Scentwork
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Scentwork involves teaching your dog to follow a particular odour to the source and then indicate to you where the source of the odour is.
Your dog's nose is their superpower, but just like every superhero movie, they don't always know how to control this power from the start. Teaching your dog scent work helps them learn to control their nose and to sniff out one scent while ignoring the rest. Scent work engages your dog physically, mentally and emotionally.
Why Scentwork is important:
Scent is your dog's primary sense. Scentwork can help your dog learn to relax, it's a great fun and easy game you can play around the house, It's great for older dogs who struggle with physical exercise. It builds a stronger human-canine bond, it allows you to put on cue something your dog loves to do, It's great to help relax anxious and reactive dogs, it's an excellent way to bring focus to your dog before a training exercise, It can help dogs with compulsive behaviours like shadow chasing.
How your dog's nose works
Not all noses are equal - Brachycephalic breeds (dogs with short noses), such as Bulldogs, Pugs and Shih Tzus have been found to have the least sensitive noses. Dogs like Beagles and Bloodhounds on the other hand have the most sensitive noses. In these breeds, the entire face has been designed to help them sniff. The long ears sweep low lying odour particles off the ground and towards their nostrils and their wrinkled faces trap odour molecules. Dogs' noses are designed with slits in the side so that when they breathe out as they expel air from the sides so that they don't disrupt the scent molecules coming in through the front of the nostrils. Your dog's cold wet nose has a thin layer of mucus that helps trap odour molecules allowing the dog to detect even the subtlest of smells. Researchers even found that a dog's cold wet nose even acts like a mild hear detector. All this sophisticated machinery has a large portion of the brain and a special organ called the Jacobson’s organ specifically designed to help them interpret the odours they inhale.
How scents travel - To help teach our dogs to be the best scent detectors they can be; it's also good for us to understand How Scent and Airflow Works. Depending on the environment, the container the scent is in and the obstructions or objects in the environment. Understanding the scent picture can help you guide your dog to the right place to give them the best chance at success.
Here are a few different ways in which the scent travels:
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Cone:
Scent travels in a cone. The strength of the scent is often stronger at the source and it slowly dissipates as it gets further. You may find your dog going back and forth when they are in a scent cone. Watching this body language is helpful especially if at some stage your dog loses the trail you can take them back to the area where they indicated they were inside the scent cone and help them get back on track.
In the real world, the cone turns into more of a plume and the lines are not often straight. Ventilation can have a major impact on the scent cone so remember to turn off the fans and AC and close all the windows to help your dog succeed.
Pooling: Sometimes when a scent is in an area for a long time the odour tends to flow from the source and collect in areas where there is little to no airflow. Dogs can often mistake these pools of odour for the target since the concentration of the odour is quite strong in these areas. Some dogs may be in a hurry to indicate and get the reward and they could mistake these areas for the target and indicate they have found it.
The best way to overcome this is to help the dog recognise the subtle differences in the target and the odour pool through repetition and practise. In scent work, it is not necessarily the dog with the best nose. Quite often the dogs that take it slow and double check have a higher success rate.
Pooling can be tricky to overcome check out this blog by Stacy Barnett for great advice on solving the issue.
Teaching your dog scentwork
Just like with all training, there are multiple ways to teach your dog to follow the target odour and indicate a scent. The best way depends on what's right for you and your dog.
Choosing the odour:
There are multiple scents in the environment teaching the dog to target the right one can be tricky. When learning, you and your dog are bound to make mistakes. Some people and dogs love making mistakes and learning from them, others find it frustrating and develop a negative impression of the game if they don't win. To ensure that your dog never develops a bad memory of the odour that you may want to use one day in Scent trials (Birch, Anise & Clove), start using a common odour like vegemite or peanut butter. these also pose a smaller risk if they accidentally get ingested in the process.
Condition the odour:
Here is where classical conditioning shines.
1. Present the target odour to your dog followed quickly by a food reward.
2. Repeat this daily for a least a week or two until the smell elicits a positive conditioned emotional response in the dog.
Indication:
The indication is a tell your dog uses to let you know they have found the source of the odour that you were looking for. Choose a behaviour your dog loves to do like a sit, a down, or a look back at you.
1. Place the target odour in a cardboard container (just in case it gets destroyed) close to the dog.
2. When the dog explores or sniffs the container ask them for the indication behaviour.
3. Mark and reward a successful indication on top of or next to the source of odour.
4. Wait a few seconds and when your dog puts their nose back on top of the source of the odour mark reward again.
Understanding the concept:
To put it all together for the dog and teach them exactly what we need them to do use three identical cardboard containers A (Target Odour) B (Blank/ empty box) C (Control box with a random smell).
1. In a room place the three boxes at least a meter or more apart (Too close and the scents can get mixed up).
2. In the start don't use any exciting smells in box C.
3. Bring your dog into the room on lead. Give them the cue you would like to use (Sniff, Scent, Find it ec.t) then lead them to the boxes.
4. Allow the dog to sniff all three boxes and when they linger over Box A cue your indication and reward them heavily at the site.
5. Shuffle the position of the boxes and repeat the exercise.
Adding criteria:
You can increase the difficulty when your dog shows that they understand the concept. It is important to do so slowly and if your dog gets stuck take it down a level or two or consider giving your dog a rest and come back to it.
-Add more boxes some with distractions some without.
-Have the boxes at varying heights.
-Hide the boxes inside other objects.
-Move the game outdoors.
-Put the target odours into other containers (balls, plastic, tin, envelopes, bags, Tupperware, cones, lunchboxes, wooden drawers etc.)
The videos below have some great tips and tricks on how to teach Scentwork from other industry professionals.
If you would like to learn more about scentwork, train your dogs to master the skill and even get ready for scentwork trials The Dog Lady offers an excellent scentwork course for dogs of all breeds, ages and at all stages of the skill.