Scent work games.....

[elsie]

Hello, I would like to develop a game I play with my 10 month old doggy, but I'm not really sure how so thought I would ask for tips.

To start, I show her an apple or an orange and let her hold it briefly in her mouth. I then put her into a Stay, then leave the room (or go out of sight if we're in the garden). Then I hide the fruit, maybe under a bed or in some long grass, return to her and tell her to 'Find It'. She flies off to look for it and she ALWAYS finds it, even if it takes her 3-4 minutes. She then runs back to me and swaps the fruit for lots of praise and a treat! She does this maybe 5-6 times without getting bored.

Is this the start of scent work? Or tracking? Can all GSDs do this? Can it be developed into other games or even something useful? I'm getting ahead of myself here and thinking Search and Rescue dog! I've heard of scent cloths, but I'm not really sure what they are or where you get them from or what you would do with them!

She gets so excited when she sees me raid the fruit bowl and it's a really fun way to keep her mind and body occupied.

If anyone has any tips or comments to develop this I would love to hear them. x

[Stuart]

This is good,.. now to expand...

If you want to do a little tracking,.. start by marking out a metre square,.. trample it down and sprinkle dry food in the square,... let the dog eat the food,.. when she is happy with that try the next stage.

From the square, make a simple track useing your feet one directly in front of the other [ touching] dig your heals in a little and place a dry food in each heal print,... dont make the track too long... [ dont forget to sprinkle food in the square ]............... let the dog eat the food in the square, and then encourage him out to collect all the other bits that were in your heal prints,.... as she get better increace the length, add a few curves,..etc etc, she will soon know how to do it without encourgment

But remember that the food you are using cant be extra food,..or she gets fat,.. let it be his daily intake, make hime work for his dinner, she will love it

[elsie]

That's a great suggestion, thanks very much.

And I suppose (and I'm making this up, I have never done it) I would eventually build this up she would have to follow the track longer before there is any food in it. And I imagine that I would then eventually ask someone else to do the walking/food dropping.

I will be off outside to give it a go the minute it stops raining!

Thanks again x

[Stuart]

Yes,... once you get the stage I said going well and the dog is good at `hunting` his food,.. you can then start to reduce the food,...so every second heal print,.. every fouth and so on,.... but then you must put all the food that you remove in a pile at the end of his track,..so he gets his reward.

Onward from that, you can start to add in bends,.. but put lots of food in the bend so that he doesnt miss it,.. he will be used to going in a straight line,... encourage him if you think he is going to miss

[Tedsmum]

I would suggest that you get her used to finding different objects, especially those that are not so comfortable for her to hold. You can use anything, she just has to be familiar with it before you start and it does't necessarily have to smell strongly. A smelly sock it a good way to start.
The traditional use of scent cloths gets the dog used to distinguishing between human scents. You can start by using three peices of clean cloth and walking around with one close to your body for a few hours (I put mind down my bra!). I then walk around the house and garden with the dog to heel and when he is not looking I throw it over my shoulder. I then send him to find it and praise it when he returns it.
To progress from here you need two more scent cloths that you must never touch but will have someone else's scent on. Put them (sing tonges) in a row and ask your dog to find the one that only smells of you by placing you hands over his nose just before you send him to find it.
You will be amazed how quickly they pick this up.
Yes all GSD's can do this but some are more willing than other.
Best thing is to get some good instruction from a training club. x

[elsie]

Thanks to both of you. We do go to a training class, but because she's so young we haven't progressed beyond heelwork, stays and recall yet - and I'm impatient and I know she's ready to just have fun with these games!

Because it's pouring with rain we've been playing inside, and I took on-board what you said (Tedsmum) about using less strong-smelling objects. She was totally confused for a while, but with a bit of help (and some very easy hiding places!) she has now expanded her repertoire and has been finding an old glasses case (which had spent a cosy 10 minutes in my armpit!!) and a hairbrush.

We're both having great fun! x

[Stuart]

This is good to hear,.. have fun,..always finish on a very easy find, never on a failed hunt

[Tedsmum]

Originally Posted by elsie

Thanks to both of you. We do go to a training class, but because she's so young we haven't progressed beyond heelwork, stays and recall yet - and I'm impatient and I know she's ready to just have fun with these games!

Because it's pouring with rain we've been playing inside, and I took on-board what you said (Tedsmum) about using less strong-smelling objects. She was totally confused for a while, but with a bit of help (and some very easy hiding places!) she has now expanded her repertoire and has been finding an old glasses case (which had spent a cosy 10 minutes in my armpit!!) and a hairbrush.

We're both having great fun! x

Glad you are both enjoying it, she obviously has a talent for it.
BTW, it may sound obvious but when you hide your object, make sure she is not able to see where you have hidden it and you could wander around the area before you place it so she does not get a direct scent to where you just walked too. This might be a bit advanced though as yet.
At school we take the dogs out of the room while we place our scent cloths so they can't cheat!
Nice to give them some work to do isn't it?