Mustard & Pepper Summer 2024

hide is to get the Q. The more precisely, the better. There are lots of ways to practice this and everyone kind of finds what indication works for their dog. Having a Dandie Dinmont Terrier, I like the idea of a nose hold or nose point for an indicator. Some hides will eventually be high and/or unreachable. So, if the dog can point his nose like a camera lens, then I know we got it and he can get rewarded. Trial / Title Concepts and Scent Work Organization It’s good to know a little bit on how the different organizations work. As I said before, I would start out a dog with UKC or AKC. Like other titles you may be familiar with, UKC and AKC operate under collect the Qs and earn the title. For most of UKC it’s two Qs and for AKC is the usual three Qs. Difficulty levels are called “classes.” So, for AKC, those would be Novice, Advanced, Excellent, and Master. For each class, there is typically four environments, called “elements.” For AKC they are Container [boxes], Interior, Exterior, and Buried [in sand]. As you move up in classes the odor and/or configurations will change. UKC follows a similar pattern. The UKC classes are Novice, Advanced, Superior, Master, and Elite. The UKC Elements are Container, Interior, Exterior and Vehicles. Novice for BOTH UKC and AKC start with a single hide of birch odor. For advanced class, AKC will use TWO hides: birch and anise. UKC will still use ONE hide for Advanced class but it’s ANISE instead of birch. So that is why I said earlier, that I like AKC/UKC for starting out. Because while you are working on your technique, you still only have one hide at Advanced level of UKC. It’s just the odor that having a good tracking sheet for the organizations you are trialing in is critical. I have those if anyone wants them. Some of them I’ve developed myself. Don’t worry, while your dog may go under tables or chairs on an interior search; they actually are not allowed under the vehicles for that element search. NACSW is a little different than what many of us might be accustomed to. First you complete the Odor Recognition Test (ORT), which is a single search conducted in a highly controlled environment. You do this three times in one evening, consisting of a search for birch, anise and clove in containers. Loki and I found that not to be too difficult. And it helped me with my nerves. By choice, we did ORT before any other AKC/UKC trial. Your first NACSW class is NW1, which is four element searches conducted over the course of a day. The four elements are Containers, Exterior, Interior, and Vehicles. Unlike AKC/UKC, you Q in all four elements the same day to title. There are no Q ribbons for individual elements. United States Canine Scent Sports is kind of a hybrid between NACSW and AKC/UKC. They have their “Classic” titles, which like NACSW, you need to earn all four on the same day. However, unlike NACSW, you don’t lose what you earned. changes. Meanwhile, at AKC trials you can be working on the skills for multiple hides in Advanced class. Also, you can be at novice for some elements and advanced or higher for others simultaneously. So

If you don’t get all four elements, you can take those Qs that you did earn and build the Class Level Titles [by earning three Qs for each of the four elements: Interior, Exterior, Vehicle, and Containers]. You can still go back and try to earn the Classic title in a future trial, while also keeping any Q’s that you earn there as well. Training at Home Don’t just use any essential oils you come across. All odors should be 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential oils, consisting

of all necessary and approved odors. The target odors shall be Birch (Betula lenta), Anise (Pimpinella anisum), and Clove (Eugenia caryophyllata); to get you through the initial levels. They should be purchased from a scent work / nose work supplier. Two options are All Good Dogs or K9NWSource. [10] You have to handle odor with care, so as not to contaminate your search areas.

A dog’s nose works differently than ours. We walk into a house and smell a lasagna cooking. A dog walks in and smells beef, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, tomato, mozzarella, ricotta, all individually !

Especially, if you are using your home. Non powdered unscented gloves are quite useful. Also keep your “hot items” – those with odor – separated from your “cold items” – your blanks. Dispose of any odor in an outside trashcan, etc. Here are the odors that are used: • Anise – “Aniseed” aka Pimpinella Anisum • Birch – “Sweet Birch” aka Betula Lenta • Clove – “Clove Bud” aka Eugenia Caryphylatta or Syzgium Aromaticum • Myrrh – “Myrrh Indian” aka Commiphora Myrrha • Vetiver – “Vetiver” aka Vetiveria Zizanoides • Cypress – “Cypress” aka Cupressus Sempervirens Tips from My Trials I hope you enjoyed this brief overview of this amazing sport. Again, this article was written from based on the experiences that Loki and I have shared while being on this journey for the last year. I like to use the word “journey” because there are multiple

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