Scent detection is intended to promote positive relationships between dogs and handlers based on trust and respect. Scent detection encourages participation of ALL dogs purebred or mixed breed, pets or titled champions as well as physically-challenged dogs and/or handlers.
An activity accessible for all dogs to enjoy the challenge of locating a scent and accurately communicating the location of the scent to their handler. This activity uses the dog’s strongest natural sense to detect a hidden scent in all sorts of environments.
At the heart of scent detection, is the dog’s ability to learn how to distinguish particular odours and follow that scent to the source. The source may be within a container, interior of a building, or exterior, in the great outdoors. It is not simple, but challenges handlers and dogs in a partnership that improves trust and working autonomy of the canine partner. It builds the confidence of dogs to work on their own, and requires lots of concentration from the dogs.
Scent detection is designed so that dogs at all levels of training may participate. A beginner’s search will have one vessel containing the wintergreen scent in one of 5 containers. As the dogs gain skill, different scents are incorporated into the searches which will improve you and your dog’s performance levels and confidence. An expert level search can have an unknown number of scents hidden in multiple rooms. It’s up to the team to have confidence to determine that a team has been fully inspected and all hidden scents have been found.
Scent detection is offered by the CKC (Canadian Kennel Club) and SDDA (Sporting Detection Dogs Association).