Sniffer Dogs - A Day In The Life of a Scent Dog

If you have ever watched any TV show or movie that has something to do with crime investigation or drug detection, then you have probably already seen how a scent dog does its job. These are specific dog training breeds that have a great talent!

The sniffing talent of these dogs is already quite impressive in itself, but the way they use it to track down criminals, find drug stashes and locate explosive devices is nothing short of astounding. Anyone who sees these scent dogs in action will certainly be amazed at their skills. What we don’t see, however, is the intensive training that these dogs have to go through in order to hone their sniffing skills.

Finding the Best Scent Dogs

Compared to humans, dogs have a very remarkable sense of smell. But not all dogs are equally qualified to become working scent dogs. These special canines are selected from many different breeds but most of the best candidates are Labrador retrievers and German shepherds.

Training scent dogs is no easy feat. The first stage is to scout for dogs with great potential and adopt them in preparation for the training process.

What most of the candidates have in common is that they are highly energetic, usually too much so for their previous owners who willingly give them up for adoption. Quite interestingly, many of these dogs who have been given up by their owners end up doing great service for human society.

Many dog training agencies also get their scent dogs from private breeders and dog shelters. However, not all initially chosen dogs have what it takes to become a full-fledged professional sniffer.

Green Training

A new method of training scent dogs is called green training. In this method, instructors teach dogs to identify certain scents but without the rigorous procedures used in traditional dog training centers. In other words, they still lack a significant amount of training before they can be regarded as “finished” dogs.

What many training agencies today do is to get green-trained dogs and simply finish the training process. This is certainly a much more efficient method than training an uneducated dog right from the beginning.

Breeding Scent Dogs

To make the process of finding scent dogs much easier, many dog training agencies today work closely with dog breeders in order to increase the likelihood of getting dogs that already have the right temperament, soundness and work ethic.

An excellent example is the Australian Custom Service Detector Dog Program, which has developed its own Labrador retriver breeding program. The dogs bred in this program all have high energy levels, as well as strong drives for hunting, which are necessary qualities to make a top scent dog.

Dog Agility Training and A Few Points To Remember

Dealing with dog agility training is essential if you are someone who is planning to put your dog in a competition and you want them to place high in the contest. There are some important things that you are going to need to take care of when it comes to your dog training and there are a few points to remember.

Training the Dog For Agility

For dog agility training, of course the first step is going to be to get the equipment you need in order to correctly train your dog. There are the dog agility sets which you are going to need, and these help the dogs learn how to gain strength and balance and there are a lot of these different sets available for you to choose from.

Jump Rings Are Dog Show Favorites

Keep in mind that you may need to buy certain pieces extra, such as a jump ring which is going to make the dog jump off the ground and through the ring. When you ever watch dog shows, you will see that this is one of the crowd favorites. So you are definitely going to want to make sure that you do a lot of work with the jump ring and have the dog learn how to make it through without touching the sides.

Another thing that you will need to do if are training your dog with dog agility is make sure that you always have treats on hand. These are what many dog trainers use as rewards for their dog so that every time they are good, they give the dog a treat. Naturally, this is going to show them that when they do something right, they get a reward.

Teaching dog agility is something that requires a great deal of patience. If you find that you are just not able to bring this to the table, that you get too frustrated and cannot handle it, then you can always hire a professional dog trainer to come and do this job for you. It takes patience and consistent training. If you don’t think you can, but want to go the dog shows, this is always an option for you.

Dog agility training is a task that must be encountered before you are going to be able to enter your dog in any dog competition and expect to place. Your dog needs to learn to listen to you and respond to your commands. Begin with easy dog obedience training first and ensure your dog is well behaved and listens to you, before you even try to teach the next step of agility training.

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