. Level 2 – Show you where odor is, with an indication even my grandmother would recognize Level 3 – Trial preparation: Learn …
Nosework Makes Us Smile – Join the Fun at our Calgary Classes Read More »
Are you the time crunched owner of a dog with energy to burn? The flirt pole can harness a dog’s natural instinctive drive to chase prey. This fun, efficient, high intensity exercise makes the most of the time you spend exercising your dog. Even if you only have 10 minutes, it’s a tiring, power packed workout. …
Chasing the Flirt Pole and High Intensity Interval Training for Dogs Read More »
A student recently described how her dog found most of the hides in SDDA Excellent competition, but had a fringe alert. Did she call alert too soon or block her dog’s access to source? If she had asked her dog to check both sides of the vehicle, would he have sat and false alerted just …
Using the same techniques we use for bed bug and narcotics detection dogs, we’ll motivate your pet dog to love searching for target odor. This video features Jager, a 6-month old Brittany Spaniel, searching for bed bug scent. The start line has containers full of food and the boxes contain distractions. He alerts on the hot …
Only a few spots left! INTRODUCTION TO NOSEWORK class starts Wed. April 18 (Calgary) Read More »
This video captures Jager’s first session training a sit indication for high hides at a hot indication box. Jager’s 6-month-old Brittany Spaniel and bed bug detection candidate. I began by experimenting to find a comfortable height where he can sit with front paws on the ground and press his nose to source. I was happy …
How to Train Your Dog to Sit at Scent – Part 2 Scent Puppy Foundation Read More »
Question: My dog’s indication on hides over 3 feet is good, but not as intense as his indication on low hides. He finds them easily, but he sits looking at me instead of sitting with nose at source. I’ve never had anyone explain or teach me ways how you’d get a dog to stay focused and …
How to Train Your Dog to Sit At Scent – Part 1 “Up-Sit” for Scent Detection Read More »
Even Olympic medallists eventually take a fall. Some are more catastrophic than others, but how they recover from failure helps determine future results. There’s a lesson for dog handlers and trainers who require constant perfection and suffer as a result. Kaetlyn Osmond took a fall for all to see, and then inspired. She fractured her …
Sometimes it’s harder to be more interesting than the dirt, with its tantalizing tapestry of scents. Playing catch is one type of food play that can come in handy when you need to energize, motivate or reward your dog. How to Teach Your Dog to Play Catch In this video, I play catch with Jager …
Playing Catch to Become the Cookie – How to Be More Rewarding Read More »
In many cases, humans underestimate animals’ capabilities to solve problems. I knew a dog who could open a crate door on the right side, and on the left side, on cue. While those are not necessarily behaviors I want to teach, I do want my scent dogs to be confident and able to independently solve …
Donkey Problem Solving: Are You Limiting What Your Detection Dog Can Do? Read More »
Welcome students! We’re looking forward to meeting you and your scent dog. We’ve inspired hundreds of students internationally, including dogs of all ages, breeds and sizes. Whether your target odor is bedbugs, narcotics, or nosework scents, we’ll help you to succeed with our proven protocols. Lessons are packed with hands-on practical experience so your dog can …
Welcome to Hunter’s Heart Scent Detection Training Read More »
Classes at Kayenna Kennels, Calgary Learn nosework at Kayenna Kennels (near Southland and Macleod, Calgary) with a 6-week class. Level 1 – We’ve inspired hundreds of students internationally and can help motivate your dog to find target scent. No previous experience required. Puppies are welcome after their second set of vaccinations.Learn more: https://youtu.be/wC9MRR7ui70 Level 2 – …
While pondering what to write about for American Brittany Magazine this month, inspiration struck! Several times. In fact, imprinting scent with three 12-week-old pups inspires me daily. Sometimes they make me proud. Sometimes they make me laugh. And sometimes I think how positive is not permissive. When it’s important, I admit I tell my dogs …
While it’s cold outside, come join us for some fun nosework! Classes start this Wednesday evening Dec. 13, 2017. at Kayenna Kennels (near Southland and Macleod, Calgary). Wednesday Evening Classes Level 1 – We’ve inspired hundreds of students internationally and can help motivate your dog to find target scent. No previous experience required. Learn about how …
With just a few tweaks, you can dramatically improve your dog’s play drive. You may even be surprised to convert a reluctant chow hound to an avid tugger. Read on to learn how to energize your tugging and see if it’s a motivator for your dog. Why Tug? You don’t need to tug to train …
Shopping for the holiday season? You can never have too many scent dog training books, right? Here’s a list of our favorite canine books and websites you might enjoy: Nosework & Scent Discrimination Scent and The Scenting Dog, William G. Syrotuck is a broad introduction to how scent travels in the air. It explores the …
