Course Details
You have the basics. Your dog is on target odor and can search straightforward hides across all the elements. Now it's time to work on some of those advanced skills!
Starting advanced skills early is critical. Spending too long at one stage can affect future success. We can avoid having to change expectations later when areas can be blank or hides are inaccessible. Dogs also enjoy problem solving and can thrive off of new challenges.
This is the third skills level course in our nose/scent work program and will build on the skills acquired in the previous two skills classes. Teams are seeing progress at this stage - dogs really are clear on their tasks and are ready to expand their skills with some complexity. We will also work on handling, building confidence and trusting our dog to lead us to source. The class will cover skills such as:
- inaccessibles
- multiple hides
- blank search areas
- non-box containers
- thresholds and corners
- crack and ground hides
- building search stamina
- advanced vehicle searches
- how to effectively search an area,
- problem solving individual team skills
- how to set up and work through distractions
- how to evaluate search area challenges/approach
- environmental considerations around airflow and weather conditions
Our techniques also apply to all trialing organizations. Nose Work is Scent Work and Scent Work is Nose Work! Our goal is always to increase the challenge in increments that the dog can handle and successfully overcome!! This class is open to any dog who is currently searching for target odors (essential oils).
Teaching Approach
This class offers extensive written lectures, no verbal lectures, and videos of varying lengths. It is rare that relevant speaking takes place within a video; they are designed to be watched and follow the ideas presented in the lecture. Lecture videos may run from 1 to 4 minutes long, with the average between 1-2 minutes. The lectures are designed to help a student understand the purpose of the exercise and how it might vary by dog. Care is taken to keep lectures short, however on occasion some run a bit long. Lectures for each week are rolled out the night before each week so you can plan your training week. Pre-lectures are available before the class starts. Homework posting guidelines will allow 6 minutes of video per week unless otherwise stated. This class will work best for students who learn by reading text lectures, watching videos and who like having structured lesson plans.
This class will have a Teaching Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook discussion group to help the bronze and silver students! Directions for joining will be in the classroom after you register.
Here's a fun class compilation!
Instructor: Julie SymonsJulie Symons (she/her) has been involved in dog sports for over 30 years. Starting with her mix, Dreyfus, in flyball, she went on to train and compete in conformation, agility, obedience, herding and tracking with her first Belgian tervuren, Rival. Rival was the first CH OTCH MACH Belgian...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)
