Competitive Scent Work

SCENT WORK UNIVERSITY

Scent Work Blog

These blog posts include general training tips, reminders for handlers, competitors, instructors and trial officials alike as well as comments about happenings within the community as a whole.

We would love to hear from you! Are there any topics in particular you would like for us to cover in our Scent Work University blog?

Scent Work University

Nov 11
6 min

Get Your Praise On

Picture this: you are tasked with a super complicated and challenging project at work. Tackling this project has forced you to use all...

Scent Work University

Oct 29
7 min

Knowing The “Why” Matters

Mindlessly mimicking what we see instructors, speakers or other dog and handler teams do can be our downfall in Scent Work.

Scent Work University

Sep 12
9 min

Scent Work is Not the Sole Solution

Solutions for issues you may be encountering in Scent Work may exist OUTSIDE of Scent Work entirely. We discuss in this blog post.

Scent Work University

Aug 8
6 min

Partnerships Are Unique

You may be embarking on Scent Work with your second, third, fourth or fifth dog. Each partnership you have is a unique, embrace this.

Scent Work University

Jul 22
6 min

How You Start and Finish Matters

Handlers are oftentimes quite focused on what is happening during a search itself but overlook what happens before and afterwards.

Scent Work University

Apr 11
5 min

Reusing The Same Hide Location When Practicing - Yay or Nay?

We strongly encourage all dog owners to be thinking trainers, considering whether a piece of training advice will work for them and their...

Scent Work University

Mar 22
6 min

Open Containers...What Is That All About?!

Are open containers in training something you should do in Scent Work? What is the value!? Let's find out!

Scent Work University

Feb 21
5 min

Trials and Tribulations of Being a Dog Handler

We oftentimes overlook how challenging it is to be a handler in any dog sport, Scent Work included. Essentially, handlers must learn all...

Scent Work University

Jan 31
7 min

Where We See a Tree, Our Dog Sees a Forest

As humans, we tend to be laser-focused when training, attempting to parse out tiny and minute details to work on and perfect. Scent Work...

Scent Work University

Nov 8, 2020
4 min

Searching Planes

No, I do not mean the types of planes that fly through the sky, although competitors have indeed searched grounded and out-of-commission...

Scent Work University

Oct 15, 2020
5 min

When NOT to Play Scent Work

That’s right, there are indeed times you may want to steer away from playing formal Scent Work with your pup.

Scent Work University

Sep 18, 2020
8 min

It's Scent Work, Not Stuff Work!

How often are you scoping out "stuff" when designing your Scent Work searches?

Scent Work University

Aug 12, 2020
5 min

Are You Using the Right Reward?

We must be ready to analyze whether we are using the right reward when doing Scent Work with our dogs.

Scent Work University

Jul 14, 2020
4 min

Being a Thinking Trainer

Being a thinking and mindful trainer is what separate spectacular teams from mediocre ones.