My preference is to teach dogs that they will be rewarded for finding and indicating on the designated scents, as opposed to starting searching for food or pairing with food because I know that food distractors will be a challenge in competition, and I don't want to have to turn around and discourage finding food if I'd previously encouraged it earlier in the learning process when another option exists.  This is not to say that it can't be successfully done, or that some dogs may benefit from pairing.  All dogs are individuals.

I also like to use a marker, either a word such as "yes" or a click noise, to identify when a dog is correct.  I find this extremely helpful because I can give my dog that information independently of what my body is doing, making it easier to teach my dog not to rely on my body position or movement to solve the scent problem.

It was only a few years ago that I got into training tricks.  Prior to that all the things I taught my dogs had a practical or sports application.  But I found that trick training can be a lot of fun!  One of my favourite tricks ended up being get in a closed suitcase, which I did with Tristan.

​Here's the final result: