What, why & how?
A detection dog is trained to detect and alert to the presence of certain scents or odours. With their sense of smell being 10,000 – 100,000 times better than humans, it is without a doubt we need to challenge their nose with fun, scent work games.
How do you train this? Scent work should be fun for the dog. Clicker training & positive reinforcement are how we build up the association with the specific scent. After that, we shape the signal method. How would you like your dog to indicate the presence of the scent. Lift it's paw? Sit & make eye contact?
What dog would be suitable for this class? Sporting breeds are mostly used in detection work. Although just about any dog can be trained to detect an odour, there are specific characteristics that make some dogs more successful than others. If your dog has a high drive and strong desire to work, then this is for them. We work towards the dog being able to detect the scent in a high distraction environment, such as forests, the bustling city or a new indoor space.