You've probably heard of dogs that can detect drugs, or bedbugs, or missing people, but there are a wide variety of jobs dogs do that put their sense of smell to use, such as:

• Drug Detection - for illegal drugs, often hidden by people trying to avoid detection.
• Explosives - for explosives or traces of explosives in airports, luggage, or large buildings
• Currency Detection - for large quantities of hidden money being smuggled across the border or in criminal operations.

What is a pink dog?  Some people in scent detection refer to dogs that tend to fringe alert, or alert on scent further away from the source as "pink dogs".  This comes from the idea that as scent moves further away from its source, that it gets a little stale.  That scent molecules are the freshest right when they have evaporated from the liquid essential oil into a gas that gets carried on air currents.

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.

I usually work with people when they are wanting their dog to learn how to do something, either a specific skill or a different behavioural response.  To teach our dogs what to do, we commonly use food or treats.  Once our dogs understand the skill, and can perform it in a variety of environments around different distractions, we can start to reduce the use of treats.  Here are some things to consider.

Can your dog perform the desired skill consistently, to the level you want?
If not, your dog hasn't fully learned the new skill, and their performance is unlikely to improve if you stop rewarding their efforts.  First, we need to get the behaviour reliably.

Can your dog perform the desired skill consistently, in the face of distractions?
Ideally we teach the skill in a low distraction setting, and then once the dog can respond consistently, introduce distractions strategically so that the dog can succeed in the face of the distraction, growing their confidence and ability to respond even when other things are going on.
Some distractions to consider:

• Treats, in a covered container, in an uncovered container
• Toys, sitting somewhere, you holding it, you tossing it, you squeaking it, you dropping it on the ground
• Other people talking, walking, sitting down & standing up

I've been having a ton of fun participating in this sport with my dogs, and teaching others how to play.  I love watching how individual dogs bring their own personalities to the search.  So if you think this sounds like something you would be interested in trying with your dog let me know.