Scent Work with Love Your Paws

16/09/2022

‼️ NOTICE ‼️

I have decided not to have a separate page for scent work so this page will no longer be in use.

All our scent work information, photos, classes & workshops will be only on the main page from now on.

Love Your Paws

Thanks 🐾🐶

13/09/2022

Our latest super sniffers have finished their six week beginner course with a bang! 💥

For their last session they all took a part in a mini trial.

They searched a line up of chairs, they searched a line up of bags, they searched my van and they searched an area with a wall, pallets & piles of rope and did so with confidence, certainty and absolute accuracy!

Deefa, Mabel, Flo, Rona & Stella all completed their mini trial with 🎉DISTINCTION!!! 🎉

What a great 6 week course - really looking forward to seeing them all continuing their scent work journeys.

(The sunset was pretty spectacular too!)

06/09/2022

🐶🐾🍂🥂 DAYS OFF 🥂🍂🐾🐶

As many of your know, Ollie and I haven’t had weekly days off together for the last few years.

There’s been 2 reasons for this.

💕🐶 NESS NESS & SAM 🐶💕

Sam has always struggled with people leaving the house. He gets very anxious, distressed and can (and has) bitten to try and stop us leaving. When we’re all at home together he will sometimes bark at people walking past the house, strange noises and delivery vans but if we’re not here, he will bark at EVERY person who walks past, EVERY noise, EVERY delivery van. A clear sign that he has some separation related difficulties.

Ness Ness, who has always been ‘ok’ (she’s never loved it) being left, barked and howled her head off for 2 hours straight the first time she was left in our new house. Luckily our fab neighbours were honest with us when we asked how the dogs had been and said they sounded really distressed. She was so worried that for almost 2 years, even if walked out the front door to pop the bins out she’d howl.

I vowed to them both that I’d never leave them in that position again.

And as logistically difficult as that was - we made it happen.

And slowly, slowly slowly, we started to re build their confidence in being left. At first for seconds, then for a minute, then a little longer.... and now for the past couple of months we’ve been able to leave them for a couple of hours; settled, sleeping and content.

So... we’re now at the stage where we’re comfortable knowing that on occasions our work hours may over lap by an hour or 2, because they’ll be fine.

Which means that for the first time in years we’re having planned days off TOGETHER!!!

My days off are now Tuesday & Wednesday for the foreseeable future (other than tomorrow... last Wednesday eve Hoopers Class!).

And if it doesn’t suit Ness Ness & Sam? We’ll rethink it. Because my promise to never let them feel that way again. It still stands and comes before everything. 🐶💕🐶

05/09/2022

Secateurs + kong….

can only mean ONE THING!!!

A new crew of dogs are starting their scent work journey tonight!!

Really looking forward to meeting them all & helping their owners to unleash their dog’s incredible abilities 🐶💕

Ps. A VERY last minute space has just become available. If you’d like to learn more about scent work & how it can help build your dog’s confidence, strengthen your relationship with your dog & promote mental well-being ping me a message & I’ll book you in! This is the LAST space available on our 6 week beginner course this year!!

30/08/2022

Last night our latest “Sniffer Dogs in the Making” really showed off just how incredible their skills are.

We set them some new challenges. Searching areas of the environment, just as they are. No particular ‘objects’, such as chairs, pipes or bags as they’ve been learning so far; just the natural environment.

This can often be a little confusing initially as we’re changing the context of the environment; they’re used to walking through a gate, rather than searching it and walking along a pathway, rather than checking out the fence line. But… it didn’t really phase any of them!

They then had a go at searching an array of random objects, again different to anything we’ve done so far, which has been searching a line of objects. Again, they didn’t bat an eyelid… or a nostril!!!

I’m really looking forward to watching then tackle their vehicle searches next week as I have no doubt they’ll nail it!!

There is one space left in our beginner class starting NEXT Monday (the course starting in October is FULLY BOOKED) - please see the website for full details.

29/08/2022

🥰 PEACHES 🥰

This extra special little spaniel NEVER ceases to amaze me.

