Group Scent Work Class

Group Scent Work Class

Teach Your Dog To Identify Odors

At Highland Canine, our trainers offer scent work classes for dogs. This class teaches your dog to use its nose to locate odors such as Clove, Anise and Birch.

This class is great if you think your dog already has a good nose! Taking part in nose work provides great mental stimulation and teaches your dog a new skill at the same time.

Whether you want to teach your dog for competition or simply for fun, our scent work class teaches you everything you’ll need to know.

To find out when scent work classes are taking place in your area, please take a look at our calendar!

Click to learn about each of our Scent Work classes...

Introduction to K9 Scent Work

Begin your Scent Work journey with our intro class!

Week 1

  • Introduction to scent work

  • Class objectives

  • Introduction to olfaction and how scent works

  • Rewards and how to use them

  • Timing/repetition and the importance of clicker use

  • Begin imprinting on Birch oil
dog playing mental stimulation game

Week 2

  • Recap of Week 1

  • Introduction of Star Anise and Clove oil

  • Importance of separating odor and how residual odor works

  • Begin imprinting process on new odors

Week 3

  • Recap of Week 2

  • Progress check and troubleshooting

  • Practice ‘shell game’ introduction

  • Introduction to searching

Week 4

  • Recap of Week 3

  • Practice drills with one odor

  • Adding boxes to exercises

  • Build indication

  • Start hides

Week 5

  • Recap of Week 4

  • Adding more boxes

  • Importance of proofing

  • Begin proofing

Week 6

  • Transferring out of boxes

  • Building speed and accuracy

  • Next steps to competition scent work/nose work

Intermediate K9 Scent Work

Pre-requisite: Completion of Introduction to Scent Work

Week 1

  • Skill evaluation and refresh

  • Introduction to multiple hides

Week 2

  • Understanding source of odor and how it applies to reinforcement

  • Working through less accessible hides

Week 3

  • Increasing difficulty of distractions during a search

Week 4

  • Management of larger search areas

Week 5

  • Dealing with thresholds and obstacles during a search

Week 6

  • Mock trial

Advanced K9 Scent Work

Pre-requisite: Completion of Intermediate Scent Work

Week 1

  • Identifying changes in behavior

     

  • Double blind searches

Week 2

  • Blank searches and their importance

Week 3

  • Increasing hide difficulty through accessibility, varying height, and containment

Week 4

  • Introduction of outdoor hides 

  • Mapping a search area

Week 5

  • Outdoor hides continued

  • Buried hides

Week 6

  • Traversing obstacles during outdoor searches

  • Mock trial

Remember to check out our calendar to see when our scent work classes are taking place in your area! You can also contact us for more information.