What is Scent work?
Scent work involves training dogs to search for specific odours from certain essential oils in several situations called ‘elements’, in containers such as boxes, on the outside of vehicles, inside buildings and in the outside environment.
Dogs need to find the source of the odour and communicate its exact location to their owner.

How does it work?
Your dog will be started by learning the game of searching for food. We will set different puzzles each run with difficulty depending on the dog and how they are feeling. Once they know the concept of the game, this is where we will start to add in odour. The odours your dog will be searching for eventually will be Birch, Anise and Clove. These will be added in at the dog’s pace when we believe they are ready. After they are on one odour, we then may look at getting them to search in different environments or different things. In scent work the 4 elements that are used are interiors, exteriors, containers and vehicles (outside of vehicles). 

What do I bring? 
We ask that you bring some high value food for your dogs rewards. We recommend either cut up chicken (not shredded) or cut up Prime 100 rolls. The rewards can be anything your dog loves, we just ask that it not be anything too crumbly as we don’t want little bits of food everywhere throughout the search area. 

When do the classes run? 
Currently classes are being run in Unit 11 (Unit next door to the clinic). Sessions are currently being run on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons/evenings. Jen is running Tuesday afternoons classes and Brittany J is running Thursday afternoon classes.

How long are the classes? 
We do Private one on one sessions, meaning we run one dog at a time. If there is a family of multiple dogs, then we can book a double session. These dogs can either be one session after another or we can interchange them throughout the times of both sessions. There is 30 minutes allocated per dog. 

How much are Scent work classes? 
Our classes are private one on one sessions. For an individual session it is $60 or we do a 5 session pack for $250.

What is the purpose of Scent work classes at Rouse Hill Family Vets?
Our classes offer you and your dog introduction to scent work. It allows dogs that are unable to participate in group classes for a number of reasons still have the benefit and joy of learning to “search”. 

It is also a great way to change your dog’s conditioned emotional response at the veterinary hospital so that they look forward to coming into the clinic. It also allows us to generalise the searching over into the clinic which can be a great way of helping build your pet’s confidence prior to procedures in the vet hospital. 

We understand that there are not many options for dogs who are reactive in group training sessions. Just because your dog doesn’t cope well waiting in cars in group training situations or can’t participate in group classes due to dog reactivity doesn’t mean your dog should miss out on the fun. 

What if your dog LOVES it and you want to move on to competition?
If your dog is really enjoying the scent work classes and you would like to move onto competition, we can recommend local classes which will build up your dog’s skills and prepare you for the competition circuit. 

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out and contact us on (02) 9086 9130.