We all want an amazing Nosework / Scent Work dog, right? In this episode we will talk about Odor Hygiene and what we need to do in order to maintain our own training and to ensure that we are being good Nosework Citizens. Learn about residual odor and how to minimize it so that it doesn’t sabotage your odor obedience!
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1-should a different tweezer/hemostat be used for each odor
2-I was under the impression that the fourth odor to train for was putting multiple different scents together- false?
3-your preference for adhesives, Earthquake putty ??
4-I use heat shrink tubes for containers- good or bad??
Thanks
Dail Longaker
Hi Dail!
1 – if you are talking used hides, you should be fine with the same hemostats.
2 – 4th odor? Well, I don’t know about that but I do train combos in addition to straight up single odors
3 – Quake Hold (an earthquake putty)
4 – Heat shrink works great! Keep in mind that ALL Qtip vessels will acquire the odor of the Qtips….
🙂
Thanks so much Stacey!
I think I was so freaked out by that FB discussion I will not be going back to a Home Depot or the like anytime soon.
One other thing that folks kept referring to was “strength” of odor. Some people said they wanted their dog to alert on the strongest odor I guess as opposed to residual. But it got me thinking. In a multiple hide search can I combine an AKC strength odor tin in the same search area as say a NACSW strength tin?
When we practice in a group we all bring hides and set up different search areas. I always thought this was a good thing as it gives the dog exposure to different ages and strengths of odor and maybe even contaminants. LOL
Of course we all unintentionally forget a hide. My dogs have found several. One thing we do that helps is we always count how many we put down and make sure we pick up the same number. In places like a Home Depot we take a picture of where we put the hide.
Good luck and have fun at the trial.
When people are talking about “strength” of odor, they are using what Ron Gaunt used to call “stupid human rules”…. basically they are over simplifying the situation based on a belief of what 2 drops of oil smells like and from experience of only accessible hides (I believe). First of all, no two drops of oil are ever the same. Droppers are notoriously imprecise and irregular. Secondly, you will be teaching the dog to only alert on strong odor… which completely misses the fact that you will get faint odor with inaccessible and elevated hides… AND the fact that the dog NEEDS to know to respond to faint odor in order to work a scent cone in from the edges…. a dog who responds to all concentrations is a better hunter!
Hope this helps! 🙂
Thank you Stacy for another interesting podcast! You’re amazing, podcasting on the road! Lol when you pointed out using handsfree, goof for you and safety first and all that!!
I will immediately go look at my jars and containers and sort out the old plastic ones. Lucky me, already using a glas jar for preparated hides!
See you in Sweden
Yeah I was totally handsfree! LOL
🙂
Hi Stacy,
Please talk about the tea diffuser used for AKC buried hides. Since the sand can penatrate the diffuser, will the sand always have residual ordor?? What is the best way to handle this in the future, after the initial use the sand, plastic box & tea diffuser???