Use your dog’s nosework skills to impress your audience by teaching them to “read.” This engaging trick can be applied in various scenarios, such as having your dog “find his present” or answer multiple-choice questions. You can even create a range of tricks using different props.
Even if you haven’t practiced nosework before, your dog can quickly learn this trick, as it relies on a single odor and your dog’s natural instincts.
Start with Signaling: Teach your dog to signal when you hide an odor (like wintergreen or any scent you’ve been working with) in a cup or another prop.
Introduce the Command: Cue your dog to”FIND number 4,” for example. The key word for your dog is”find,” as they will likely tune out the number part of the cue.
Mark the Success: When your dog signals correctly, mark their success with a “yes” and reward them with a treat to reinforce the behavior.
Introduce Numbered Props: Once your dog reliably signals with a single prop, set out numbered props, ensuring that only one contains the odor. Then ask your dog to “find” the one with the scent.
Tip: Annette achieved a distinct freeze from Ariel over the cup by waiting 3-5 seconds before rewarding her.
About Annette Kessler
Ariel is my 3rd Boxer. The first one was my daughter’s. She wanted a boxer, I said OK only if you are going to take obedience classes. Hence the Junior Kennel Club, I would sit and watch her train, and see that this could be fun.
When she went back east for College I continued with the training with a trainer. I enjoyed the journey of training seeing your dog working with you, passing different levels of obedience.
My second dog made all the way to Utility. My current dog Ariel completed Open, and now we are just doing Rally, and Scent Discrimination.
annette
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