Introducing Scent Discrimination: Handler Odor

Scent Discrimination involves two skills. First the dog must learn to recognize the desired odor, then he must communicate that he has found the odor. This is called offering an alert.

Traditionally, when teaching Scent Discrimination, two methods are predominantly used.

• Food on the correct article- this method creates difficulties because many dogs think the odor they are looking for is food.
• Articles tied to a Board- although the dog is using his nose to find the loose article, confusion can start later because all the articles are loose.

Both systems introduce the “alert,” that is, picking up the article on the first day. Many dogs connect the reward received with retrieving, not finding odor.

In the video, my puppy, Gabe, is introduced to my odor as the target odor. I have included his first five lessons. Notice that I am concentrating on teaching him to recognize my odor, and to ignore distractions and controls. Much later, I will teach him that he must retrieve the scented article.