The Sniffing Zone

01/01/2025

NEW LIVE WEBINAR SCHEDULED - Odor Chemistry Basics for Civilian and Sport Canine Detection Handlers Webinar with Dr. Lauryn E. DeGreeff scheduled for June 11th at 3:30PM PT/6:30PM ET

Canines are sensitive and selective, non-contact v***r detectors that can easily be trained to locate novel materials; however, unlike other v***r detection instrumentation or sensors, canines do not give a readable output, thus leaving the handler to interpret canine behavior. One way to better understand canine response to odor and ultimately better the detector is to improve the understanding of factors that affect or change odor.

This webinar will include the basics of odor development from an odor source into an odor plume that is detectable by the dog. We will describe how odor emanates from a target object and how the dog might perceive this odor, and factors affecting odor perception and detection. The lecture will also include the discussion of research examining the odor associated with the Nosework oils, Birch, Anise, and Clove, including identification of individual odorant components contributing to the odor of the oil, consideration of various storage protocols for training materials, as well as the durability of residual odor. Finally, we will discuss the differences between the Nosework odors compared to other detection target odors, such as human remains and live human scent.

REGISTER FOR THE LIVE WEBINAR OR ORDER THE WEBINAR REPLAY HERE: https://www.scentworku.com/products/odor-chemistry-basics-webinar

LENGTH
90 minutes

INSTRUCTOR
Lauryn DeGreeff, PhD - Associated Professor in the Department of Chemistry and with the Global Forensic and Justice Center at Florida International University; Miami, FL

CEUS
We have applied for CPDT, KPA and NACSW CEUs - stay tuned!

LIVE WEBINAR
Join us on June 11th at 3:30PM PT/6:30PM ET for this live webinar where you may ask Dr. DeGreeff questions in real-time and receive free, continual access to the fully edited webina replay.
COST: $40.00

WEBINAR REPLAY
Cannot make the live webinar? No worries! Order the webinar replay and go through the presentation at your own pace. There ae no deadlines, cut-off dates or expiration dates to worry about. We fully edit all of our live webinars, so the replay will be posted to the Scent Work University site by the end of the day on June 12th.
COST: $35.00

REGISTER FOR THE LIVE WEBINAR OR ORDER THE WEBINAR REPLAY HERE: https://www.scentworku.com/products/odor-chemistry-basics-webinar

We look forward to seeing you there!

Happy Training!

20/11/2024

Calder Hall Update:
Unfortunately we are still unable to use the Hall - it looks like it will be mid-Jan [at the earliest], before the situation there is resolved. So I'm about to remove all future sessions for Calder Hall until I receive an update on that one. I'm trying to find another local venue though.

This Sunday 3pm - Class @ Blythe Heads Hall, Heybridge:
This class will be suitable for Teams on Primary Reward [food/toy], Paired Odour + Unpaired Searchers.

Bookings can be made here - https://www.thesniffingzone.com.au/booking-calendar/scent-school-secondary-education-2

Heybridge is approx 29min from Wynyard, 8min from Burnie + 17min from Ulverstone.

19/11/2024

NEW!! Get previously run webinars on a platform that is easy to watch! Your purchase allows you access to the recording for 1 year. Watch as many times as you…

06/11/2024

🐾 ⁉️ “Hey Zan have you heard the news?!” ⁉️🐾

We are beyond thrilled to offer a rare and limited opportunity to train with Kelly Gill, one of Australia’s top Positive Reinforcement trainers and the mastermind behind the famous The Wonderdogs! 🌟 You’ve seen them on TV, in trick shows, and at events with Dr. Katrina—now, it’s your turn to get hands-on with one of the best trainers in the country! 🐕‍🦺✨

🎓 Seminar Focus:

🪄 Trick Training & Smarten Up Your Training! This is your chance to level up your skills and strengthen the bond with your dog. Whether you’re looking to master tricks or sharpen your existing skills, this seminar will leave you and your dog inspired and ready for more! 🏆

🗓️ Date: Saturday the 5th of April 2025 (possibility of expanding to 2 days based on demand!)
📍 Location: Flying Paws Dog Training Ulverstone - to be held at our indoor training facility

👩‍🏫 What to Expect:

🙌🏼Hands-on training for working spots—get personal coaching from Kelly herself!
🙋‍♀️Q&A opportunities for both working and auditing spots—ask your burning questions and get expert advice!
👩‍🏫Learn from one of the country’s best in a supportive, positive environment.

