Bec Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 Wasn't sure where to post this but just wanted to share it with all of you. I am pretty chuffed with it! I decided to train my youngest dog to do the scent discrimination exercise this week. This is an exercise required at the highest level of obedience competition (UD) - I don't know if we will ever compete at that level but it is fun to teach some of the more advanced exercises! The basic premise of the exercise is that the dog learns to retrieve an object that has your scent on it. You have identical pieces of metal, wood and leather (they are number so you can tell them apart) and you lay all but one of each out on the ground with a pair of tongs. You hold one in your hand to scent it, then it is placed amongst the pile and the dog has to retrieve the one that has your scent on it. I started training Daisy to do it this past week and she picked it up in a matter of days. I was really pleased so I thought I'd share this video with you all. Here she is with a full set of metal and wood pieces on the ground (I haven't trained leather yet). I alternate between placing a piece of scented metal and a piece of scented wood on the ground and asking her to retrieve it. joVEZVF14-s The best thing about this exercise is that ANYONE can train it, any dog is capable of doing it including Sibes! It's really fun to teach and is not as difficult as you may think. Anyone who is keen to give it a go, let me know and I will share the article that outlines the method I used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 wow thats rly cool - how clever is Daisy nice 1 Bec Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 wow - now that is impressive! My boys wont even play fetch let alone anything else (moved thread to training section) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bec Posted April 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 wow - now that is impressive! My boys wont even play fetch let alone anything else (moved thread to training section) Training Daisy to pick up objects was really hard! We started training the formal retrieve (using the standard wooden dumbell) and it took me a couple of days to get her to pick it up and hand it to me. But, once she realised that picking up the dumbell = getting a treat she worked it out really quickly and now she does a very enthusiastic formal retrieve. It was also a challenge initially to get her to pick up the metal article. She hated the feel of the metal in her mouth and even though she knows the 'take' command from when I trained the dumbell she was not keen on picking up the metal at all. So I spent a couple of days training her just to pick up one metal article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 i would think that they don't like the feel of it in their mouth? do you HAVE to use these materieals or can you custom it to your own so say use plastic instead of metal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunc Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 Thats cool Bec's well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bec Posted April 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 i would think that they don't like the feel of it in their mouth? do you HAVE to use these materieals or can you custom it to your own so say use plastic instead of metal? Yes, you have to use those materials. A full set of scent discrimination articles includes five pieces of wood, fives pieces of metal and five pieces of leather. A typical set looks like this (actually mine is exactly like this): http://trialozdogs.w...crimination.jpg If you were training just for fun though you could realistically use anything With the formal retrieve, dumbells can be plastic or wooden. Daisy wasn't keen on the dumbell or the metal articles to start with but it literally took me a day or two before she got excited at the sight of them and she loves them now because she knows that retrieving them is very rewarding! ETA: Thanks Dunc! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 Thats great well done Bec and Daisy, lol mine like sarah wont even fetch lol xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazz Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 I am impressed. You do such amazing things with your dogs Bec. In fact, you make it look so incredibly easy, and I'm sure it is not. Great vid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bec Posted April 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 Awww thanks Mazz, what a lovely compliment This is the method I used to train it: http://dogscouts.org/Dog_Activ-_Scent_Discrim.html#Scent_Articles Although I don't use a clicker (I have a marker word) and I didn't follow it exactly - I used it as a guide to get started and then worked at my dog's speed. Daisy picked it up very quickly, being a scent hound she enjoys using her nose for things, so I progressed a bit faster than the article stipulated and had my articles quite close together early on. It's not actually that difficult to train! Anyone can do it, and any dog can do it, as they are all born with the instinct to scent. I would love to see some Sibe owners here getting into it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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