Following on from yesterday’s post and Jaxon’s Trail Hunt International achievement test. Here’s a little snippet of how close he did actually get to ‘the person on the trail’ Debbie Honychurch He’d initially come off the trail to avoid her but then realised he was out of odour and decided he needed to walk passed her again to relocate it. Dogs are so darn awesome when given the time to make choices and taught correctly. 💛
The gorgeous Dante joined us for his 2nd 1-2-1 session of UK Sniffer Dogs bronze level scent detection this week. Unfortunately he suffers with a few mobility difficulties, so this session we trained indoors where it was a little warmer (nicer for us too!) and we placed down some mats to help cushion the impact standing still on the hard ground might have on him. Both Dante and caregiver Sky were very grateful. It’s lovely to be able to offer dogs who struggle physically, an activity they can not only still take part in but succeed in as well 🧡 Great job Team Dante ❣️
When Mr J is following a Trail Hunt International odour trail for the first time in the snow beautifully…and then gets somewhat distracted by a puddle 💦 🫣🤭 Note to self…avoid the big splashy puddles if you want him to get to the end quicker (which he did…eventually!) Oh well, every day is a learning day 🙄😬
We ran a few Trail Hunt International free trails on grass with Jaxon yesterday, before we then went and laid a harder odour trail on hard surface (finishing with the pod high up) Free trailing allows the dog to work the odour pattern independently, without interference from the longline and handler. This enables us to watch their body language and see when they’re in or out of odour. Although he does cut the diagonal legs short, he follows the odour trail beautifully. You can clearly see when he’s out of odour his sharp little spin/turn as he hits it again. Lovely to watch. Photo is of him finding the pod off the ground on a vehicle at the end of a hard surface trail.
We had a great day yesterday, practicing some Trail Hunt International foundation plus exercises. It’s important that the dogs are following the odour trail and not the human that laid it, so we run certain exercises to make sure they understand just that. Here, both Super Sassy Piper and Pocket Rocket Dora demonstrate perfectly how it’s done! Just look at those body turns 💛 Not only do the dogs have a great time being mentally stimulated but us humans have a laugh whilst we’re at it too!!Awesome job guys 🙌👏🏼
Trigger is also making progress on our UK Sniffer Dogs bronze scent detection course. He can find things a little distracting but week2 he’s managed to be more focused. I think he’s realising odour = reward 🥰 Super job Trigger and Natasha 👏🏼
This little lady is absolutely smashing her UK Sniffer Dogs bronze level scent detection session. Only on week2 and already able to perform an amazing search…and so calmly! Millie isn’t even 7 months old yet, so we’re super excited about the sniffing journey ahead of her. Awesome job Millie and David 👏🏼
Ronnie demonstrates beautifully how a car search should be done, in week4 of our UK Sniffer Dogs course. Amazing sniffing by superstar Ronnie and superb handling by Sarah 👏🏼 #uksnifferdogs #ScentDetection #CarSearch #DogScentSport #TheNoseKnows
Our second Trail Hunt International success story on their multi surface odour trail session was our little sassy pants Piper. Even when she was intercepted by an off lead dog she still managed to complete the trail to find the pod (removed from video due to privacy of dog’s owner and child) Well done 👏🏼
In our Trail Hunt International trailing session this weekend, we concentrated on multi surface odour trails. This was the last of 3 trails we ran and was 180m in length. Dora absolutely smashed it (even when her handler Mandi thought it went the other way 😝) #TrustTheDog #TheNoseKnows #Odour #Trails #OdourTrails #DogScentSport
Super sassy Piper was out strutting her stuff on her Trail Hunt International odour trail today. Her furthest trail of over 100m and she nailed it. 💥 Super handling by mum Sarah too 👏🏼 Go Team Piper 🙌 #trailhuntinternational #Trail #Odour #Schnauzer #Woods
We had an absolute blast on our first Puppy Introduction to Scent Work at the weekend.
Gorgeous pups; 4 month old Maude and 5 month old Millie experienced a little bit of ‘tracking’ and then got to grips with exploring random items to locate some tasty treats…engaging that awesome nose! Both these fun games build confidence whilst enhancing the bond with their caregiver. Both puppies were super engaged and looked like they were having a blast.
Looking forward to next week for more fun ‘scent work’ games.