🐕 Who Should Attend:

🐶All dog owners who want to deepen their training skills—whether you’re a beginner or experienced handler, this seminar is for YOU!
💪Working spots allow you to get your dog in front of Kelly for personalized feedback.
👂Audit spots give you a front-row seat to all the knowledge, tips, and tricks! 🐾

⚠️ Zani and Fox will be joining in too! While they might be the right breed, they are the wrong colour and not even close to official WonderDogs (don’t tell them though, they can’t read!). But we will be there participating right alongside you, having fun and learning new skills! 📸

❗ This is a rare opportunity to train with Kelly right here in our own backyard—don’t miss out on this incredible event! Working and audit spots will fill up fast, so let us know if you’re interested! ✨

👇 Sign up now to express your interest:

https://forms.office.com/r/FYKZPWmW9Y

Let’s make this event unforgettable! 🐾

01/11/2024

😆

16/10/2024

State of Origin: It's officially an unofficial competition that leads to all participants having 100% fun... unless you are not victorious. In which case, it might just be 90% fun 🤣

Tassie wins State of Origin Challenge!

Over the weekend our Dogs Tasmania Team “defended the island” against their Dogs Victoria counterparts at the Dogs Victoria State Scent Work Trial in Traralgon, Victoria.

The Tasmanian Scent Work Team members were required to nominate the class and element in which they would like to challenge a Victorian team member. The teams gained points based on their individual team members result in each class and element. The final team score is calculated from all the individual results of those in the challenge across the three days of competition.

Wow, did this lead to some state rivalry!

Heading into the final day, Team Tasmania were trailing the Victorians by 13 points. Tassie knew they had some great teams heading into the final day and the entire Tassie team rallied to come over top of the Victorians in the final classes on the last day of competition.

Final result Tasmania 45 points, winners over Victoria with 40 points.

Tasmania was represented by the following Dogs Tasmania members and their canine, who come from all corners of the state.

Master Scent Work (SW) and Team Leader - Melinda Cleland and Lula (Associate) - North West
Excellent - Jenny Boskell and Beaukene Girl Power (Bouvier Des Flandres) - North West
Advanced - Jenny Boskell and Tarko (Australian Kelpie) North West
Advanced - Kirsty Loader and Brandybrook Torvi Skildbitar (English Springer Spaniel) - Northern
Masters - Leanne Smart and Tornadobe Black Pearl (Doberman) - Southern
Masters- Lisa Watson and Firefield Lily Allen (Labrador Retriever) - Southern
Excellent- Lisa Watson and Mhadaidh All That Jazz Freya (Golden Retriever) - Southern
Advanced - Renae Foss and Trueclass Triffic (Labrador Retriever) - Southern
Excellent- Victoria Barker and Ubiqque Gold Dust Woman (Swedish Vallhund) - Northern

Congratulations to Dogs Victoria on hosting such a fun and inclusive state scent work trial. Tassie looks forward to defending their title next year!

Please note, the prize for the winning team is a perpetual trophy made and donated by Melinda Cleland.

The State of Origin Scent Work Challenge is a fun challenge administered by the trial committee and is not a Dogs Australia competition, merely a competition for the winning state to hold bragging rights for 12 months.

04/10/2024

I wish I wasn't away while this is happening!

🖤 SPOOKY HALLOWEEN PHOTOSHOOT 🖤

A baby Aurora and her scary friend are popping up today to remind you to get your bookings in as the final spots are being filled super fast 🤭

With one last location shoot at the local pine forest, plus a handful left for HQ - we know they won’t last long! 🖤

Follow the link to book your spot!

https://rayneydayphotography.pixieset.com/booking/a-bark-above-halloween-special

Proceeds raised will be donated to The Hannah Foundation as well so it’s all for a brilliant cause 🫶🏼

03/10/2024

Lulu is all about the chase!

