I had the good fortune to meet someone with some experience in the scent training of dogs. He has spent most of his time training dogs as hunting dogs and just recently is getting interested in training dogs in ways that will benefit people.
I had a training session with John and he showed me how he begins training dogs for scent work. His approach was very similar to what we had been doing with Senator with a few additions.
We worked in stages.
John began with holding a treat in both hands. He had Senator sniff the treat in his right hand and said "find it". When Senator found it in his left hand, he would click and treat. He repeated this several times so that Senator would learn this command.
Senator was on a leash for the rest of this.
Next, he put the treat about 20 feet away in the room. Again, he would have Senator smell the treat in his hand and said "find it". Senator would look around the room and find the treat. Again he would click and treat, but not let Senator have the treat that was the target.
Then, we put the treat under a plastic container that had holes punched in it and repeated the above routine. We did this several times.
Then we put 2 or 3 decoy plastic containers in the room. These didn't have any treats under them. He led Senator through a path that would go by the decoys and end with the loaded container. At this point, we added the alert behavior which is to paw me. When Senator found the treat loaded container, he was told to sit and then to "touch". He was treated at the point of the touch. He learned this remarkably quickly. Now, when he found the treat, he would immediately sit and paw John.
Next we added different smells for Senator to find. We used peanut butter on little pieces of paper as the target. We began from the beginning and went through all of the above steps. He adapted to this new scent well. Next we tried cheese. Both were in squeeze containers and the paper was gun cleaning paper and was about one square inch in size.
I tried this next. I wasn't quite as smooth as John, but eventually caught on. I wasn't quick enough to stop Senator from getting some of the bait treats to eat. I think that I wasn't as confident that he was actually smelling the target. Its hard to say when he smells it and when he is near it. I think thats the skill in this, is knowing when Senator "gets it". John could tell when Senator was on the scent path. He would say "he's working now". It was interesting and I could begin to see when he was doing this.
We tried putting the loaded container on a chair. This was more difficult and Senator needed some additional cues to find it. Then we went outside and tried this routine in the back yard. Again, it was a bit more difficult. We didn't use the containers this time. We just hid a treat, had Senator sniff one just like it and hunt for the hidden one. He did well with this too.
It was a very enjoyable and interesting day. I think we wore Senator out.
I had a training session with John and he showed me how he begins training dogs for scent work. His approach was very similar to what we had been doing with Senator with a few additions.
We worked in stages.
John began with holding a treat in both hands. He had Senator sniff the treat in his right hand and said "find it". When Senator found it in his left hand, he would click and treat. He repeated this several times so that Senator would learn this command.
Senator was on a leash for the rest of this.
Next, he put the treat about 20 feet away in the room. Again, he would have Senator smell the treat in his hand and said "find it". Senator would look around the room and find the treat. Again he would click and treat, but not let Senator have the treat that was the target.
Then, we put the treat under a plastic container that had holes punched in it and repeated the above routine. We did this several times.
Then we put 2 or 3 decoy plastic containers in the room. These didn't have any treats under them. He led Senator through a path that would go by the decoys and end with the loaded container. At this point, we added the alert behavior which is to paw me. When Senator found the treat loaded container, he was told to sit and then to "touch". He was treated at the point of the touch. He learned this remarkably quickly. Now, when he found the treat, he would immediately sit and paw John.
Next we added different smells for Senator to find. We used peanut butter on little pieces of paper as the target. We began from the beginning and went through all of the above steps. He adapted to this new scent well. Next we tried cheese. Both were in squeeze containers and the paper was gun cleaning paper and was about one square inch in size.
I tried this next. I wasn't quite as smooth as John, but eventually caught on. I wasn't quick enough to stop Senator from getting some of the bait treats to eat. I think that I wasn't as confident that he was actually smelling the target. Its hard to say when he smells it and when he is near it. I think thats the skill in this, is knowing when Senator "gets it". John could tell when Senator was on the scent path. He would say "he's working now". It was interesting and I could begin to see when he was doing this.We tried putting the loaded container on a chair. This was more difficult and Senator needed some additional cues to find it. Then we went outside and tried this routine in the back yard. Again, it was a bit more difficult. We didn't use the containers this time. We just hid a treat, had Senator sniff one just like it and hunt for the hidden one. He did well with this too.
It was a very enjoyable and interesting day. I think we wore Senator out.
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