Launching 1st November 2024
Sign up today for the early bird pre-sale price of just £99
Be a Savvy Scentworker
As a trainer I know all too well that every client, canine and human, is an individual. Everybody learns in their own way. Everyone has their own challenges. Each one needs tailored help to get the most from training. Whether you too are a professional trainer, or someone who trains with your own dog, some scentwork situations can stump you.
Nobody knows everything. But the more you learn the more you can plan and practise skills and techniques that you can pull out of your toolbox whenever you need them. Not knowing how to handle unexpected situations or how to provide the very best learning environment causes everyone involved stress and frustration.
Don't give up, become a savvy scentworker.
You might be faced with practical problems such as how to teach your dog not to run off during searches or to stop picking up random objects in the search area. Does she work too fast? Should you work on lead? How do you handle a long line without getting in a tangle?
Hopefully you are looking at how to make your training more inclusive. How can you make searches wheelchair friendly? Or safe for dogs with physical challenges. How best to search with a deaf dog?
Or you could be challenged with how to build confidence in dog and/or handler. How can you make indications easier to spot? Or help a dog feel safe enough to search in 'scary' spots? How can you increase engagement and trust?
I'll give you the strategies that you need to help yourself and/or your clients become successful savvy scentworkers.
Mechanical
Practical skills to help with pace, safety and efficiency
Mine!
Game plans to help navigate retrieving issues in and out of searches
Mobility
Common sense strategies to ensure all dogs and handlers can search successfully
Mental
Thoughtful processes to help boost confidence and engagement
Lead skills
Searching on lead is a huge skill. Done well it gives security, purpose and freedom. Done badly it can hinder, undermine and restrict the dog. Whether it's knowing what advice to give clients or learning what equipment to use with your own dog, I'm here to help. Learn when to work and when not to work on lead, how to move and where to position yourself or if you should use a long line or a shorter lead.
Scentwork for all
Having mobility issues doesn’t have to mean that you can’t be a scentwork handler. I’ve always worked hard to make my training as inclusive as possible and when it comes to scentwork it’s no different. In this course I show how scentwork can be adapted or adjusted to make searches successful for all teams. Whether the handler uses mobility aids, such as sticks or wheelchairs, or the dog has physical challenges including being deaf or has her own set of wheels, knowing how and what changes to make is key to successful scentworking.
Building Confidence
Building the confidence in your dog to search anything and everything is a truly transformative and transferrable skill. By supporting your dog to stick her head inside a box or to search on a high stack you teach her to have confidence in both herself and in you. Both inside and away from the search area. Confidence can be taught and in this course I show you how.
Course details
I have packed this course full of practical, tried and tested advice. As a trainer you will find these strategies invaluable. As a handler you will elevate your scentwork team to even greater heights. Whether your goal is to send everyone home from your classes happy and successful, or it's to finally understand how to solve an issue that's been holding you and your dog back, my aim is to help you meet those goals though the skills I'm sharing in this course.
Using a mix of specially filmed demonstrations and clips of real life searches, I'll guide you through each lesson. I've split the course into four categories: Mechanical, Mine!, Mobility and Mental. Within each category I've divided the information into either Search Skills and Support Skills. As the name suggests, the Search Skills sections refer to specific skills and techniques that will help you during searches. The Support Skills sections are life skills that can be used both during searches and in day to day life.
All lessons are supported and enhanced by course notes which I've compiled into one downloadable 100+ page course booklet. Plus you get two bonus booklets and a downloadable doggy dictionary.
Talking of bonuses, I'm throwing in a series of bonus lessons that contain valuable skills to use whenever you need them.
The skills I share in this course include:
- How to work on lead
- How to make search areas wheelchair friendly
- How to make giving treats more fun
- How to discover what games your dog wants to play
- How to assess pace
- How to make the game the reward
- How to use a long line in searches
- How to build trust so that your dog wants you to take her toy
- How to teach your dog to carry items
- How to break exercises down into small achievable chunks
- How to teach a relaxed, reliable stay
- How to boost the indication
- How to teach a release cue so that your dog only moves when you give the word
- How to work with deaf dogs
- How to teach your dog to want to come back to you
- How to use a recall whistle
- How to teach your dog to be comfortable searching inside boxes
- How to use food rewards like a pro
- How to handle dogs safely
- How to communicate clearly and effectively with your dog
- How to teach your dog foundation skills and beyond
- How to work with speedy dogs
- How to identify and respond to resource guarding
- How to increase engagement between dog and handler
- How to be a Savvy Scentworker!
And don't forget that I've added a heap of bonuses too:
You get 'Jackpot', my best selling guide to using food in training.
You get my essential 'Handle with Care' guide to safe and effective handling.
You get my super useful Doggy Dictionary download.
You get bonus lessons on:
- Recall
- Stay
- Positions (sit, down, stand)
- Retrieve steadiness
BONUS
This best selling guide is used and recommended by numerous training organisations and thousands of smart dog folks. Written in plain language it unlocks scientific principles to show you how to make the most of food rewards in training.
BONUS
Keeping track of which words you use with your dog is super important. But don't forget what you want each word to mean. Listing the cues and their meaning is super easy with this downloadable doggy dictionary.
BONUS
A must have resource for dog people who want to learn more about staying safe around their own dog and others. Learn not just how to read canine body language but how to adapt your own body language to resolve interactions safely.
Bonus lesson - Stay
Ask your dog to Stay while you set up the search area. Or when you want them to pose for a photo. She can wait for you to lift her off high surfaces. And can be happily patient while you hide her scented articles. Stay is one of those skills that you will find yourself using more often than you'd ever imagine.
Bonus lesson - Recall
Ask your dog to Come to you when she is leaving the search area. Or when she is running on the beach. If you truly want your dog to be able to run, play, swim and sniff with freedom, recall is a must have skill.
Bonus lesson - Positions
Sit, stand and down are great additions to your dog's skillset. There are lots of ways to teach these foundation skills. In this bonus lesson I share my favourites.
Bonus lesson -
Retrieve Steadiness
Ask your dog to bring you the scented article. Or fetch a toy. Bring you yours lost keys or the TV remote. The value of this skill is never ending.
Course Curriculum
Scentwork skills are life skills
This course includes so many exercises that will enhance your dog's performance, make the whole process more efficient, and make you and your dog's lives easier both while you're engaged in scentwork and in your day to day interactions.
For example:
- No more chasing around if she picks up random items during the search
- No more prising the scented article from your dog's jaws
- No more worrying that your dog will run away during off lead searches
- No more frantic catches as your dog launches off platforms
- No more tense searches wondering if your dog is going to run off
I use these valuable skills every day with my own dogs. They help us live together as a pretty harmonious mixed family.
For example:
- Drop and retrieve help prevent guarding behaviour
- Leave helps stop my dogs from eating waste on walks
- Recall gives the dogs freedom and helps keep them fit
- Stay allows me open the front door without them running into the street
- And learning and practising them all keeps the dogs, and me, mentally and physically stimulated, strengthens our relationships and helps us communicate effectively thus avoiding frustration and misunderstandings.
FAQs
Q. Who is this course for?
A. This course is for all scentworkers and scentwork trainers. This valuable resource is designed to help pro trainers offer the best experience to each and every client. And to help non-pros find solutions to challenges they face when training with their own dogs.
Q. Is this course exclusively for dogs who are trained for active, rather than passive, indications?
A. No. While all my training is based around the active indication, much of the advice here is very relevant to dogs working to a passive indication.
Q. Do you use electric shock collars, prong collars or other similar equipment in this course?
A. Absolutely not! I have never, and would never, use or advocate the use of such equipment in any of my training. I work co-operatively with dogs using scientifically proven, non-abusive techniques. Fear and pain have no place in dog training.
Q. I've already completed the Support Skills course. Is the Savvy Scentwork course still useful to me?
A. Yes! While I've included lots of the content from the Support Skills course - which is no longer available for new sign-ups - this new course is packed with new lessons and info. My advice is to join the Pro membership plan to access this new material at the best price.
Q. If I enrol at the early bird pre-sale price, can I access the course immediately?
A. No. This offer allows you fast access as soon as the course launches on 1st November. You will not be able to see the curriculum or content before that time. (Unless I add the finishing touches early in which case you'll be the first to get it!)
Q. Do you offer refunds?
A. For the rare occasions it's needed, I offer a standard 14 day from payment refund. Just email me to request a refund.