How to Build Drive Chasing a Ball on a Rope
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 [...]
Nosework Articles
Judges’ Applications Open for CKC Scent Detection
The Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) has announced its requirements for CKC Scent Detection Judges, to officiate at events starting in January 2019. Full details are [...]
NEW Scent Dog Foundation Online Course Starts Aug. 1, 2018
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 [...]
Canadian Kennel Club Introduces Scent Detection in Jan. 2019
After years of discussions, we’re excited about the opportunity to compete in Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) Scent Detection, starting Jan. 2019. Small dog owners may be [...]
Building the Brains of Scent Detection Puppies with Early Scent Introduction
Starting at 3 days of age, we introduce scents of our litters of puppies, and follow the Biosensor (Early Neurological Stimulation) program (1) daily and introduce a new [...]
Sourcing, Residual Odor and Preventing False Alerts FAQ – Part 2
In Part 1, I explained why your dog should be working to source in every search i.e. getting his nose as close as physically possible to the highest concentration of odor. [...]
Sourcing, Residual Odor and Preventing False Alerts FAQ – Part 1
Question: Carla, can you suggest training exercises to help work through dogs (false) alerting on trace or residual odour? I assume that for the most part it’s team [...]
Blocking and Advanced Proofing with Barriers
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 [...]
Scent Detection Training Devices and DIY Setups
Stuck in a rut with your scent detection training? Many people hide food inside Kongs and stuffable food balls, in snuffle mats (like a deep shaggy rug), and amidst the [...]
How to Train Your Dog to Sit at Scent – Part 2 Scent Puppy Foundation
This video captures Jager’s first session training a sit indication for high hides at the indication box. Jager’s 6-month-old Brittany Spaniel and bed [...]
How to Train Your Dog to Sit At Scent – Part 1 “Up-Sit” for Scent Detection
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 [...]
You’ll Fall Many Times, But Who’s Counting
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 [...]
Playing Catch to Become the Cookie – How to Be More Rewarding
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 [...]
Triple Bunk Break Down | Components of Elite Searches + Double Blind Tests
Be a splitter not a lumper! To succeed in double-blind scent detection tests (e.g. narcotics certification) or elite searches with clearing in scent work competition, [...]
What Should You Do About False Alerts? Mass Spectometry Would Help
Do you ever wish you had a machine to tell you what scents your dog false alerted on? It would be nice to get a definitive answer, especially when you don’t understand [...]
Listen Up! When Your Dog Stops Sniffing
Did you notice that many scent detection dogs stop breathing when they reach source? One of the best ways to read your sniffer dog is by listening to changes in his [...]
Table Distraction Game for Sniffer Dogs
Reliable scent dogs must ignore food, toy, and environmental distractions to find target odor. This video shows the Table Distraction Game we play with our scent dogs away [...]
Scent Dog Training Classes Start Wed.
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). [...]
Top Scent Dog Training Books and Websites 2017
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: [...]
Brittany Puppies Find the Milk | Hunter’s Heart BB x Boo litter Week 1
This Brittany puppy uses scent to find his dam’s milk at 1 week of age. At birth, healthy puppies are blind and cannot hear, for at least 10 days. A dam simply cannot [...]
What Do Sperm and Puppies Have in Common?
They both rely on scent. Sperm use olfaction to navigate to eggs, and newborn puppies use olfaction to navigate to the milk in their dam’s breasts. For animals like fish, [...]
How to Train a Freeze Indication Using Leash Pressure
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 [...]
Odor Hygiene at Nosework Competitions
Welcome! I’m excited to be judging for Sniff Alberta’s nosework competition in Calgary, this weekend. We want every team to succeed. Good odor hygiene enables more [...]
Fear, Fender Benders and Following Your Fearless Dog
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 [...]
Hunter’s Heart Black Betty’s Debut
BB sped directly to odor at her debut in Excellent B Nosework (for professionals and experienced handlers) at Sniffing Dog Sports competition in Gig Harbour, Washington. She [...]
