Tips for Successful Scent Work, Hunter's Heart, Canada, Scent Detection, Training Sniffer Dogs Since 1999

Back by Popular Demand! Motivating Indications Free Webinar | Hunter’s Heart

May 11, 2021

Back by Popular Demand! Motivating Indications Free Webinar | Does your sniffer dog know what to do after they locate scent? Are they focussed with rapt attention? Or are you anxious or frustrated about what might happen after the moment of truth, like digging, mouthing, barking, leaving or quitting altogether? Learn the secrets of motivating indications at our FREE webinar. [...]

Don’t Miss Out! World Detector Dog Organization – Setting the Standard, April 8-9, 2021

April 1, 2021

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 [...]

Demystifying Indications Free Webinar on Sun. Nov. 15, 2020 | Hunter’s Heart

November 14, 2020

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020 6:00 PM MST Registration is now open at: https://scentdetection.huntersheart.com/pl/239367/ Here’s what we’ll cover at the webinar: [...]

Scent Theory: How Scent Cones Move

December 26, 2019

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 [...]

Avoiding the Clever Hans Phenomenon in Scent Detection

September 8, 2019

Clever Hans was presented to an audience in 1904

This blog has been updated in the IAABC Journal, Spring 2020: [...]

Top Dog Toys of 2018 – Help Your Dog Relax, Chew and Be Quiet

September 19, 2018

We recently packed up 7 dogs for a 4000 km road trip, and brought and 7 StarMark Everlasting Fun Balls to help the dogs relax. All of the balls made it home, unlike several [...]

Heat and Sniffer Dog Acclimatization

August 4, 2018

We’re in the golden period of imprinting scent with our 9 week old litter of puppies. Unfortunately, today Alberta is experiencing record-breaking temperatures (1), [...]

NEW Scent Dog Foundation Online Course Starts Aug. 1, 2018

July 24, 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 [...]

Sourcing, Residual Odor and Preventing False Alerts FAQ – Part 2

May 13, 2018

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

May 7, 2018

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

April 25, 2018

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

April 20, 2018

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 [...]

How to Train Your Dog to Sit at Scent – Part 2 Scent Puppy Foundation

April 14, 2018

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 [...]

How to Train Your Dog to Sit At Scent – Part 1 “Up-Sit” for Scent Detection

April 12, 2018

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

April 6, 2018

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

April 5, 2018

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 [...]

Converging Odors and Single Odor Hides vs. Cocktail FAQ

March 22, 2018

Lori’s question: Is there ever an advantage to using single odor hides? For example, one hide is wintergreen, another hide is birch with anise, etc.. (We started [...]

Donkey Problem Solving: Are You Limiting What Your Detection Dog Can Do?

March 21, 2018

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. [...]

How Many Indications or Searches Should We Do In Practice? FAQ

March 12, 2018

W’s question: I’ve been focusing a lot on indication lately and noticed she’s getting lackluster and starting to wander off. At this stage is it ok to mix it [...]

Listen Up! When Your Dog Stops Sniffing

March 2, 2018

Photo of Boo's cheeks moving in and out while sourcing, prior to stopping breathing when he reaches source.

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

February 26, 2018

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 [...]

How Long Should Hides be Aged? – Scent Work Competition FAQ

February 22, 2018

Pat’s question: How long do you age a hide prior to the start of a nosework trial? Is it the same for all the elements? Answer: Aging is the amount of time between [...]

Entering Your First Nosework Competition FAQ’s on UKC Nosework

February 21, 2018

It’s an exciting time when you enter your first nosework competition. Having said that, you probably feel uncertain about what to expect. Below are FAQ’s for [...]

Positive is Not Permissive – When to Say No

December 19, 2017

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 [...]

How to Get Your Dog to Play Tug

December 8, 2017

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 Train a Freeze Indication Using Leash Pressure

October 17, 2017

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

October 5, 2017

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 [...]

Fear, Fender Benders and Following Your Fearless Dog

September 22, 2017

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 [...]

SDS Judge’s Summary by Level | Sniffing Dog Sports Nosework

August 2, 2017

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

July 29, 2017

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, [...]

Back by Popular Demand: Nosework Crash Course Weekend, July 15/16, Hunter’s Heart (Calgary)

June 29, 2017

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

June 16, 2017

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 [...]