Super Sniffer Scent Games: A Guide to Having Fun With Your Dog

By Debby Kay

Tests involving a dog’s sense of smell are one of the fastest growing areas of competitions today. They are fun for dogs and people alike, the training is fun and easy, and no fancy equipment is necessary. Scent Games not only offers invaluable training advice for participating in these events but has challenging new games to keep you and your dog’s skills sharp. It is one book you must have for your collection.

Debby Kay has been a pioneer in many areas of scent detection work. Her highly acclaimed Super Sniffer® program has been taught in over 20 countries around the world.

What experts are saying about Super Sniffer Scent Games:

From a master on scent detection, Scent Games is more than training, it is a wonderful way to develop the human-animal bond. The dogs have to think on their own. With this kind of training, you can go to whatever level you want to achieve.

—Mark Hines, Kong® Lead Behavior and Training Specialist

Give your dog a break from boring obedience commands, and let them use their instincts! Debby Kay now shows everyone how to develop your dog’s natural scenting abilities in a fun and practical format. She takes the mystery out of scent detection training. and brings it to the everyday pet owner. 5 barks!

—Camilla Gray, author of Lipstick on a Leash and owner of Dairydell Canine

All our dogs and handlers had a blast trying out the scent games with Debby Kay. Can’t wait to play some more.

—Joan Dandy, owner of Dandy Dog Training

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coveran Publishing House
• Release date: Jan 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9780615469157

Debby Kay

Debby Kay has 40 years of experience as a canine professional and pioneered many firsts in canine scent work. She left her position as a research scientist for the Federal Government to become Training Director of International Detector Dogs Ltd., training the first toxic waste detection dog. She was an early pioneer in training dogs to help ecologists, geologists and field biologists find targeted specimens for their research. Debby trained some of the first classes of dogs and instructors for the ATF explosive dog program in Virginia.

Book preview

Super Sniffer® Scent Games

A Guide to Having Fun With Your Dog

by Debby Kay

Coveran Publishing House

Super Sniffer® Scent Games

Copyright © 2017-2020 by Debby Kay. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, digital, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher or author.

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty

The author and publisher shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages of any kind in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions and suggestions contained in this book.

First Ebook Edition, April 2020

Ebook ISBN-13: 978-0-615-46915-7

Paperback Information:

First Paperback Edition, August 2017

Paperback ISBN-10: 0-9837856-8-6

Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-9837856-8-2

Paperback Library of Congress Control Number: 2017954230

Editing and Production by Marguerite Plank

Produced in the United States of America.

Cover Photo Credits: Joan Dandy and Debby Kay

Other Photo Credits; page numbers refer to paperback edition:

Joan Dandy cover 8, 67, 68, 71

Sam Cochran 2, 21, 23, 26 bottom, 34, 55

Debby Kay cover, introduction, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16,17,18, 20, 22 , 24, 26 top, 27, 28, 29, 30 top, 31, 32, 36, 38, 48, 58, 63, 73, 74, 77, 78, 81, 97, 102

Heather Steiner 54

Mary Marr 10, 33

Benigno Paz Ramos 25

Sherri Dressel 30 bottom

Kris Morris 40

Nancy Hartzenbusch 43

US Government 44

Maggie Tomlin 53

Ed Presnell 76

David Minkin 98

Dedication

For all the dogs in my life, past and present, I dedicate this book to you for all you have taught me about the wonderful world of scent.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Understanding Scent Like a Dog

The Super Sniffer® Program

Building Scent Memory

The Trained Alert

Sample Management and the Three Cs

Contamination

Containers

Content

The Scent Wheel

Teaching the Room Search Pattern

Follow My Hand Drill

Follow the Seams Drill—Suitcases

Outdoor Area Searches

Above Ground

Below Ground

The Games

Understanding the Games and Getting the Most from Them

Discrimination Games

Tracking Games

Teaching Article Identification for Scent Games

Introducing Cross Tracks

Outdoor Tracking Games

Indoor Tracking Games

Troubleshooting

Appendix

List of Games

List of Supplies

Sources of Supplies

Scent Sport Organizations

Further Reading

References

How to Build a Simple Scent Wheel

All-Purpose Score Sheet

Simple Elimination Bracket

Collected Pro Tips, by Chapter

About the Author

Glossary

Foreword

This book grew out of many interesting experiences with some dog-crazy friends who love tracking and other scent work as much as I do. We all feel that dogs love to use to their noses more than anything else, so why not play games with them doing just that? I wanted to take it one step higher and see just how far we could extend the training and get the dog to discriminate among odors. Not all dogs will be able to do all the games, but somewhere in the variety of games here, you are sure to find some for you and your dog’s combined skill levels.

