Hide and go sniff

[JulietTango]

Has anyone ever heard of scent world?
We've signed up for a class and wondered if anyone had done this sort of thing?
It's advertised as sniffer training for pet dogs.
I have a Welsh Springer who has to inspect absolutely everything. I know it's normally English springers who are trained as working sniffer dogs but assumed a Welshie would be ok.
Anyway I'd love to hear if you have experienced these classes

[Ohffs66]

I've done scentwork classes with mine, she's a cross / bully breed. Dogs of all breeds, shapes and sizes at the one we went to. We only did the basic course for now as we were doing other classes alongside and couldn't fit in the next level ones as well. She loved it! It's given us some good games to play with her at home as well, her 'thing' to find is a small piece of rubber from a Kong and we hide it all over the house for her to sniff out. Good for rainy days when walks are a pain, it wears her right out!

[Girlintheframe]

We took ours to scent training. Decided we aren't going to continue with classes as not really interested in competitions. But he absolutely loved learning scent work and we do it regularly with him in the house and garden.
It's a lot of fun and great to do at home to keep them stimulated. Have fun!

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

We've never done a formal class, but DDog and I sometimes play a game of "find it", where I shut him out of the room, hide his tennis ball and tell him to find it. He loves the game (especially as when he finds it he gets a game of fetch) and over time, without any direction from me, I've noticed him work out how to be more systematic. At first he was ping ponging around the room, now he starts in one place and works his way round!

[JulietTango]

It sounds as though it could be fun. Do they push the competition aspect as I'm not sure I'd want to go that far. More just for a bit of fun

[Catsrus]

I do advanced obedience, including scent work, with one of mine. Most of the rest of the class do competitions but I just do because I want a well trained dog that I can have fun with.

We do the standard "pick your cloth from 10 identical cloths" - but that ends up being too easy, so they have to then find someone else's cloth (by smelling the other owner's hands). Hiding items in or under cones is another. We've done searches of cars, where an item is hidden in a wheel arch, and searches of a person where it's put in a pocket or hood.

Dogs can make some interesting choices during scent work, to much hilarity, like the male spaniel who took a shine to a younger female handler and insisted on taking everything he found to her, rather than his elderly male owner! I really enjoy it.

[AgathaX]

We've done scentwork classes too, and play 'find it' games a lot at home. We hide toys or treats around the house while dog sits in the kitchen and waits. Then go back and release him to find, so he's practising his 'wait' command too. He really enjoys it and he's pretty good at it too.

[Dreamersandwishers]

Like pp, never been to formal class but do this with one of my labs. He loves it . The female has no patience for it.
We also play hide and seek in the woods with them both and they just love that - gets quite boisterous .