Scent work

[Youcanttakeanelephantonthebus]

I have an 8 month puppy. I would like to do more scent work to keep him busy when we have breaks during the day (working from home).

How do you start? What do you do? Is it possible to do inside around the house?
How do lay a scent trail outside without the dog seeing you and following you doing it??

Not sure if it's relevant but he refuses to fetch anything, if you throw a ball he will just sit and chew it for example.

I put her outside (sometimes throw a couple of treats out there). Then hide 5-6 mini treats in the living room. Obvious places at first, then make it harder. Start with one room, can move to several. Great fun and really tires them out. I always say “all gone” when they’re all eaten or she’d be there for hours!

Do you say something to encourage her to look. I suspect if I hid treats he just wouldn't notice and find them 3 weeks later!

I get her to smell the packet and my hands (I use the aldi mini treats) and then take one, feed it to her really near another one and the (In sort of a deranged clown type voice) go “ooh where are they, where are they?!” And sort of lead her to them. Only takes a couple of goes and she’ll get it. (You will feel pretty silly though!)

Or if you have a baby gate,
put them out so he/she can see you doing it the first few times then let him/her out.

Thank you!

Any tips for doing it out on walks? I see those gun dog pictures of dogs with those orange oblong cushions in the mouths and wonder what you do with them!

We use a rabbit ball, both at home and out on walks. If out and about i'll drop it while he's busy, call him back then ask him to find it. At home i'll ask him to sit and keep in him in a stay in the kitchen while i hide it in the room then ask him to find it. Can be done with different things, sometimes ill hide one of my gloves and get him to fine that.

I love this idea but how do you get the bloody glove back? 😄

😂 he'll usually run a circle with it in his mouth then i'll ask him to 'drop' and he generally does.

Yeah we are definitely still at the glove eating stage.

We do scent work with our beagle.

We keep back most of his dry food and use it for scent-work. In winter we scatter it around the living room for him to sniff, in summer we use the garden and FIL does it around his yard as well.

To make it harder, we sometimes shut him out of the room completely and hide individual bits of dry food in harder to find places, like on chairs or on a low shelf. When we let him out, we just say "go find" and he knows what that means. You can also buy snuffle mats (or make your own).

I don't like doing it on walks as I don't want to encourage him to scavenge and potentially eat something that will make him sick.

We use a ball chucker to throw a ball whilst dog is sitting looking away and then send him to find it. Works particularly well in long grass and really wears him out.

Get your dog scenting for a toy and you will cut out scavenging.

Your dog will be working to find the odour they want rather than just general sniffing

Yeah, he loses all interest in toys when there's food around unfortunately

I often put a chunk of dentistick in a rolled up towel, that keeps him entertained for a good few minutes.

Try and find a trainer who can teach this; I have just taken my Lab puppy mantrailing and she loves it. We did our first trail at 6 months and again at about 9 months-I was blown away.
What breed is she? I can see huge differences in my Newfoundland as opposed to my Labrador-being a retrieving breed she just does it almost automatically; Mrs Newf knows how to fetch and drop, but only does it on her terms, which is not a lot! (If you need saving from drowning, however, she's there at the drop of a hat).. breed traits again.
Do some research - Facebook may be a good place to start - and find groups who do scent work. If that leads nowhere, a breed club of any similar breed should be able to help you. Good luck and have fun - I adore seeing dogs enjoying doing what they are bred to do. There is nothing sadder than a dog who has been bought as a substitute baby simply for the owner to cuddle.

Find Scentwork Trainers

SWUK Trainers

College of Scentwork Trainers

Personally I would avoid Sniffer Dog UK trainers as they have very limited scentwork training

I've just checked and the nearest place my DH had already signed up to! But hasnt done scent work yet.

Problem is I've told him to stop going as it's 40 mins away and he leaves me dealing with the housework and DC for hours on a Sunday just to come back and show me something we could have learnt on YouTube in 5 mins.

Will have to think about it!