I don't think I mentioned this workshop... I attended one about a week ago.

Interesting stuff. I bought some cheapo makeshift scent articles and a pair of
tongs to practice with Madigan. I'm not interested in competition, but it is
way cool to watch an untrained nose in action doing what comes naturally.

We were taught to put treats on the articles at first, then under them, then
without treats. Madigan was going after the right article without a treat
after 4 trials.

But what was really interesting was the second time we worked with it. We used
the same set of articles, but scented a different one. Even using treats on
the hot scented article, Madigan kept going to the *original* cold scented
article, and looking at me like, "Mom, you KNOW this is the right one!"

And here I thought I damaged her nose with all the cigarette smoke. :}

What was also fun to watch is that nobody had to give any kind of command to
send their dogs to the pile. Instead, we all had our dogs in a stay while we
set the articles up, and then we released the dogs. They would run straight to
that pile every time.

Anybody have experience competing with scent articles?

Canine Action Dog Trainer
http://www.canineaction.com
My Kids, My Students, My Life:
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html

Leah -OFF wrote:
I don't think I mentioned this workshop... I attended one about a week ago.

Great! Articles are my very favorite obedience exercise.

But what was really interesting was the second time we worked with it. We used
the same set of articles, but scented a different one. Even using treats on
the hot scented article, Madigan kept going to the *original* cold scented
article, and looking at me like, "Mom, you KNOW this is the right one!"

OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog. I won't even store a scented article with
the others for a few days. Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada); the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles a smaller one
is easy-peasy for them.

Second, here's a warning regarding hot vs. cold scent that
I learned from my late, great, beloved first obedience dog.
It took me months to figure this one out *sigh* and none
of the experienced people helping me realized what was going
on either. K.C. seemed to pick up on the scenting easily
enough and had a well-proofed retrieve - but then we got
into a pattern where he'd run out to the pile, sniff a few
articles and INEVITABLY take an unscented one. Even using
just two he'd take the wrong one - that's what finally clued
me in. It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

Have fun. Oh, and BTW - this is a great rainy-day exercise
too.

Dianne

Leah -OFF wrote:
I don't think I mentioned this workshop... I attended one about a week ago.

Great! Articles are my very favorite obedience exercise.

But what was really interesting was the second time we worked with it. We used
the same set of articles, but scented a different one. Even using treats on
the hot scented article, Madigan kept going to the *original* cold scented
article, and looking at me like, "Mom, you KNOW this is the right one!"

OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog. I won't even store a scented article with
the others for a few days. Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada); the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles a smaller one
is easy-peasy for them.

Second, here's a warning regarding hot vs. cold scent that
I learned from my late, great, beloved first obedience dog.
It took me months to figure this one out *sigh* and none
of the experienced people helping me realized what was going
on either. K.C. seemed to pick up on the scenting easily
enough and had a well-proofed retrieve - but then we got
into a pattern where he'd run out to the pile, sniff a few
articles and INEVITABLY take an unscented one. Even using
just two he'd take the wrong one - that's what finally clued
me in. It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

Have fun. Oh, and BTW - this is a great rainy-day exercise
too.

Dianne

Leah -OFF wrote:
I don't think I mentioned this workshop... I attended one about a week ago.

Great! Articles are my very favorite obedience exercise.

But what was really interesting was the second time we worked with it. We used
the same set of articles, but scented a different one. Even using treats on
the hot scented article, Madigan kept going to the *original* cold scented
article, and looking at me like, "Mom, you KNOW this is the right one!"

OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog. I won't even store a scented article with
the others for a few days. Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada); the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles a smaller one
is easy-peasy for them.

Second, here's a warning regarding hot vs. cold scent that
I learned from my late, great, beloved first obedience dog.
It took me months to figure this one out *sigh* and none
of the experienced people helping me realized what was going
on either. K.C. seemed to pick up on the scenting easily
enough and had a well-proofed retrieve - but then we got
into a pattern where he'd run out to the pile, sniff a few
articles and INEVITABLY take an unscented one. Even using
just two he'd take the wrong one - that's what finally clued
me in. It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

Have fun. Oh, and BTW - this is a great rainy-day exercise
too.

Dianne

Leah -OFF wrote:
I don't think I mentioned this workshop... I attended one about a week ago.

Great! Articles are my very favorite obedience exercise.

But what was really interesting was the second time we worked with it. We used
the same set of articles, but scented a different one. Even using treats on
the hot scented article, Madigan kept going to the *original* cold scented
article, and looking at me like, "Mom, you KNOW this is the right one!"

OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog. I won't even store a scented article with
the others for a few days. Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada); the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles a smaller one
is easy-peasy for them.

Second, here's a warning regarding hot vs. cold scent that
I learned from my late, great, beloved first obedience dog.
It took me months to figure this one out *sigh* and none
of the experienced people helping me realized what was going
on either. K.C. seemed to pick up on the scenting easily
enough and had a well-proofed retrieve - but then we got
into a pattern where he'd run out to the pile, sniff a few
articles and INEVITABLY take an unscented one. Even using
just two he'd take the wrong one - that's what finally clued
me in. It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

Have fun. Oh, and BTW - this is a great rainy-day exercise
too.

Dianne

Leah -OFF wrote:
I don't think I mentioned this workshop... I attended one about a week ago.

