Articles From the Ground Up

This class will lay out a plan for teaching scent articles.  Step-by-step, it will guide those who have not yet begun training and for those stuck on how to progress.

We will discuss using a food based method to kick start the dogs' learning that it is a scent based activity and how to quickly fade the food as a prompt.  Common problems in teaching articles will be discussed, from freezing over the pile to grabbing the first one they come across.  If your dog has already started scent articles using a different method, we can discuss a plan for getting you back on track with the method you're currently using (IF I am familiar with it), or will start fresh with this method. (Note the lectures will discuss a food association method of teaching articles)

While a retrieve will eventually be needed for the full scent article exercise, it is not necessary to begin this class.  Those dogs without a retrieve and dogs who tend toward grabbing behaviors will be taught to indicate their choice with a sustained nose touch to a flat metal/wood/leather item.  In fact, most dogs I strongly recommend training with a flat article so we can separate out the act of scenting from the act of retrieving.

The full progression to scent article training from step 1 to the full formal exercise with a retrieve will be discussed in the lectures.