Blue Heelers are drivers of cattle.
Beagles are flushers of game.

Movement and chase play a huge part in her play. Typically, we can then use the step either side in the predatory cycle to explore play options, also.

Something to think about with your dog, but particularly mixed breeds. Fortunately my mixed breed doesn't have too much conflict in the instinct department!

The Predatory Motor Pattern is something we don't often discuss for dogs - because it sounds pretty scary.

01/10/2024

We tend to take 3 trips back to the 'Big Island', for Scent Work hangs, each year - August, October + November. I feel like we only just got back from our last trip! Admittedly, the August trip did double in length... but it was worth it: an awesome 4 day SW workshop, a couple of cool SW trials, which included our first play in Ultimate, and lots of down time + exploring in the sun!

So, back to the main message: our online shop will be closed while we are away. We will be back, + open, for a little between our Oct and Nov sojourns, then staying put for a while :)

22/09/2024

As summers continue to get warmer year-over-year, new research from the Penn Vet Working Dog Center (PVWDC) reveals the best way to prevent dogs from overheating.

After comparing various cooling methods, researchers found when a dog voluntarily submerged their head in clean, room-temperature water to retrieve a treat or toy, they not only cooled off faster, but also avoided dangerous post-exercise temperature spikes.

“During heat stress, blood flow to the head, nose, tongue, and ears is increased,” said Cynthia M. Otto, VMD, PhD, lead author of the study and executive director of the PVWDC. “Cooling the tissues of the head allows for rapid cooling of the whole body with limited amounts of water.”

🔗 Learn how to correctly teach your dog this game-changing method by visiting: https://bit.ly/4eajKuy

19/09/2024

For anyone that is keen to try their hand at tracking, Discover Canine have an online course that runs through the foundation skills, starting in October!!

Foundation tracking course now open for bookings 👣🐾.

This course is held online and is suitable for teams who are new to tracking as well as those who are already tracking. The short exercises you'll learn are perfect for training in the off-season. Teams will learn how to develop precise tracking behaviours from the outset.

For those who are already tracking this course will provide the foundation to address issues such as; overshooting corners, excessive casting, failing to indicate articles and transitioning to different surfaces.

Spaces are limited. Bookings can be made through the 'Book Now' button or by clicking on the link in the comments.

* This course is a prerequisite for Advanced tracking - Towards Trialling which will be held in November.

14/08/2024

Tuggeranong Dog Training Club, Dogs ACT + GSC ACT hosted a triple trial of Excellent + Master elements over the past weekend. Trials can't happen without a LOT of people stepping up, pitching in and making them happen. These people are dead-set legends!

It was an amazing weekend. By far, the best part of any trial is the friendships. New faces you'll see again. And the faces of friends you've seen for years now. I get "home sick" for the friendships made through Scent Work - at both training and trials. I think that's why I plan several interstate trips a year!

Over the weekend we had 6 searches:
▪︎ We passed Master Vehicle under Angela HT on the Saturday. We surprisingly placed 3rd and it was the last vehicles pass we need to apply for our Vehicle Element Title!!! So, we now have 2 Element Titles and are eligible to run in **Ultimate**. The other thing that was special about this pass, was Lulu's gal-pal Ella, who also passed and also achieved her Vehicle Element Title in the very same run!
▪︎ We flopped on our a couple of runs and these were 100% my fault. I have apologised profusely to Lulu about my lack of skills. But I also learnt a lot from these errors, so it's not all bad; and
▪︎ In a blistering time, Little Lulu took out 1st place in her Master Vehicle search on Sunday. This one blew me away. There was actually a squeal of surprise when they called our names. I had told friends we "smashed it" in relation to how it felt working as a team. It was NOT about our actual search time.

