Scent Work Classes

Scent Work I – Introduction to Scent Work

Does your dog love to sniff? Are you looking for a way to work them mentally and physically with an activity that is easy for you to do and fits your busy schedule? Do you need something to help build your dog’s confidence or curb unwanted behaviors stemming from boredom? Great! Then the 6-week Scent Work I – Introduction to Scent Work class is for you! With instructor’s permission, puppies who have not taken the Puppy class may participate if they are socialized, leash trained, and crate trained.

Requirements: Dogs must be six months of age or older for non-Club members; three months of age or older for Club members.

Scent Work II – Odor and Elements

This class builds upon the foundation skills learned in Scent Work I – Introduction to Scent Work and focuses on skill building while searching for a particular odor. We teach the dogs to search for the odor and to develop odor obedience.

Requirements: Dogs must have completed the Scent Work I – Introduction to Scent Work.

Scent Work III – Beginning Trial Preparation

This class is for dogs who have completed Scent Work II – Odor and Elements and have shown proficiency in finding the initial target odor.

Requirements: Dogs must have completed the Scent Work II – Odor and Elements.

Scent Work IV – Advanced Trial Preparation

This class is designed for dog and handler teams who have completed Scent Work III – Beginning Trial Preparation. The search areas will become larger and with more distractions and distractors and odor movement.

Requirements: Dogs must have completed the Scent Work III – Beginning Trial Preparation.

Mastering Scent Work

Teams will continue to learn and hone skills including how to set hides, leash handling, and trial readiness. This class can be repeated as the class adapts to the needs of the students. Enrollment is on a first come, first served basis.

Requirements: Dogs must have completed Scent Work I through Scent Work IV OR have taken Scent Work Skills.

Scent Work Advanced Skills

This class is designed to improve handling and trialing skills. It will include longer and more advanced searches. This class can be repeated as the class adapts to the needs of the students.

Requirements: This is an open class for anyone who has completed Scent Work IV and has entered a Scent Work Trial at least once.

Handler Discrimination

In this class, the target scent is the handler’s scent, rather than an essential oil. The handler provides the scented article. The scented article depends on the level at which the dog-handler team is trialing. For Novice, the scent article is a cotton glove or cotton sock. For levels above Novice, the scented article may be a cotton ball or cotton swabs.

Topic-specific Classes

Topic-specific classes focus on an individual topic and are meant to refine your skills. When offered, these topic-specific classes are only three weeks long and cost $70.

Future topic-specific classes may include:

• Proper handling
• What is converging odor? How does your dog work the problem?
• What is overlapping odor? How does your dog work the problem?
• Ideas of how to be successful with Buried.
• Ideas of how to be successful with Interiors.
• Ideas of how to be successful with Exteriors.
• Ideas of how to be successful with Containers.
• Thresholds are just the beginning of your search.
• Don’t let DISTRACTORS ruin your searches.

Requirements: Dogs must have completed the Scent Work III – Beginning Trial Preparation.