Scentwork Specialist Program – Dog Training College

Course Content

Module 1 - Program overview

Module overview

Module 2 - Introduction and Scents

Course introduction

What is scentwork?

Scentwork factors

Toxicity of scents

Task – Benefits of Scentwork

Module 3 - The Dog's Nose

Introduction to the nose

Outside of the dog’s nose

Inside of the dog’s nose

The dog’s nose and its brain

Task – The dog’s nose

Module 4 - Sniffing

The importance of sniffing

Juvenile and older dogs

Task – How Scentwork helps

Module 5 - Practical scentwork basics (passive search)

Task – Activating indications

Present the scent

Define the signal

The Four Ds with scent

Boundary training

Finding the scent

Walk away and find

Task – Searching for odours

Module 6 - Practical scentwork (Passive search)

Structured searches

Elevated searches – Part 1

Elevated searches – Part 2

People searches

Task – Vehicle search

Task – Line up search

Module 7 - Practical scentwork (Active search)

Build desire – Part 1

Build desire – Part 2

Task – Discrimination time

Hidden searches

Complex searches

Car searches (active)

Task – Let’s Active Search

Module 8 - Applications for common challenges

Treating reactivity

Fear and anxiety

Task – Behavioural challenges

Module 9 - Summary and close

Other sources of information

Scentwork Specialist Program | Assessment (30 Questions – Multiple Choice)