Many more amazing teams had a great weekend: our friend achieved her Master Title. A few other friends also achieved Excellent and Element Titles. And others got their groove on and are close to stepping into new levels. I think each of us took something special away this weekend. And it feels so good to share all of this with our friends and our dogs.

Oh, and one last highlight, Team Victoria won the State of Origin*

[* on Saturday 😂]

30/07/2024

You read this right... we are away for the month! The last day for online orders is tomorrow, Wed 31 July, and we will reopen on Fri, 30 August.

As a scent work geek, Lulu and I are hitting the road to attend a trial in Canberra and a 4 day workshop being hosted at Canine Education Academy. There is time for a visit with family and obviously a load of friends to see who are also trial-road-tripping ❤ ...That is the only reason we are driving to Canberra - to hang with friends that we haven't seen for ages, to get "home-sick" for Victoria [in Canberra], and share tales of our quallies, "so close" moments and perhaps some disbelief that our dogs "alerted" on food when they haven't in aaaaaaaaaages. All from the *comfort* of a freezing Canberran carpark, with our besties.

27/07/2024

𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐖 𝐝𝐨𝐠'𝐬 + 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐬 "𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 - 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩/𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐩 / 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 / 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐮𝐩?".

For anyone that is curious to see how this short dog [Lulu] works a high hide, I decided to run Lulu on the last search of the day yesterday morning [without the graduated work-up the other Team's had to this problem!]. It wasn't an easy one... there were 2 *delicious* food distractors out, sheep + chicken over the back fence, wallaby p**p [best fresh according to Lulu] galore on the grass + 2 hides: Birch [approx 40cm] and Anise [approx 1.5m]. The wind was creating more converging than I would have liked [we were meant to be inside the hall but had access issues!].

So, the answer to the question is 𝐍𝐎 - shorter dogs are not expected to jump or stretch up to a hide - they do not need to climb on objects to reach the hide - and no, you can't lift your dog to the hide. Yet, they can still clearly find the precise location of a high hide.

Now, if your dog wants to, and is capable of, jumping, climbing or stretching up to a hide, and it is safe to do so, it is usually allowed!! I intentionally had a stable step stool out for the teams to use, as a boost, if they wanted to.

In the past, I've also communicated to Lulu that she can jump up onto items [chairs / bench] to search, if I felt it was safe. That is also ok - but don't force it. I didn't do that yesterday because Lulu was working well and I didn't think it would benefit her search.

I've added some captions to this video and a freeze/zoom of the moment Lulu finds source. Yes, the hides are visible, but we all know that our dog's are not overly visual creatures when deep in a search. But given everything else that was going on [distractors, converging], there was no need to make this a frustrating search of any of the teams that worked this problem.

Shorter dogs do need to work harder to solve these types of problems - and it usually takes them longer to solve it. But it is not impossible! When you watch the video, look at how far out Lulu works to gather information to locate the Anise hide - nearly all the way to the opposite fence and back along the the step into the hall alcove and the hand-rail.

25/07/2024

15/07/2024

PSA - New Product Alert:
When I was in Pet Stock the other week, I grabbed one of these to see how it went. They came in 3 sizes.

Can officially confirm that it is AWESOME! So, if you are a dog loaf feeder, I can reccommend this container.

It clips shut very tightly, therefore reducing smells in the fridge, stops the cut end from drying out - which is a BIG positive if you travel!

https://www.petstock.com.au/products/roll-mate-dog-roll-container

09/07/2024

𝐃𝐨𝐠 𝐄𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞: 𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 + 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬

I happened to catch this good little live chat on YouTube yesterday, hosted by For Your K9, Inc.

It is a great one for teams that are wanting to start any training or trialling [in ANY dog sport or class], or a refresher for those that have taken a break and are back... there's some really helpful tips in here that can even apply to rest of world adventures.

Grab yourself a cuppa and tune in, or my fav, listen to it on your next drive [no graphics to watch - 3 ladies heads].

Join us while we discuss dog etiquette for trialing and while attending dog training classes. Whether you are new to the training world or a seasoned competi...