Video: Feature on Canine Scent Work
Video from a Vehicle Search During a Trial:
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Below is a video from a three vehicle search with only one hide during a trial, also during windy conditions. You can see when when the dog first caught the odor, then had to check the whole vehicle to source where the odor was coming from.
What is Scent Work?
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Scent work is a dog sport is designed to emulate what trained working dogs do for a job. The goal is for a team of dog and handler to successfully find and alert upon a target odor in an assigned search area. For scent work, that odor is typically an essential oil such as Birch, Anise, or Clove that the dog is trained to know to find, since it's an easy and legal universal scent that can be used for training purposes. Search areas can vary, with interiors, exteriors, vehicles, containers, and buried elements being the most common. Doing nose work is extremely rewarding and enriching to a dog, allowing them to utilize their innate desire to sniff and giving them a job. Scent work is considered to be accessible to all dogs, regardless of breed, reactivity, shyness, or prior experience.
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How do you begin?
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Scent work can be trained in many different ways, but most commonly dogs are initially trained on food or treats while they learn basic search patterns. The dogs enjoy sniffing out snacks in different set ups to teach them that they should check perimeters, interiors, containers, and more. Through this process they learn to locate and then track odors back to the source. Eventually, the food is paired with the target odor, whether that is an essential oil or other scent, and then is phased out altogether. This process can be done by anyone at home with supplies ordered online, or going to a reputable trainer or facility for classes, which would be especially recommended if you plan on trialing with your dog.
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