For the past few weeks I have been taking 7 month old Red to Fun Scentwork classes. We sometimes do some targeted work (which is fun) but today it was solely Scentwork. There are two other older dogs there with their owners. This field has rabbit poo all over it and Red is obsessed with it. Last week and today, her desire to eat the rabbit poo just totally overwhelmed her and I felt I was just pulling her away from it and making her do what she was supposed to be doing. Certainly not fun for me (feel exhausted) and question for her. Not sure whether we should continue. I did ask the trainer if she would grow out of this habit but his answer was vague. Am I just giving her a situation she can self reward in for an hour?
I think a field full of distracting scent and rabbit droppings might not be the right environment if you are just starting with an activity and your dog hasn't developed enough love for the game yet. Could you ask the trainer if he has got anywhere less distracting to train?
His aim is to go to a large indoor room in the Garden Centre over the road but I don't know when that will be. Thank you for your reply @heidrun - it's what I was thinking. I have messaged the trainer expressing my concerns and will see what his response is.
Is there anywhere near you that starts off in a building to get them used to I Think? I've done a few scentwork sessions and they have all been in community buildings so no interesting scents. I found this helped excite her for the activity before we started doing some outside.
All the Scentwork trainers I know start in a hall of some description with only one dog in the room working at a time. It takes lots of experience for both handler and dog to be able to work outside.