She had a degenerative eye condition that meant she was gradually losing her sight. Her condition got to the point where her eyes were causing her pain & so for her well-being & safety she had them removed. Her bounce back from the operation was just incredible & watching her confidence just increase month by month has been amazing & heart warming in equal measure.

We know that our dog’s make sense of the world around them using their sense of smell rather than their sight, in the way that we do. But like us, they use a combination of smell, sight & sound to navigate life.

Out walking Peachy recently I took a couple of videos of her… just look at how she uses a combination of scent & sound to find me & how she confidently walks ahead of me on lead 🥰

Never underestimate the power of your dog’s sense of smell. It may not yet be fully understood, but it’s completely awe inspiring.

Ps. You should see Peaches at Scent Club…. Still one of the fastest!! 🐶🎉

24/08/2022

Scent Club!!

Last night in Scent Club the dog & handler teams had 3 themed searches to navigate.

“Tea Party”, “Building Site” & “Mr McGregor’s Garden”

They were able to choose the size of kong pieces they’d be searching for (5mm, 3mm or 1 mm) depending on their dog’s experience and could change sizes for each search depending on how they felt their dog was doing. This is FUN scent detection, so it’s about doing an activity together, motivating our dogs and enjoying the process not to over challenge our dogs 😊

Each search was completed ‘blind’; in other words, neither the dog nor the handler knew where the kong pieces were hidden and each team had 3 minutes per search to find their 3 kong pieces.

However…. Last night’s biggest challenge was testing the handlers ability to read their dogs! If a dog indicated on a piece of kong and their handler didn’t notice - they did receive a point for that find!

The dog WAS rewarded though… the other team mates would let the handler know that their dog had been successful. After all, it’s not the dog’s fault that their handler wasn’t paying attention! 🫣

How successful were the handlers? I was really impressed 🥰 Lots of motivation, lots of praise… and there’s obviously been a lot of indication practice going on too! 🙌.

Their score sheet marking ability wasn’t that great though… it’s been a tricky task trying to work out what the heck they’ve all written down - I think everyone had a different method of keeping track - maybe I need to think about how I explained it to them 🙈❓

How successful were the dogs? VERY!! We had some outstanding searching going on 🐶🥰

From the end of September Scent Club is moving to alternate Saturday mornings; if you’ve completed our Beginners Scent work classes or workshop you’re more than welcome to join!

23/08/2022

Great scent class last night!

Flo, Rona, Mabel, Deefa & Stella had a go at searching chairs for their target scent (little chunks of kong).

Our dogs know how to use their noses already, what we’re doing is teaching them how to systematically search different objects for a scent of our choosing - rather than the enticing smell of dropped treats from puppy class or following the trail of a rabbit.

It’s a great exercise for loads of reasons, but I particularly love it as it really demonstrates just how much the dogs have learnt and taken on board in their first 2 classes.

They were all confidently searching.

They all understood what they were searching for.

They’re starting to really indicate so that their handlers are clear when they have found the scent.

And… the pieces of kong they were searching for were a ¼ of the size that they’d been searching for previously. Did it hamper them in any way?

Not one little bit!!

Our next UK Sniffer Dogs Bronze classes start on 5th Sept and has one place remaining.

02/08/2022

What a great first night of our latest beginner scent work course.

I’m ALWAYS blown away by the incredible ability of our dogs.

In just ONE hour, these dogs were searching a line up of 6 pipes & accurately letting their handler know where a small 1 cm x .5 cm chick of kong was hidden.

Really great work from ALL the dog and handler teams!!

29/07/2022

As part of their last class Kobe, Toby, Flora and Inca had a go at a mini trial!

They had 3 searches to navigate, each with a different number of hides and they had to see how many they could find within a time limit.

And the results are in!!!!

I’m sorry to say that none of them received a PASS 🫣

But that’s because they ALL did better than that!! 💪🏼

INCA - Merit!! (she missed Distinction by literally 14 seconds)
TOBY - Distinction!!
KOBE - Distinction!!
FLORA - Distinction!!

Well done to all of you! What a fabulous way to end a great 6 week course!!

27/07/2022

What a great beginners scent work course!

