Scent training is exactly how it sounds: training your dog to detect and react to different scents. Since dogs are renowned for their superior sense of smell, scent training (also known as scent work and nose work) is a great way to engage your dog in mental and physical exercise.
You can enroll in classes with your dog to teach you both the basics, but with a few tools, it is quite easy to get started with scent training.
How Does It Work?
All dogs have instinctive sniffing abilities and can be trained to detect specific smells and alert their owner and/or handler once they have located them.
Training a dog to sniff out a scent can be done with a variety of different essential oils and teaching your dog to alert you to the specific scent.
Benefits of Scent Training
Scent training can be as casual or as serious as you want; either way, it will benefit your dog. You can use it casually at home or train your dog for competition.
Other than giving your dog a fantastic energy outlet, it also helps them focus, calms them, and literally makes them happier. It’s also perfect for senior dogs starting to slow down, as scent work doesn’t have to be arduous. It can engage them physically and mentally and give them confidence.
How to Start Scent Training Your Dog
Before you begin scent working, your dog should be housetrained and obey basic commands like “come” and “sit.” Scent training is a more advanced form of training, so it’s essential that the basic skills have been mastered.
Materials
Gather the things that you need to start training:
- Pet-safe essential oils
- Cotton balls
- Glass jars
- Tweezers
- Disposable gloves
- Ventilated containers
- High-value treats
Essential oils are most commonly used to get a dog started on scent work, but speak to your vet so you can determine which ones are safe to use around your pet.
Alternatively scent training starter kits are available.
1. New Command
You’ll need to teach your dog a new command for scent work. You can make up a phrase or use something like, “find it,” so your dog knows that it’s time to find the scent.
2. The Scent
Set up the scent for your dog far from where you’ll be doing the training; this can be in a different room or outside. Be sure your dog is kept out of the area. The disposable gloves are useful here, so you don’t get the scent on your hands, which will confuse your dog.
Place a few drops of essential oil on a cotton ball, and then place it in a glass jar. You can take off the gloves at this point; just be sure to throw them in the trash right away, and cover the garbage so your dog won’t immediately detect the scent.
Then, use the tweezers to take the cotton ball out of the jar, and place it in the ventilated container (this can be another jar with holes in the lid).
3. Introduction
This next step requires your ventilated scent container and a few treats that your dog loves. Start by placing a treat in one hand and the container in the other, and reward your dog with the treat and plenty of praise when they investigate the scent.
You’ll want to repeat this several times and always switch the container and treat. If your dog doesn’t seem invested in this process, be sure to use treats that you know that your dog will adore. This might mean using something that your dog rarely has, such as small pieces of plain, boiled chicken.
4. Verbal Cue
This is where you’ll need to start using a verbal command, which you’ll say just before you show your dog the scent container. This can be something simple, like “find” or “search.” Continue rewarding your dog when they go for the container.
Following this, try placing the scent container on the floor and saying the verbal cue. Hopefully, your dog will go to the container once you’ve issued the command. Praise them if they do so successfully, but it’s likely that you’ll need plenty of repetition and patience.
5. Challenges
Your dog should be getting the hang of it at this point, so put the scent container in another room or in a box. When your dog successfully locates the container, start putting extra empty boxes around so your dog can identify the correct box by its scent.
Keep these training sessions short—no more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time. When your dog seems to lose interest, stop and try again later.
The key point is to ensure that the training sessions remain enjoyable for your dog. If you are thinking about scent training your dog at home and are unsure whether you should do it, the answer is a definite yes!
Featured Image Credit: Ryan Brix, Shutterstock following sentence:
The cat was curled up on the windowsill, basking in the sunlight.
The cat lay curled up on the windowsill, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight.