Help Scent Training Dog?

Question

I've been working on scent training my 8 year old terrier mix for a few months now but have hit a road bump. I was hoping someone might have some advice to help us along in the training process. BTW, he's got the energy and ability (he sniffs EVERYTHING...even when I come home from short trips to the supermarket, etc), but he's just not getting the training.

I've been trying to get him to learn to use his sense of smell by taking 3 tupperware jars with the lids on loosely, and by placing his favorite dog treat in one of the three, then having him paw the correct one with the treat in it. He had no trouble learning when I would tell him to "find it" and "paw" the jar (when we were just using 1 jar).

Now with the three jars he goes to each one and paws them all expecting me to open them and give him his treat. I don't know if it's just that he doesn't understand that he needs to smell and paw the correct jar, or if the game/training just doesn't interest him.

My end goal is to get him to sniff out gunpowder/explosives, but right now we are just stuck at phase 1.

Any advice on how to correct my training technique, or any other personal advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks very much!

Answer 1

I use a similar method when training my dogs scent discrimination for obedience trials. Only instead of pawing they must bring back the article with the treat. When the correct article is brought back, I open the article and let the dog retrieve the treat. He also gets a treat from my pocket or his favorite toy. In another words it's party time when he brings back the properly scented article. When he makes a mistake by bringing back the wrong article, I still open it and give him a sad UN-OH there's no treat in this one. the I tell him that he'd better go find it again. Again praise and party when he finds the correct one. When he is bringing me the treat filled article every time, the treats start disappearing from the article. I want the dog to go after my scent on the article not the food inside. This is why I reward from my pocket as well as give praise.



Also if you want this dog to be a bomb/explosive detection dog, allowing him to paw at the container is not a good idea. Doing so can cause a big BANG. Detection dogs are usually trained to sit or down at the scent of explosives.

Answer 2

Do this since he figured out 1 next just do 2 . When he figures out 2 then move up to 3 just that time rub the treat all over the bowl (on the inside) and keep the lid open the tiniest bit and say paw or whatever you say. When he learns that start putting more and more jars out when he learns about up to 5 or 6 take the two back again and rub the treat all around the inside and completely close the lid but keep the other open just a little this way he has to use his nose... When he gets the handle on that if you have it use gunpowder or bullets or whatever you want to use... I think im going to do this with my German Shepherd because he has a really good nose.

Answer 3

There is a HUGE difference between a food rewarded dog and a toy rewarded dog when doing detection work. If your dog does not have the required toy/hunt drive, it will be VERY hard to train it and then the ONLY way to do it will be through food, but, that requires a whole different approach that I will not get into in a public forum such as this.

Another poster also very correctly stated that when training a bomb dog, you train a passive alert, the dog is NEVER allowed to touch the place where the scent is hidden and that needs to be trained and reinforced from day one. Hope I helped.