Teaching Scent Discrimination Part 1

Your dog relies on the skill of his nose more than you can ever imagine.  However, it’s often the most overlooked.  We spend so much time on obedience training, ball chasing and other things that we often overlook this really important aspect.

I once heard it say that dogs see with their noses.  I truly believe that and have spoken on the topic countless times in my workshops.  Ignoring the dog’s nose is like ignoring our sight.  So, in this lesson I will touch on the most important sense of the dog.

There are now competitions where a dog can use their nose in trial, there are nose-work classes and we already know dogs can sniff out bombs, drugs, cell phones and more..

In this online dog training lesson I’ll show you a skill that is fun and easy to teach and it is a competition in 2 dog sports (that I know of), Mondio Ring and AKC Utility.  I like to teach it with the dowels, and hat is the competition in Mondio.  In AKC the dog needs to detect your smell on a wooden (or metal) and leather dumbbell.  The dowels are easily accessible and disposable and a great entry way to teach this to your dog.

I think you’re gonna love this lesson.  I’ll post the second part in a couple of weeks.  Be aware, it will take some time for your dog to get this.  Be patient.  That is why I won’t post the second part too soon.  There’s also a surprise at the end of this video that may make you smile, at least those of you who really know me, but I want you to see how I got Duane to understand the concept after Janet has done so much great work training him!