Its just what you want to do Helen. Julie has posted steps, I haven't read them yet, but I am sure they will cover what you need to do better than me, Just going to read them myself now
I have read them too, very helpful It's a bit hot here today so I just tried a couple of finds with Charlie with the toy in a cardboard box, no problem and he didn't rip the box - bonus!
As the weather is pretty awful here today I have been doing some inside scent work with Charlie. This time I put a tiny piece of liver treat inside a drawstring bag hid it in lots of difficult locations and he found it everytime, bringing the bag to me to receive his treat and looking mighty proud . I love it that he watches me, as I have moved on a little to a "find it" cue when he is the vicinity x
Glad you are enjoying it, Helen. You could try having someone else hide the bag now, so neither of you know where it is, and you go search together (you don't need to do that, of course, you can play whatever game with this that suits you and your dog - but if you really want it to get complicated later Charlie needs to search the area you tell him).
What a good idea, this will strengthen my training skills and Charlie's, the boys are home so I will enlist some help! Thanks Julie
I still haven't got around to doing this. Bad doggy mum! I'm taking my scent jar with me this weekend. The toys have been in there for weeks, they should be really good and smelly by now!
@JulieT - when they say wash the toy, is that supposed to be after each and every search, or after a session? So, I'd play with the catnip-infused toy to associate the scent with fun - am I then supposed to use a fresh toy for doing the "search"? Then change toy again for the next one? I'm thinking the early stages are such tiny steps that it would be a bit mental to have to wash it after each go. I'm not going to be able to do it when I'm away, anyway, so I guess I'll just go ahead and use the same two toys for the whole session. It surely can't do any damage at this stage?
I put my toy in a plastic box filled with smelly tripe sticks, oh lord it stinks but I haven't been washing my toy, should I?
The Talking Dogs stuff says it should be washed after each use to remove the scent of you, the dog etc... but I can't remember (or remember if it stated) whether that meant after each "go" or each session.
Strictly, the instructions are to wash it after every go or rather have enough toys for you session then bung the lot in the washing machine or a bucket of boiling water - that's just not practical. Or necessary. If you were really training a drug detection dog, I'm sure you would go to some lengths to make sure the dog 'got' the single scent of heroin or whatever. But we're not, we're just playing. We aren't even doing passive indications etc. so it's just a game. At the workshop we reused the toys because anything else wouldn't have been practical.
Phew! double excellent news, I have been training this for weeks and weeks without washing the toy Thanks Julie
If you want to progress through the levels, then the dog has to pick the scented toy out from lots of different things (including other toys) and from big spaces like trains, museums, etc. (that'll be a big fail for Charlie, who will bring back the first item he finds...) and definitely the toy won't have your scent on it. But so long as your dog gets the idea, then it should be fine. Some people do have difficulty getting dogs to pick up strange dummies though, presumably because they smell different from those used at home. But, well, it's just a game - depends on how much trouble you want to go to, really. I think there is a bit of rigmarole around the scent and toys etc to big up the process. That's fine, of course - adds to the game a bit really.
It will be fun to see if my Charlie can pick out the scented toy from other things but I guess I shouldn't do that just yet Shame no available trains or museums in rural Hampshire I could use my car though?
If he's reliably picking it up, I don't see why you couldn't start - just start with a pile of really boring things that he has no interest in picking up and gradually up the value?
No reason why you shouldn't do it, at the first workshop we had cones, boxes, buckets etc. out. If you've done all that, adding paper, bags and other items is the next step.
Fred and Annie have been doing lots of scent work because of the weather. They are really enjoying it. I don't wash the things I use. I just keep them in a plastic box like Helen
Again, I know we're doing this for fun so shouldn't worry about the details, but just repeating what the book and video says, you shouldn't use plastic boxes because they leach the smell so everything in the cupboard will start smelling of your scent. So using a glass or metal tin is better. Like I said, I doubt it makes much difference in anything we'd be doing, but if you keep your plastic box in a cupboard and your dog starts "finding" other stuff that's been in that cupboard, that'll be why