Great! Articles are my very favorite obedience exercise.

But what was really interesting was the second time we worked with it. We used
the same set of articles, but scented a different one. Even using treats on
the hot scented article, Madigan kept going to the *original* cold scented
article, and looking at me like, "Mom, you KNOW this is the right one!"

OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog. I won't even store a scented article with
the others for a few days. Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada); the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles a smaller one
is easy-peasy for them.

Second, here's a warning regarding hot vs. cold scent that
I learned from my late, great, beloved first obedience dog.
It took me months to figure this one out *sigh* and none
of the experienced people helping me realized what was going
on either. K.C. seemed to pick up on the scenting easily
enough and had a well-proofed retrieve - but then we got
into a pattern where he'd run out to the pile, sniff a few
articles and INEVITABLY take an unscented one. Even using
just two he'd take the wrong one - that's what finally clued
me in. It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

Have fun. Oh, and BTW - this is a great rainy-day exercise
too.

Dianne

(diannes) wrote:
OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog.

Yes, and the instructor told us that working with hot and cold scented articles
is far beyond dogs who have just been introduced to scent work anyway. We did
it simply for demonstration purposes.

Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada)

We were told that traditionally you use metal and leather objects, but could
practice with wood and plastic.

the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles

Wow! I don't think our instructor ever mentioned working with that many.
That must be something to see!

It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

I don't think it was any kind of preference with Madigan. She just recognized
the article that was originally the "correct" one, and couldn't get her head
around the fact that there was now a new *correct* one.

Border collies think too much. :}

Our instructor cautioned us against rubbing the articles. She said if we rub,
we're scattering scent all over the place, and can contaminate the articles we
place the scented one near. She had us just hold them in the center of the
article, leaving the edges clean of scent.

Sounds like scent work could be addicting. :}

Canine Action Dog Trainer
http://www.canineaction.com
My Kids, My Students, My Life:
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html

(diannes) wrote:
OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog.

Yes, and the instructor told us that working with hot and cold scented articles
is far beyond dogs who have just been introduced to scent work anyway. We did
it simply for demonstration purposes.

Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada)

We were told that traditionally you use metal and leather objects, but could
practice with wood and plastic.

the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles

Wow! I don't think our instructor ever mentioned working with that many.
That must be something to see!

It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

I don't think it was any kind of preference with Madigan. She just recognized
the article that was originally the "correct" one, and couldn't get her head
around the fact that there was now a new *correct* one.

Border collies think too much. :}

Our instructor cautioned us against rubbing the articles. She said if we rub,
we're scattering scent all over the place, and can contaminate the articles we
place the scented one near. She had us just hold them in the center of the
article, leaving the edges clean of scent.

Sounds like scent work could be addicting. :}

Canine Action Dog Trainer
http://www.canineaction.com
My Kids, My Students, My Life:
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html

(diannes) wrote:
OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog.

Yes, and the instructor told us that working with hot and cold scented articles
is far beyond dogs who have just been introduced to scent work anyway. We did
it simply for demonstration purposes.

Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada)

We were told that traditionally you use metal and leather objects, but could
practice with wood and plastic.

the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles

Wow! I don't think our instructor ever mentioned working with that many.
That must be something to see!

It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

I don't think it was any kind of preference with Madigan. She just recognized
the article that was originally the "correct" one, and couldn't get her head
around the fact that there was now a new *correct* one.

Border collies think too much. :}

Our instructor cautioned us against rubbing the articles. She said if we rub,
we're scattering scent all over the place, and can contaminate the articles we
place the scented one near. She had us just hold them in the center of the
article, leaving the edges clean of scent.

Sounds like scent work could be addicting. :}

Canine Action Dog Trainer
http://www.canineaction.com
My Kids, My Students, My Life:
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html

(diannes) wrote:
OK, a couple of comments here. I don't know who gave this
workshop, but they SHOULD have known better than to reuse
a scented article on the same day. It takes several days for
the scent to wear off, and you definitely don't want to
confuse the dog.

Yes, and the instructor told us that working with hot and cold scented articles
is far beyond dogs who have just been introduced to scent work anyway. We did
it simply for demonstration purposes.

Partially because of this I've
got several sets of articles (including wooden ones, which
are used in Canada)

We were told that traditionally you use metal and leather objects, but could
practice with wood and plastic.

the other reason is that when a dog
is used to working a pile of 30-40 articles

Wow! I don't think our instructor ever mentioned working with that many.
That must be something to see!

It turned out that he *hated* having an article with
hot scent on it in his mouth, and that was how I'd been
taught to do it. I went to just a light touch on the article,
nothing more, and he was brilliant from that point on. Dunno
if that was what was going with Madigan, but do keep an eye
out and see which she seems to prefer.

I don't think it was any kind of preference with Madigan. She just recognized
the article that was originally the "correct" one, and couldn't get her head
around the fact that there was now a new *correct* one.

Border collies think too much. :}

Our instructor cautioned us against rubbing the articles. She said if we rub,
we're scattering scent all over the place, and can contaminate the articles we
place the scented one near. She had us just hold them in the center of the
article, leaving the edges clean of scent.

Sounds like scent work could be addicting. :}

Canine Action Dog Trainer
http://www.canineaction.com
My Kids, My Students, My Life:
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html