Wonderful, what a clever girl. How did you get Amy to know, that you wanted her to find a pebble with your scent on? Did you put the pebble in your house first??
Wow that's impressive Heidrun. Very tempted to try something like scentwork with Casper, he does love scent, so I am hoping he will find this a satisfying and stimulating game . Not sure about using catnip....Casper would have some very stiff competition with Remy around!
All my dogs are used to the scent of me on dummies. That is the only thing distinguishing that particular pebble from all the other pebbles, it has my scent on it. She didn't know she was looking for a pebble just something with a scent she recognised. The 'lost there' cue from me is her information that she is searching in the right spot. I use that verbal cue or the hunt whistle all the time when we are out retrieving.
Love that!! Thanks for posting, Helen, Amy is fabulous!! It is amazing the noses our dogs have for sure. I will definitely try this with Simba. As I said the book I have is more about finding objects than distinguishing scents although it's all about finding the object by their scent, as Amy did here. Basically MY scent, I suppose.
YES, that was amazing, Charlie had a ball Over the last few days I have had a small toy in a container of dried tripesticks because they really do pong and Charlie loves them. I let Charlie see where I put the toy for the first go then I got him to sit/stay out of sight whilst I hid it in the yard under some leaves, he had no trouble at all and I could hear his nose going the whole time. When he was in the right area I asked him to "find it" and he listened and looked at me I made it a little harder to find and he got it every time, he looked so chuffed with himself I can definitely continue with this making it harder for him over the weeks and maybe even being able to hide it in our garden. It was such fun for him. I knew that Pointer nose would come in handy some day x
@JulieT thanks for this thread, I'm absolutely fascinated by the whole idea. I have always played a lot of "find it" games with Mabel but they have always involved food. I have also noticed how she will search out certain toys to play. She has that many Im surprised she can ever find anything. Charlie as always is a star.
Did you let him sniff it first Helen or does he get the idea from the first find? I know Dexter would love this as 'find it' is one of his favourite games. I was going to read back through all the posts but being lazy now, lol.
No I didn't let him sniff the toy first I just hid it and he got it no problem The only thing I'm not sure of because I can't view Julie's videos, is should I treat him for returning the toy which he did to hand too or should the next find be the reward? I did so too late x
I use the hunt whistle for Dexter to search for his ball in a particular area, I'd never put the link to what scent or scents must be on his ball ie mine and his I just thought in my non general mind that he must know what his ball smells like. I'm learning so much and my 'proofing' is coming along probably slower than Dexter's but I'm getting there
She is my foster dog! But I would really, really like to keep her. OH is not so keen on the idea of a fifth spaniel. Amy is Obi Clumber's sister!
I can't view it either but I suppose you can reward with whatever you like. Search dogs get their reward toy of choice so I'd probably do a ball throw or the like for Dexter or food. I could also be wrong on this
Cath, I was going to ask... does anybody try to do this with two dogs? Anna appears to have a better 'nose' but I'm sure most labs would love this kind of work, even if it was at a beginner's level to have some fun. One of the things I find hard with two is that, being sisters and still fairly newly-adopted (coming up 3 months) they don't much like being separated, and they do alot together.
I do it with Fred and Annie together. They love it. I put them in the kitchen and then go and hide the toy or square. I then let both dogs in and they go looking for it. Sometimes Fred finds it first and other times Annie find it first. I am gong to try this out doors in the garden next and see what happens. I only do it for fun. Something different for my two to do.
I do training with Hattie & Charlie together, I just sit one up to wait and send the other for a retrieve/find it or whatever I am doing. We also do Agility for fun in our garden and we again just have one dog sit/wait for their turn which is good for them and shows control. Haven't tried with this game yet though, but I will. x
