How to Train Your Dog for Scent Detection

Dog owners may want to train their dog to detect scents to prepare the dog to act as a search-and-rescue dog, to help law enforcement officials detect illegal substances, or to work as a hunting dog. Most dogs detect scents naturally but need guidance in performing a scent-detecting task at the time and in the manner that its owner needs. Professional dog trainers have developed exercises which, if practiced with the dog repeatedly, will train a dog to direct its instinctive scent ability to detect scents in a controlled and useful manner.

Things You'll Need

  • Hot dogs
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Instructions

    • 1

      Decide on a command word that the owner will always use when commanding the dog to track a scent. "Find" or "Get it" are two such possible command words.

    • 2

      Direct the dog to sit or lie quietly.

    • 3

      Create a scent pad by stamping around a grassy area (approximately 1 square foot in diameter) to leave a personal scent. Use the owner/trainer's foot to insert pieces of hot dogs into the scent pad, mashing them around the scent pad. This scent pad serves as a starting point for the scent trail exercise.

    • 4

      Create a scent trail. Begin at the scent pad and create a trail. Drop and mash hot dog pieces along the trail, dropping and mashing the hot dog pieces approximately every 6 to 10 feet along the trail. Leave the last piece of hot dog on top of a clothing item belonging to the owner.

    • 5

      As the dog arrives and begins to nose around the scent pad, looking for the treats, encourage it to follow the trail, which has the double scent of the hot dogs and the owner/trainer. Use the chosen command word so that the dog associates the command word with the action of tracking a scent.

    • 6

      Progress by dropping the treats further and further from the scent pad, step by step. The dog should learn to follow the trail from treat to treat, following the double scent of the hot dogs and the owner/trainer. Each time the dog finds the next treat, pat and praise him. Always begin each exercise with the command word.

    • 7

      Repeat the exercise three or four times during each training session. Break up the sessions, and don't train so frequently that the dog becomes bored or frustrated.

    • 8

      Repeat the exercise several times daily, continually increasing the gaps between the treats as the dog learns to follow the trail by scent after receiving the command. Expand the exercise by dropping objects along the trail but placing the hot dog treat only on the object the dog needs to "find."

    • 9

      Create circle trails, trails with curves, and trails that pass over varied surfaces. Start reducing the amount of treats to the point that the dog receives the command at the beginning of the trail and the treat at the end of the trail when he discovers the object with the final treat.