Flora, Inca, Toby & Kobe & sniffed their way through

Pipe Searches
Bag Searches
Chair Searches
Environmental Searches
Vehicles Searches

To earn themselves their

UK Sniffer Dog Scent Detection BRONZE Level

🎉 CONGRATULATIONS to all the dog & handler teams. 🎉

It’s been a fab course & I’ve really enjoyed all the light bulb moments, questions, wonder at our dog’s abilities & seeing the teamwork between you & your dogs develop & grow 🥰

Can’t wait to see them all progress in Scent Club

18/07/2022

🐾🐶 BEGINNER SCENT WORK CLASSES 🐶🐾

Why scent work?

Scent work is for you if you want to unleash the power the of your dog’s nose whilst:

🐾 working together with your dog as a team

🐾 giving your dog a full mental and physical work out (many owners say their dogs are more tired after scent work than they are after agility!)

🐾 building their confidence and creating optimism

🐾 strengthening your relationship

🐾 improving your communication

If you're ready to turn your dog into a scent detection super sleuth, and have lots of fun whilst doing so, have a look at our classes here...

https://www.loveyourpaws.org.uk/scen.../scent-work-beginner/

18/07/2022

14/07/2022

🐶☀️ YOUNG HANDLERS SUMMER SESSIONS! ☀️🐶

Are you between aged 9 and 15 and want to have fun with your dog this summer?

Come and learn all about Scent Work, Lead Handling skills, Hoopers & your DOG in our Summer Sessions!

Designed as a set of sessions where your skills and confidence will progressively build by the end you & your dog will have a BETTER relationship, UNDERSTAND each other better and also have loads of ways that you can go and have FUN together whenever you want!!

Going on holiday… got lots of summer plans… can’t make all 4 sessions?

No worries!!

They work as stand alone session too! So you can come to the ones that fit into your busy summer holidays.

The Sessions:

LOVE YOUR SNIFFER
Mon Aug 1st 9.30 to 10.30 am
Learn some fun scent work games using your dog’s favourite food!

LOVE YOUR LEAD

Mon Aug 8th 9.30 to 10.30 am
Lots of dogs pull on their lead… but that’s usually because we don’t really understand how our dogs walk. We’ll do loads of fun exercises, including navigating a course of weaves, jumps and tunnels that will help you and your dog learn how to walk together with confidence.

HAVE-a-GO at HOOPERS

Mon Aug 22nd 9.30 to 10.30am
Teach your dog to go through hoops, tunnels and round barrels in this super fun dog sport.

SCENT DETECTIVES

Mon Aug 29th 9.30
We know that your dog is a super sniffer, they show us that on every walk! But teaching your dog, to look for a specific scent… that’s really harnessing their super power!! In this session we’ll teach your dog how to search a ‘line up’ of pipes to find their Kong just like real search dogs do!

All session are held in our training field in Carleen. For full details (including terms ands conditions) please go to https://www.loveyourpaws.org.uk/dog-training/young-handlers-summer-sessions/

PS. Want to book AND want 10% OFF? You have until Friday 15th to enter our Sizzle Competition (see pinned post) - EVERY entry gets a voucher for 10% OFF (T&Cs apply).

13/07/2022

In this weeks beginners class the dogs moved onto vehicle searches.

Vehicle searches can be difficult for novice dogs

‼️Our vehicles pick up all sorts of scents as they’re being driven around

‼️ They’re sued to getting in and out of vehicles to go to cool places - the change in context can be confusing

‼️ We’re asking them to search a big solid surface area which is new to them (in this context)

‼️ When you look closely at a vehicle there’s all sorts of places that the scent can gather, get trapped and waft in-between; the gaps around the doors & the grille at the from for example.

But… Kobe, Toby, Inca and Flora made light work of it! I was so impressed with how they knew what was being asked of them, starting searching my van straight away, gave some great indications, and managed to work out where the source of the scent was despite all of the tricky nooks and crannies!

Brilliant class - well done all dogs and handler teams!! 🥰

12/07/2022

☀️‼️ SCENT CLUB CANCELLED ‼️☀️

Emails texts on their way to everyone!

Sam is panting whilst lying in the shade doing nothing. And it’s set to get hotter in the next hour as the clouds lift.