Please vote for Nosework!
Your support counts! Please take 30 seconds to answer the Canadian Kennel Club’s 1 question nosework poll at http://www.ckc.ca/en. Virtually every dog can enjoy scent [...]
SDS Judge’s Summary by Level | Sniffing Dog Sports Nosework
Brain overload? Sometimes keeping track of multiple hides is enough to keep your brain busy. Print this summary of SDS rules and you’ll be sure to set up practice [...]
SDS Distance Game Demonstrations
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, [...]
Canada’s First Sniffing Dog Sports Nosework Competition, Oct. 7-8, Calgary
Join Sniff Alberta for Canada’s first Sniffing Dog Sports Nosework Competition, Calgary, Oct. 7&8, 2017 You’ll love SDS: Save $. Only 1 pass required to title at [...]
Back by Popular Demand: Nosework Crash Course Weekend, July 15/16, Hunter’s Heart (Calgary)
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 [...]
Top 5 Scent Work Tips on Training Your Down Indication
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 [...]
Delayed Rewards Are Missed Opportunities in Scent Dog Training
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. [...]
Scent Maze Video: Can Your Dog Find His Way to Source?
This fun scent maze challenged our advanced nosework students to navigate around gates impeding access to the box containing odor to get to source. Teams were allowed perform [...]
Break Down Scent Work for Success from Day One
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 [...]
Work for the Whites of His Eyes
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 [...]
Scent Work – How to Train Distractions with Fun Nosework Games
Scent work is a game, with its roots in hunting and finding prey. In nosework, dogs must learn to ignore distractions to search and find the target odor. We use games to [...]
How to Enter a UKC Nosework Trial
This 33 minute tutorial explains how to enter a UKC Nosework Trial, using Sniff Alberta’s Premium list and entry forms as examples. It answers FAQ’s including how [...]
Shopping for Nosework Supplies
Question: Where do you buy your shipping labels, cardboard boxes and blotting papers for cocktailing hides? I think I’d like to set up some kind of scent lab in my [...]
Scent 101 SCENTSCAPES Presentation
Get a glimpse into your dog’s fascinating world of scent – Fri. Jan. 5, 2018, in Calgary Scentscapes & Scent Theory 101, presentation (no dogs) – $50.00 [...]
Nosework Lesson #1 is Motivation! Register now for Feb. 22 Classes
Watch our students enjoying their motivational introduction to scent at their first nosework class. Our approach is to make target odor so rewarding it would be crazy to [...]
Nosework Train Your Puppy to Search for Scent
Watch a puppy’s first training session in “Nosework – How to Train your puppy for scent work”. This 8 week old Brittany Spaniel puppy from [...]
How to have the most fun with your dog? Nosework/Scent Dog Training Compilation 2016
Nosework can be the most fun you ever had with your dog! We’ve received many requests to help nosework students explain why they love nosework to people who [...]
Abominable Loser vs. Well-Mannered Winner
Some people have a knack for winning graciously and looking worthy even when they lose. I’ve had the pleasure of competing against people who are classy in how they [...]
Students Scent Detection Highlights
Highlights from a few of our students’ scent dog detection searches at Sniff Alberta’s match last weekend in Calgary: Congratulations to E and Truffle (her young [...]
Training a Rock Solid Indication – “Show Me” Week 1
This video shows the first step in training a rock solid indication: https://youtu.be/EeDguH0ZJ8o Goals The goal of this session is for the puppy to form a positive [...]
Would You Like a Rock-Solid Indication?
Many dogs have subtle indications. Their handlers frequently say they “need to learn to read their dog better”. Reading your dog is a good thing. But if you’d like a [...]
Preventing Mouthing, Biting and Retrieving in Nosework
Many dogs love to retrieve, but in canine nosework, mouthing, biting and retrieving are problematic. Nosework is inspired by [...]
