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 »
Scent is a moving target, carried and distorted by the wind. As a handler, one of the most challenging parts of your job is figuring out how to help your sniffer dog get to where they need to be to find odor, rather than hindering them by blocking or pulling them away from scent. Therefore, …
Have a dog that loves to sniff or needs a job to do? Curious about how dogs can detect everything from bed bugs to cancer? Learn the basics of scent in our new Scent Detection – Imprinting Target Odor for Beginners online course, starting Jan. 6, 2020: https://www.cleanrun.com/category/learning_center/agility_instructors/carla_simon_online_classes/index. This course is provides a broad introduction …
Thanks to Katz on Dogs for inviting me for an interview on your radio program. Lori Katz, it’s always a pleasure discussing scent detection training with you and hear what’s going on around Santa Cruz, California. (Listen to archive at https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/show/katz-on-dogs-3-k-squid, then select Sat. Sept. 14 at 1:00 pm.)
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 …
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 at: https://www.ckc.ca/en/News/2018/August/Calling-all-Budding-CKC-Judges-Your-Time-Has-Come.aspx C-WAGS All Class Scent Judges, SDDA Judges, and some experienced competitors who are CKC members can apply today at: https://www.ckc.ca/en/Files/Forms/Shows-Trials/Judges-Forms/Application-for-Scent-Detection-Trial-Judge-Form-N
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 »
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 pleasantly surprised to see height divisions with specific guidelines for hide elevation. I appreciate how humans in the search area present an option for distractions in addition to food and …
Canadian Kennel Club Introduces Scent Detection in Jan. 2019 Read More »
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 scent daily. This early brain training accelerates development. It kickstarts the olfactory and neurological systems and may result in earlier proficiency and improved performance over what would …
Building the Brains of Scent Detection Puppies with Early Scent Introduction Read More »
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. Hopefully you took the sourcing tests and videoed yourself. In today’s blog, you’ll observe students working through sourcing exercises at class. RIZZI 0:2 The first …
Sourcing, Residual Odor and Preventing False Alerts FAQ – Part 2 Read More »
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 inexperience but now that the sport of nosework is getting so popular facilities have multiple people placing hides and I’d like some pearls of your wisdom/experience to help …
Sourcing, Residual Odor and Preventing False Alerts FAQ – Part 1 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 …
Stuck in a rut with your scent detection training? Hiding Food Many trainers hide food inside Kongs and stuffable food balls, in snuffle mats (like a deep shaggy rug), and amidst the grass in their yard to introduce puppies to finding food. Or fill a kiddie pool with safe balls or empty plastic bottles and …
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 »
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, you’ll be required to clear rooms, ignore distractions and face an unknown number of hides with potentially unlimited elevation. Set your team up for success by breaking down the individual …
Triple Bunk Break Down | Components of Elite Searches + Double Blind Tests Read More »
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 what happened after a seemingly easy search went haywire. While expensive, technology exists that can analyze the molecular composition of scents, and has been …
What Should You Do About False Alerts? Mass Spectometry Would Help Read More »
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 breathing . While sourcing, sniffing speeds up, sounds different and you may see the flews (upper lips) moving in and out as shown in the …
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 from odor, to teach them to ignore a bowl of food by default. It’s a stress-free complement to training sniffer dogs to pass by distractions, go to …
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 …
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 …
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 make every puppy in her litter suckle at her nipples every few hours. In order to survive, each puppy must rely heavily …
Brittany Puppies Find the Milk | Hunter’s Heart BB x Boo litter Week 1 Read More »
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 »
Odor hygiene refers to properly handling target odor, so you know with certainty where odor is located, and where it is not located. Good odor hygiene enables more teams to succeed. It’s a really important component of holding successful scent detection trials, where every participant has a role to play. This post will outline some …
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 »
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 dived in with an 11 second distance search for third place, and fourth place in Exteriors where scent was hidden under a ladder and up a tree, living …
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 work, and we’d like scent work grow in Canada. Now that the American Kennel Club has introduced nosework, we hope the CKC will soon follow suit, including rescue dogs alongside …
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 searches that abide by Sniffing Dog Sports rules: SDS Summary by Level (PDF) The same information is pasted below. SDS JUDGE’S SUMMARY: REQUIREMENTS BY LEVEL General …
SDS Judge’s Summary by Level | Sniffing Dog Sports Nosework Read More »
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 …
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 a level. Try Before You Buy, or register with SDS now. FUN distance game #1, area search and containers (it’s easier than you think). Les stress. No pre-trial, …
Canada’s First Sniffing Dog Sports Nosework Competition, Oct. 7-8, Calgary Read More »
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 »
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 this blind search off leash at a distance, and ignored pork distractions near the camera. Thanks Carma, Joe, Pat, Katherine, Mike, May and Theresa for being good sports! …
Scent Maze Video: Can Your Dog Find His Way to Source? 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 …
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 train scent work, and harness the dog’s natural drives. To train a rock-solid detection dog, introduce easy distractions and gradually work up to …
Scent Work – How to Train Distractions with Fun Nosework Games Read More »
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 pre-trials work, whether to enter A or B, and going through all the boxes on the entry form. We complete the entry form for 2 example dogs: a …
