Airflow - Help or Challenge?

It depends!  I am a big fan of letting dogs learn how to work odour to source before adding in a lot of direction from their handler in the search, after all, our dogs are the ones with the nose!  Using airflow strategically can help your dog learn to trace an odour cloud back to it's source.  And knowing when the airflow may be working against you can help you make sure that your dog gets into the right position to be able to pick up the scent cloud in the first place.   Let's look at some scenarios.

Into the Wind

Starting into the wind means that scent cloud surrounding the hide (red dog) can draw your dog right into the hide.  This can be helpful in confidence building if there are no obstacles between the dog and the hide, however in this picture the dog would first need to realize that the scent on the red picnic table wasn't from a hide on that table, but blowing there from another place.  So a little more challenging for newer dogs.

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Perpendicular to the wind

In this instance, the wind is blowing perpendicular to the starting line.  This is actually one of my favourite set ups in a trial, because if I start my dog down the edge of the search area furthest away from the wind, they will usually walk along until they catch the scent cloud, then turn into the search area to trace it to it's source.  I find this tends to be a fairly efficient way to search the area.

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Wind at your Back

In this situation, your dog won't pick up any scent until they walk past the picnic table, at which point they should turn back towards the freshest scent and find the hide.  It is also good to practice this scenario so that your dog doesn't get discouraged if they don't smell the scent right away, and go search for it.

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What about Inside?

You can get airflow inside your home as well.  You may get a cool draft from a window that pushes the scent across the floor.  If you place the scent by the window, dogs can usually pick it up and work it back to the window.

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But on hot sunny days, the air by your window can warm and rise, moving across the room before cooling and falling on the other side of the room.  In this case, scent from a hide near the window can rise up to the ceiling and fall on the opposite side of the room, which makes it difficult for a dog to trace it back to the source unless they get close to and just above the source walking by the window.  If you see your dog looking and looking along a wall with no success, you may want to consider whether this may be a possibility.  

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