If he needs to pant to regulate his temperature, it’s not fair to ask him to use his nose to search for a scent of my choosing.

See you all next week!!

9ps. as ever, please let me know once you’ve seen this message (in whatever form). I don't want anyone to drive their dogs in this heat if they dont need to!

06/07/2022

What a great scent club last night!!

I might’ve sprung a mini trial on the teams… but they all excelled themselves.

Searching for gun oil they had 3 searches to complete within set time limits and a final search for catnip.

Despite feeling quite anxious & out of sorts because of the tractors in the field next door Bryntin pulled of some fabulous searches.

Fergus, who would usually be anxious & out of sorts in proximity to tractors just concentrated in the task at hand and pulled off some of his best searches yet with some beautiful indications

Pinto who is a novice compared to the other two flung himself into every search with everything he had!! And once he slowed down, & got on track he really showed off his phenomenal ability.

Fabulous work from all 3 dog & handler team this evening 🙌🏻

And….

I didn’t tell them this. But now that they have completed the mini trial on catnip & gun oil

Fergus, Bryntin & Pinto have now all officially completed their

Uk Sniffer Dog SILVER Award!!!

Massive congratulations to all 3 teams!!! 🎉🙌🏻🥳

Fantastic achievement & really well deserved.

(Certificates will be on their way as soon as I have ordered them! 🙈)

05/07/2022

Last night Toby, Flora, Inca and Kobe started to learn that they may be asked to search for hides…. Any where!

Not just in a line up of specific objects such as pipes, bags and chairs.

They got to grips with searching the puppy class equipment (A frame, wobble board, hoop and cones), they all too to it like…. Well, like a dog sniffing for sausage!!

We then introduced the idea that they may also be asked to search any where in the environment; not just objects that have been purposefully placed out. They started searching fences, walls and gates.

When we start to think about how the dogs currently view these areas, what other smells may be present as well as what the wind is doing at any particular time, you can see that it’s not always a straight forward task!

They all worked really hard and were well rewarded for doing so.

Inca was so tired she fell asleep as the people all chatted at the end, and Toby fell fast asleep as soon as he got home!!

If you’d like to try scent work with your dog, have a look at the webiste for full details and upcoming classes.

Ps. If you enter the competition over on our main page you’ll get 10% off if you book by 15th July!!

04/07/2022

🌭 DID YOUR DOG BEAT SIZZLE??? 🌭

🐾🥳 Summer Garden Paw-ty Competition!!!! 🥳🐾

OK… actually… you can enter whether your dog beat Sizzle or not!! Everyone who ‘had a go’ today and enters (following all of the steps below) will get a code for 10% off ANY Love Your Paws training valid on ANY booking made by until the 15th July 2022 AND will be entered into a prize draw to win a copy of Doggy Language by Lili Chin.

IF your dog DID beat Sizzle and found the sausage in 9 seconds or less… you will get the 10% off code (as above) AND be entered into a prize draw to wind a £50 VOUCHER.

How to enter:

1. Take a photo of your Beat Sizzle flyer with your time on it and share it in the comments
2. Like “Love Your Paws” fb page
3. Tag a friend who loves dogs… (they can then enter following the steps below!)
4. Share this post 😊

Couldn’t make the Garden Paw-ty?

Don’t worry you can enter too! Here’s how:

1. Share a photo of your dog in the comments and tell us what body language they display when they’re really, really happy! 🥰
2. Like “Love Your Paws” fb page
3. Tag a friend who loves dogs… they can then enter too if they wish!
4. Share this post 😊

So… get liking, photo taking, commenting and sharing. You’ve got to be in it, to win it!!!

CLOSING DATE 15th July 2022. Prize Draws will be held on 16th July 2022.

30/06/2022

☀️ 🏖 SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!! 🏖☀️

Well…. Not quite!!! But it will be soon, 😊 so we’re putting together some fun workshops in

SCENT WORK

&

HOOPERS

for young handlers & their dogs!