Comparing SDDA and UKC Nosework
In today’s blog, I’ll compare and contrast nosework competition under the Sporting Detection Dogs Association (SDDA) and United Kennel Club (UKC). Please note that [...]
K9 ABC Games – Adventures in Nosework
(Adopted from an article featured in American Brittany Magazine, 2016) I recently had the pleasure to attend the K9 ABC Games nosework event hosted by Kinetic Dog Training, [...]
Nosework Safety
Have you seen a dog get his head stuck in a nosework box? If you watch a few pre-trial or container searches, you’ll observe that many dogs do. While that’s not [...]
Windy Vehicle Search Virtual Alert Challenge
How well do you understand the impact of wind on vehicle searches? Here’s a link to a 2 minute video of an advanced vehicle search so you can test your knowledge of [...]
Why Wind Matters in Nosework
Wind is complicated, but it’s important to succeeding in scent detection. Depending on wind direction, you may need to check all sides of a vehicle (or any object) [...]
Why Scent Travels
Why does scent disperse, instead of just staying inside the hide? It’s a law of nature. Scent spreads out. Read on if you want to learn more about the science behind scent [...]
How Close is Close Enough?
How close should your dog get to source? Will you know it when you see it? After your dog indicates and you call “alert”, the judge can ask “where is [...]
Comparing Dog and Human Olfaction
A dog’s sense of smell (aka olfaction) is 10,000 – 100,000 times stronger than a human’s. What does that mind-numbing number mean? Picture it on a map. [...]
Differences Between Nostrils
When a dog enters the scent cone and detects odor, how does he follow it back to its source? A dog’s sense of smell is so fine-tuned that he can distinguish which nostril [...]
Types of Nosework Events
Types of Nosework Events (Printable PDF File) The main types of searches in Nosework include: Container searches, Interior, Vehicle and Exterior and Handler Discrimination. [...]
UKC Nosework Requirements by Level
I confess: I can never remember the requirements for nosework searches at different levels of UKC competition. This table helps me and my students when we’re planning [...]
United Kennel Club Nosework Links
United Kennel Club (UKC) Helpful Links (As of Feb. 26, 2016) Register Your Dog with UKC [...]
Vary Everything But The Odor
Over time, you should vary all aspects of the hides besides the odor itself. For example, don’t just use metal tins. You should practice with hides made of many [...]
Making Single Odor Hides
Here are the steps to make single odor hides... [...]
Making Cocktailed Hides
Once your dog is searching for odor, you’ll need some hides in order to practice nosework at home. (A “hide” is the package of target odor inside a ventilated [...]
Storing Scent
Storing your scent properly is important to your success in nosework. You always want to know where odor is, and where it isn’t. Here are some key tips. One of the [...]
Scent Detection Kit Instructions and Supplies for Nosework
Once your dog is trained to search for odor, you’ll need to acquire some hides in order to practice nosework at home. (A “hide” is the package of target odor [...]
Recipe: Noncrumbling Tuna Fudge
Every canine scent detection class I teach begins with a taste test of the available food rewards, because building drive depends on making it rewarding for each individual [...]
Preparing for Nosework Lessons
Whenever you’ve scheduled a nosework lesson, it is critically important to bring a hungry dog with his highest value treats, (not the usual dry dog food dinner or [...]
Obedience to Odor
Our scent detection training is based on obedience to odor. That might sound pretty scary, but it’s all based on rewarding your dog. A dog that’s obedient to odor is [...]
Scent Detection Terms in Nosework Training and Scent Work
A "hide" is the package of target odor inside a ventilated container that is hidden in the search are for the dog to find. The photo shows a very common type of hide, made from blotting paper scented with target odor inside a metal tin with magnets, which easily secure the hide to a metal surface. Other favorite hide containers include metal tins with holes, shipping labels, plastic tubes, etc.. [...]