I have included some of the basic steps from my scent training program to help those who might just be getting started in this area of dog work. You will find many Pro Tips included along the way to help you experiment with the methodology. With these basics, you will also be able to create your own scent games and make modifications to the ones I have presented here. I encourage you to be creative and try new things in new ways … that is part of the fun of training dogs.

Any product recommendations that I make have been done after very careful consideration of several essential criteria that I feel belong in any training program. All items must be safe, made from materials that cannot hurt the dog, and when at all possible, made in the USA. At all times during training or during a competition, using the games safely should always be the utmost consideration of any set-up. The goal is to have fun with your dog and for your dog to have fun doing this, so I urge you to always approach training with a positive attitude and a smile. Laugh at mistakes! Start over or take a break. There is no one, especially me, who says this training must happen on a specific time line. I often only have 10 to 20 minutes a day to train scent work with any of my own dogs, but that brief time is the most fun-filled time we have together. As a result, all my dogs love to do scent work.

In the Appendix, I have included a list of the games for reference and a sample score sheet. You may use them and copy as you need them for classes, competitions, or training. If you wish to extend your knowledge of scent and the workings of it in dogs, I encourage you to read the books in the Reference section. A lot of research has been done on how dogs use their sense of smell, which I find both fascinating and enlightening. As a result, it helped me to put together this book. I hope you find it useful and inspiring.

Debby Kay,

October 2017

Harpers Ferry, WV

Acknowledgements

I would like to thanks all my friends, supporters, and their dogs who helped me to get this book together. There is so much testing and research that goes into the back side of a book like this that there were times I wondered if I would ever get it published. I especially wish to acknowledge Marguerite Plank, who helped with the editing, design, and layout, and offered a critical review that helped to keep me on track so I could get it published. To my trainer friends, Katie Poulson, Joan Dandy, and all the students who worked with me to test out the games on many different breeds and ages of dogs, I thank you for your patience and suggestions to improve things. To Dragan Bilic, whose wonderful work produced the cover of this book, you are the best designer to work with ever—thank you for your insights and talent.

Ky running a trail. No one enjoys scent work like a Bloodhound!

Introduction

Understanding Scent Like a Dog

Holding on to the 20-foot lead, I hustle to keep up with the fast gait of the Bloodhound it is attached to. I’m watching her intently as she works through dozens of people’s footprints to find the one that we had been following for the past quarter of a mile. I can’t help but wonder, What would it be like to live in a world of smells like the dogs do? Whole books have been written that ponder this question. I suggest anyone who is interested in any type of scent training read as many of them as possible to give you more awareness about what your dog is actually doing. Some of my favorite books are listed in the Appendix, including references and additional reading suggestions at the end of this book.

To successfully train and excel at some of these more advanced and complicated scent games, you need to know as much as possible about how your dog smells the world. The better your understanding, the better you will be as a useful teammate for your dog. This is one realm of dog training where the dog controls the action, since we ask our dogs to use their noses but we can’t force or otherwise make them do it for us. It is also one realm of dog training where your dog already has figured out you can’t do what he does, so you really need to earn his respect if you want him to work for you. That respect is earned when you learn to observe and understand what is happening when dogs are using their noses.

My dog has circled the spot where all the joggers have crossed the track laid for her. I stop her and offer water. A hydrated nose and mouth will help her. The break gives her mind a short reprieve from the puzzle. I offer her the scent article from the tracklayer that I have been carrying. She inhales in quick deep sniffs, then her head goes back to the ground. In seconds, she is pulling hard on her harness, her sign to me that she is back on track. I might not be able to smell things as well as my dog does, but I can imagine and I can support her as she continues along the invisible track towards its end.

I’ve included this chapter especially for people plunging into the world of scent work with their dogs for the first time. It is also a reminder to others who have been working dogs a long time too, that this must be a partnership if it’s going to be successful. I want you to have the right mind-set before you go on in scent training.

I’ll admit that once in a while, I get dogs in for training who love the work so much that they don’t really need a handler. In fact, I think if they could talk they would probably tell the handler to go sit down and just let them work! But that is a rare dog. Most dogs use their noses, like in these games, to please us. They know we don’t have a sensitive nose and they are more than willing to help us out. I have found this to be true, whether we are talking about the typical working breeds like shepherds, hounds, and retrievers, or the atypical scent dogs like many toys, terriers, or nonsporting breeds. I have had the pleasure of working with more than 70 different breeds during my career of scent training and can attest they all love to do things that involve the nose.

Obviously, some breeds are better at this type of