Hello, I have a nine month old cocker spaniel and want to start training with scents. We want to be able to dab a ball/toy with a scent and are able to hide it outside on walks for him to find and bring back.
What oil is best for this?
I have seen that there are three/four generally used for competitions but 1.) they can be toxic and 2.) this is just for fun
What other safe scents (oils) can I use to start please?
I’m reviewing trial results (not mine) and curious what the faults are in NW2. Maybe pawing a container? Others? And are they spelled out anywhere in the NACSW rules? Thank you!
She started competing two years ago at age 11. This weekend she earned her overall Advanced Elite title in AKC. She's 13 now and the hearing is going, and she's slowed down some, but she absolutely loves to play the game. I love that this is a sport where older dogs can play and be successful.
Anyone have experience with spaying an established nosework dog? Did you notice any difference in performance or drive in any way?
Hello
I’m a fairly experienced dog trainer, mostly clicker based looking for things to do with my giant breed that can’t do my other sports. I hate obedience and he’s too big for agility IMO.
So, we want to try scent work. The local class has a one year waiting list and I have a breed that dies between six and 10 so I’d like to get started sooner than that.
I’m looking for recommendations for a program to get started with scent work. Online is cool. Written is cool.
I really want to get into bite work or scent work I don’t know if it would be good for both but I definitely want to at least take part in one. The problem is I have a bullmastiff and is quite stubborn and huge to lug around everywhere, I was thinking of just getting a pit-bull as well to run with etc so my big question is would a pit do good with nose work? I know they do well in bite work but I’ve been leaning towards nose work and just have a love for pitbulls and don’t know if they are the best for nose work.
(Edit )Everyone was very helpful in the comments thank you !
Hello! I recently rescued a 6month old bloodhound puppy. Our hope is to get him to eventually be a blood tracker. I have some experience with IGP tracks but this is my first with hunting and practical use tracking. Any advice?
So far he’s doing about 200-300 paces, food each step or every other step with both narrow and sharp terms. Very comfortable weaving between and tracking around trees and in tall grass. He’s too fast for IGP standards but to me this seems it would be a good trait in a hunting dog. I’ve introduced shed scent and he does fine with it as long as there’s food in the track too.
Our goal is to take him on his first hunt this season (he will be just over a year old), so any advice would be appreciated! Pic for tax.
This is my girl, Minnie Pearl. She LOVES to sniff, so I got her into a class for a few months. She’s a stray, but her dad was an Australian Cattle Dog. Her mom was a golden doodle. She’s a sharp lady!
She can now find a scent ~ 70’ away from her, outside, on a windy day, in 30 seconds or less. (70’ is the longest point in my yard, so we worked our way out. But now I’m out of space to keep expanding.) She’s currently using a cocktail of anise, clove, birch, so I could of course drop down to just birch or something like that.
I think it would be more enjoyable to find an activity that would be a bit more interactive though. I think it would be fun to teach her to search for shed antlers, mushrooms, or truffles, etc. I am now located in central Iowa, and not too familiar with what would be most commonly found locally. I know I can take to the internet, but I like hearing real people’s opinions. I’m curious what anyone here has transitioned to from just the basic essential oils?
Hi all! My 1 year old and I are very new to this and are currently in a scent work class (the AKC version, not the other whose acronym I can’t remember… that’s how new I am 😅). We’ve had a couple classes and she seems to be really enjoying it. So I went and got some supplies for training at home - the 4 scents, some tins to make them hides, a tips, separate containers for cold and hot stuff, etc.
My question is whether to train each individual scent, or a cocktail? And if the latter, does separation of the oils and qtips and such really matter or can I truly incubate the q tips in a cocktail of all 4 scents? I.e. if training with a cocktail, how important is it to still keep the scents separate?
The class suggests a cocktail, but it sounds like the “cocktail” is actually 4 separate a tips in the hide, 1 for each scent. Makes sense.. each q-tip is probably a much higher saturation than mixing all the scents together, which may make it easier for her to distinguish the individual scents. But is it necessary? Like has anyone trained with a true cocktail and had any success in their dog being able to distinguish the scents? Obviously over time we can’t distinguish them but their noses are obviously far superior.
Thanks for the help! Pic for visibility and to show off her getting her CGC. I grew up with dogs but never had them taken to classes for training or anything so this is new to us both! 😊