Heading Into a Trial Weekend

As you head into another trial weekend, take a moment to pause and appreciate your dog.

Allow all the other thoughts to fade away and truly take in this incredible creature. The one who has been amazingly patient with you as you’ve worked to wrap your head around this whole Scent Work thing.

Own how your odor-blindness has been, and will continue to be, quite the handicap in this relationship. There is no shame in admitting the truth. Actually, doing so is quite impactful and powerful. Grappling with this can be motivating.

By truly appreciating the complexity of this activity, you’ve committed to stretching your understanding, occasionally taking risks, trying new things, being open to listening, trying and learning, even stumbling along the way. All the while, growing and progressing.

What does this have to do with your dog? They are right there with you!

Remember back when your long line would become hopelessly tangled around you both? There they were, patiently waiting for you to figure it all out. Now, here you are, working a 12’ long line like a pro and your searches are smooth as butter.

Or when you used to forget how many hides you set out in a practice run, but that awesome dog of yours saved your butt more than once, finding each and every one. You learned, creating a routine for yourself, taking photos or writing a quick note on your phone. All hides are now accounted for!

Perhaps that trial where everything seemingly went wrong. You “blurt alerted” at the start line during the very first search of the day. Then forgot your treat pouch for another and your mind went completely blank in the final class. Your preference was to crawl into a small hole and fade away, yet your dog did not give up you. Sure, the journey was messy, but they were still eager to set out and find those cookie opportunities WITH YOU.

Their willingness to continue playing the game in spite of your bungling urged you to change your perspective. You stopped focusing on all the bumbling, missteps and mistakes and chose to zero in on solutions instead.

You sat with yourself and asked some pointed questions:

• WHY did you “blurt alert”?
• HOW was it that you forgot your treat pouch?
• WHY did your mind go blank in that last search?

You took the initiative to shift from ruminating and obsessing to analyzing and devising a plan. What could you DO? What actionable steps could you take? How could you be better?

With experimentation, time and practice, you came up with some routines which helped in lowering your nerves, kept you breathing, thinking and in-the-moment with your dog. By facing the situation, instead of running away from it, you grew exponentially as a handler and competitor. Better still, your dog was right there, happily greeting this more skilled version of yourself.

Here’s the thing: your dog loves to play the sniffing game with you regardless of your shortcomings or flaws. They will hold up their end of the bargain and then some. Yet, when we clearly put in the effort to shore up our skills, when we actively try, our dogs light up and our search is taken to a whole other level.

The desire to be worthy partners to our dogs is an earnest one. They deserve nothing less. Doing so is challenging. We will struggle, stumble and make many mistakes. Our dogs will be there, encouraging us to get up and to try again. How? By granting us fleeting glimpses of the intricate and gorgeous picture that is their experience with odor. Those harmonious searches where we feel we can see the search through our dog’s eyes, that is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Your dog is the best teacher you could ever hope for. They exude patience, understanding and a true appreciation for your accomplishments and growth. They reward your efforts with this magical experience. The fact that you get to step to the line with such an exceptional partner is a gift beyond measure.

So take a moment to pause and truly appreciate your pup, they deserve it.

Dianna has been training dogs professionally since 2011. She has done everything from teaching group training classes and private lessons, to specializing in working with fearful, reactive and aggressive dogs, to being a trial official and competition organization staff member.

Following a serious neck and back injury, Dianna was forced to retire from in-person dog training. But she was not ready to give up her passion! So, she created Pet Dog U and Scent Work University to provide outstanding online dog training to as many dog handlers, owners and trainers possible…regardless of where they live! Dianna is incredibly grateful to the amazingly talented group of instructors who have joined PDU and SWU and she looks forward to the continued growth of PDU and SWU and increased learning opportunities all of these online dog training platforms can provide.

In June 2021, Dianna and her business partner, Sean McMurray launched Cyber Scent Work, an organization that operates in the gray space between training and trialing in Scent Work. With Cyber Scent Work, handlers have the opportunity to earn Qs, titles and ribbons while also receiving helpful training advice regardless of whether they qualify or not! The advent of the Cyber Sniffing Games, Traditional Cyber Scent Work Program, in-person and online assessments have been met with much fanfare! Be sure to check out Cyber Scent Work, you will be happy you did!