Whilst having fun learning new skills, the handlers will also learn loads of things about their dog 🐶😊

🐶 How to communicate clearly
🐶 Understanding body language
🐶 Helping their dog to understand when they’re a bit confused

If you’d like full details once they’re finalised please comment or message with you email address. 📧

NB: an adult will be required to be in attendance for each dog & handler team.

29/06/2022

Did you know....

28/06/2022

Last night Toby, Kobe, Flora & Inca mastered the chair search!!

They learnt to check out each side, the legs, the seat, the arms, the back and to hone in on the hidden piece of kong.

At the start of the class they were looking for cubes approx 1cm by 1cm…. But I kept sneakily switching them for smaller bits.

Did it affect the dogs ability to find the scent?

Not. One. Little. Bit!!

These guys are naturals!!

Fab week. Well done everyone!

27/06/2022

🐱 If you’re ever out and about and see a lady walking a big brown poodle saying

“Find the cat!”

Do NOT PANIC!!!

She isn’t setting her dog onto the neighbourhood cats!! She is in fact asking Fergus to ‘search for catnip’!!!

We had a brilliant night at scent club recently. Fergus, Agnes and Bryntin worked on their active retrieves searching for catnip infused toys around the local lanes.

I’m not sure that I have ever seen these 3 dogs so engaged, for so long. They searched their little hearts out and made some really tricky finds.

Great work from all of the teams!

25/06/2022

Bag Searches!

This week Kobe, Toby, Polly, Inca and Flora started to navigate bag searches… way harder than searching the pipes!

The fabric holds scent in a way that plastic doesn’t, so the bag may be ‘contaminated’ with other scents.

The dogs have to sniff all over the bag to find where the kong is.

And they’re still learning to look for scent of OUR choice and they do at times find the scent that they find interesting… more interesting!!

All in all a fab 2nd week!!

19/06/2022

Taking vehicle searches to a new dimension!

The dogs had a go at searching the inside of my van, which brings with it a new level of complexity for the dogs.

Dogs already have associations with vehicles. For some dogs they are worrying, for other dogs they are exciting, for all of them a vehicle means “we are going somewhere“.

The shape of the van and the way the air moves through it from open windows means that we have to think through how scent might be moving through the van so we can support the dogs if they need it.

The van smells of me, it smells of my dogs, it smells of all the equipment that comes in and out of my van.

But despite all of that the dogs were fantastic!

It did take a moment to realise that they weren’t just heading off on a journey & some of them did find it a little difficult in areas, but all of them understood what was being asked of them and worked really hard.

It was a great evening well done everyone!

15/06/2022

Our newest recruits embarked on their scent work journey this week!

The big key to scent work, is building motivation to search for a scent of OUR choice, rather than the dog’s choice. And our classes are all about building motivation, working at the dogs pace and having fun!

Rafa, Toby, Flora, Polly & Inca all worked really hard working out what their handlers were asking of them & all of them had some lovely ’a-ha’ moments 💡 🥰

When we make it fun, give them lots of positive feedback & slowly build the difficulty of what we’re teaching them then working hard really isn’t ‘hard’ work!!

I can’t wait to watch them all progress over the coming weeks!

14/06/2022

Kong + secateurs can only mean 1 thing….

A new UK Sniffer Dog Scent Dectection Bronze class has started!!

Ness isn’t too convinced though…

20/05/2022

A couple of week ago we introduced Bryntin to catnip as a scent we’d like him to search for.

When introducing a dog to a new scent we need to first make sure that they don’t find that particular smell aversive in any way, and if they don’t we then aim to make the scent really salient to them.

We do this usually through association.

For example - smell odour, get given tasty sausage. Or by playing with toys that are ‘soaked’ in the odour.

When Bryntin’s Mum told me that he didn't like the feeling of fleece in his mouth (aka the toy we were encouraging him to play with) it was very likely that we’d be putting him OFF the smell of catnip - the exact opposite of what we were trying to achieve.

One of Bryntin’s favourite things is tennis balls, so we got him searching for 'catnip soaked’ tennis balls instead of fleece toys.

As he was searching we were discussing whether he was looking just for the ball (something he enjoys doing on his walks), or specifically for the catnip scent on the ball.

We weren’t sure, so his Mum played a game with him in the garden...

He knew!! 🐶💕