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 basement/training area. Answer: Hunter’s Heart sells boxes with circular holes like we use in our scent detection training lab, at: http://store.huntersheart.com/UKC_Nose_work_boxes_focussed_attention_indication_p/nb.htm. To purchase at reasonable prices near you, …
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 There’s a whole world of scent, which allows dogs to detect everything from bombs to cancer. But because air is invisible, humans are generally unaware. Scentscapes videos show …
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 leave. Dogs understand the nonverbal language and cues we use, such as having them watch while we hide a bowl filled with high value food rewards. Our …
Nosework Lesson #1 is Motivation! Register now for Feb. 22 Classes Read More »
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 Hunter’s Heart Kennels is shown in his first scent training session in our nosework training lab. You can start nosework training with your pet as soon as he enjoys food …
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 don’t even know the dogsport exists. A picture’s worth a thousand words, so we hope you enjoy this video compilation. Nosework is an exciting new dogsport. We …
How to have the most fun with your dog? Nosework/Scent Dog Training Compilation 2016 Read More »
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 accept their results, and have learned from watching. No matter the dogsport, you just can’t control everything that happens at a canine competition. You train, prepare …
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 association with one hot indication box. He should confidently rush to the box, put his muzzle deep in the hole and lie down. You should use up a handful of rewards in …
Training a Rock Solid Indication – “Show Me” Week 1 Read More »
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 more solid indication, it’s easy to train. You can teach your dog to perform an obvious, unmistakable, confident, independent indication, and we’d be delighted to show …
Many dogs love to retrieve, but in canine nosework, mouthing, biting and retrieving are problematic. Nosework is inspired by bomb detection training, where biting and retrieving are unsafe ways for a dog to indicate the presence of explosives. Accordingly, in nosework, “aggressive” behaviors such as biting, chewing, and digging …
Preventing Mouthing, Biting and Retrieving in Nosework Read More »
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 I’m competing in UKC (in the USA and Canada) at the Masters level, while I’ve only titled in Started SDDA in Canada. This blog represents my opinion. There are many nosework organizations and they …
(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, in Calgary, Canada with my two Brittanys. What a blast! Founded in Washington state, K9 ABC Games nosework keeps the emphasis on games. While legs and titles are …
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 faulted and usually causes the audience to smile, it’s a frequent reminder that safety is important in canine nosework. CONTAINER SAFETY Consider what would happen if a dog …
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 wind: https://youtu.be/nLg5FQ473oA It’s a cool, moderately windy day for a Sniff Alberta fun match judged by Joe Richardson (thanks Joe). There are 3 hides on one …
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) to avoid calling a false alert. When you’re beginning to learn nosework with container searches indoors, you could just follow your dog and pass without ever …
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 dispersion, and what it has to do with the Smarties in the picture. SCENT DISPERSION AND ENTROPY Scent disperses because of the Second …
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 it”, so you should be prepared to answer (either with words or showing with gestures that don’t involve touching anything or contaminating source.) Current UKC Nosework …
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. Let’s be conservative: say the canine sense of smell is 10,000 better. According to James Walker, former researcher at the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, if you make an analogy …
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 is experiencing more odor at any given time. So when his left nostril smells more odor than the right, he will turn left. …
Types of Nosework Events (Printable PDF File) The main types of searches in Nosework include: Container searches, Interior, Vehicle and Exterior and Handler Discrimination. They are explained in detail below. PRE-TRIALS (1 pass required/title) Before you compete in United Kennel Club (UKC) Nosework, the first thing you need to do is a Pre-Trial. During the Pre-trial, your dog …
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 searches and preparing for trials. Click here to download the PDF version. Novice Advanced Superior Masters Elite Odor[i] 1 odor: Birch (B) 1 odor: Anise (A) 2 odors: …
United Kennel Club (UKC) Helpful Links (As of Feb. 26, 2016) Register Your Dog with UKC http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/WebPages/Registration/ApplicationSingleRegistration 2 main types of UKC registration number: Permanent Registration (purebred dogs) Performance Listing (PL) – mixed breed dogs (Temporary number is rare) http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/WebPages/DogEvents/TLRules Blank Nosework Entry Form http://res.ukcdogs.com/pdf/NoseworkEntry.pdf Nosework Rules http://res.ukcdogs.com/pdf/2015NoseworkRules.pdf Find UKC Nosework Events http://www.ukcdogs.com/Upcoming.nsf/EventView?Open&Group=DogEvents&Type=M Search by …
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 diverse materials: steel and burlap, wood, cotton, water, plastic, glass, etc.. You should also vary the ageing of the target odor. Sometimes you may place the hide and …
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 container that is hidden in the search are for the dog to find e.g. pre-scented piece of blotting paper inside a metal tin or a cotton …
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 first things you’ll notice is the importance of labelling everything. Always label cold boxes and mark the odor on all containers with scent. For …
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 inside a ventilated container that is hidden in the search are for the dog to find e.g. a piece of blotting paper with Birch/Anise/Clove cocktailed …
Scent Detection Kit Instructions and Supplies for Nosework Read More »
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 dog. When you offer a dog 2 – 3 high value food rewards, then select the one that dog prefers, he will be hugely motivated to succeed. …
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 kibble). Some favorites might include: rotisserie chicken, tuna brownies, heart, and cubed deli meat like bologna. If he loves a toy, bring it too, but we generally …
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 obedient to his nose. He’s irresistibly drawn to the target odor and is highly motivated to get to source (the highest concentration of target odor). Dondi …
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..