They both rely on scent to navigate through their environment. Sperm use chemotaxis to navigate to eggs, and newborn puppies use olfaction to navigate to the milk in their dam’s nipples, from the day their born. For animals like fish, that reproduce outside of their bodies, it’s obviously crucial to reproductive success for sperm to …
Many people ask how we train a freeze indication with focused attention. Once a dog is confidently and proficiently finding source, we use gentle leash pressure to teach the freeze with forward focus. When you pull back, the dog learns to firm up and freeze like a statue to stay at source. This is the …
How to Train a Freeze Indication Using Leash Pressure Read More »
Interested in trying nosework? Join us for the most fun you’ve ever had with your dog. We’ll motivate your dog to love searching for odor at our hugely popular half day introduction to Scent Work. Learn how we’ve trained dogs of all ages, sizes, temperaments and abilities to become reliable scent dogs. No experience required. If your …
Amp Up the Fun! Hunter’s Heart Fall Nosework Seminars Read More »
My Brittany Spaniel, Boo, and I spent our summer competing in nosework on a cross country road trip: from Calgary to California, Seattle to Wisconsin. The experience was thrilling sometimes, and punctuated with scary moments. We tested our limits, and I learned to approach uncertainty more like my fearless dog. For those of you who …
Fear, Fender Benders and Following Your Fearless Dog Read More »
Nosework classes resume this week and we’re going to have some fun motivating your dog to search for odor! If you’re registered, please complete this survey in advance, to get the most out of your experience: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8WMBQW7. It may take up to 10 minutes to complete. We’ll use your responses to customise the searches for your unique dog. Even …
Can your scent dog search independently at a distance? Watch demonstrations with coaching as our students test their skills with the fun SDS Distance Handling Game Version 1, the game we’re playing at Sniff Alberta’s SDS (Sniffing Dog Sports) nosework competition on Oct 7-8, 2017 (Calgary): https://youtu.be/oc6mg59V1Wc We begin with a blind search at the Excellent …
Take your nosework to the next level Juno’s video demonstrates strong commitment to odor in scent work. Sometimes blind searches are confusing for the handler. Juno returns to show the location of target odor repeatedly, making it very obvious where target odor is located, until the rewards appear at source. Even newbies in the audience can …
Here’s our Top 5 Tips on proofing your down indication for K9 Nosework. Tip #1) Always mark or reward finding source. Then you can give extra rewards for the down indication. Watch what happens at 0:18 seconds in the video if you don’t reward the dog for finding source. He offers undesirable behaviors, including looking …
Top 5 Scent Work Tips on Training Your Down Indication Read More »
From the dog’s point of view, rewards are the most important component of dog training. Sadly, many handlers are lousy rewarders and dogs are left confused and rewardless. Is your dog in this miserable majority? Has he ever shut down, or had trouble understanding a seemingly easy behavior? Has he ever found source and left …
Delayed Rewards Are Missed Opportunities in Scent Dog Training Read More »
Only 6 days left! Register now for Nosework classes starting April 5, Calgary Info: https://www.kayennakennels.ca/nosework-classes This video features Keata at our Level 2 (Show Me) Nosework class. Keata (a Border Collie) still indicated the location of scent when we moved containers to a distracting new location. She ignored unplanned distractions when we introduced vehicles and …
Calgary Nosework Classes – Video of Keata (Border Collie) Learning to Indicate Scent Read More »
Hunter’s Heart trains nosework by breaking it down into small achievable steps, setting teams up for success from day 1. Rewarding is crucial to motivating the dog to search for scent and having fun. We begin with a reward that the dog loves. Nosework training teaches the dog to search for the target odors, while …
Scent work is a game, and some rewards are better than others. You know you’re on the right track when your dog is so excited you can see the whites of his eyes. What did it look like when you saw your dog that excited? Was he chasing a bird? Or would he rather chase …
I’d like one of these integrated mobile dog showers (https://www.facebook.com/menclub.hk/videos/1215226148598771/)
Welcome students! Hunter’s Heart is excited to offer Calgary scent detection classes, seminars and events at Kayenna Training Academy. Register at: https://www.kayenna.ca/scent-detection. We also offer an online scent detection course for training sniffer dogs. We’ve been sniffing since 1999. From bed bugs to birds, nosework to narcotics, we’ve helped hundreds of students internationally, including dogs …
Welcome to Calgary Scent Detection Classes at Kayenna Training Academy Read More »
