Sniffs and Giggles

Mercedes and Verena earned their AKC Master Elite Scent Work Title on May 4th and 5th 2024 at the Grand Traverse Kennel Club AKC Scent Work Trial, in Traverse City, MI. Mercedes is the 18th German Shepherd to earn this and Verena is the 21st.

Conquering Crack Hides Webinar Join us as we breakdown the skills needed to help your dog increase competency on crack hides! These slippery little gems can benefit from a bit of targeted attention. This webinar will help you incorporate simple drills and games to help your dog gain and maintain fluency on these interesting hides...

How to Choose the Best Treats for Training, Rewards, and More With so many choices out there, how do you choose the best dog treats for your pup? Here are our choices for the best dog treats for training and rewards.

Hurry, time is running out to take advantage of our Christmas in July sale! Save 25% now at ShopCanineAesthete.com 🎄🐾

A study finds that dogs can smell your stress — and make decisions accordingly Researchers made volunteers do public speaking and math on the spot, then showed them a calming video. Then, using sweat samples, glass jars and food bowls, they examined the emotional impact on dogs.

Wait, what?! Dogs aren't robots?

I never expect more of my dogs than I would expect from myself and I absolutely do not expect myself to respond immediately to every request given to me. I cannot expect my dogs to be better than I would ever be so I do not expect them to listen every time, immediately, no matter what to everything I say.

There are many possible reasons a dog doesn't respond and some could be my fault. Did I mumble, was it too quiet for them to hear, were they worried about something and couldn't listen to me in that moment, etc. I also know that dogs can have off days, maybe they don't feel well or are sore and that's why they can't reliably respond (I think this is a bigger thing than most expect).

It's important to have fair expectations of reliability and pick and choose when it's important they listen and when it really doesn't matter. There are absolutely times where i need my dogs to be reliable and listen quickly (generally safety things), but there are times when what I want is a request and if they say 'no thank,' or 'not right now,' or 'how about this instead,' or 'let me finish this first' it's fine. Generally I try to not officially cue behaviors when it's not important (I know how much i hated useless busywork). Instead i'll use other ways to communicate my request when it's optional or more casual cues (this is where i love default behaviors).

Even with reasonable expectations, you can improve your pup's reliability. The more you practice, the better you generalize that behavior, and the bigger you build their bank account with rewards, the more likely it is that your dog is going to respond when you need them to (but even robots sometimes don't respond reliably and have glitches and that's okay!).

Our dogs are not born knowing how to live in a human world and perform so many of the behaviours we (often unrealistically) expect of them.

If we have never danced before, we would not suddenly one day be able to perform a full routine in front of a large audience 💃🏼 🕺🏽👯‍♀️

It would take weeks (often months to years) of learning each individual step and all of the additional elements that come with learning this new skill we are often not born knowing how to do naturally 🕰

Our success would be dependent on having a teacher who knows how to break each element of this new skill down so that we can consistently achieve 👩🏼‍🏫

A teacher who understands how difficult learning can be and chooses to meet us where we are, break things down into small, easy steps and celebrate each small win 🥇

To some of us, dancing in front of an audience might be the most terrifying thing we could ever do, so it would take even longer and possibly mean our teacher needs to readjust expectations as to what the end goal may look like 👍🏼

If you’re struggling with teaching your dog something or your dog’s behaviour think about how you can break it down so it’s so easy, it’s almost impossible for your dog to fail. What’s the first step? 🐶

Take some of the expectation off your dog to just ‘know how’ to do it and take some responsibility for their learning and understanding how to help them 😉

Verena Vom Stratosphere eared her AKC Master Elite Scent Work title on May 5, 2025.

Mercedes Vom Mittelwest earned her AKC Master Elite scent work title May 4, 2024.

Mercedes and Verena both earned their AKC sent work master elite title May 4th & 5th at the Grand Traverse Kennel Club sent Work trial. So proud of these girls and the fact that they both earned this the same weekend all under different judges. 

JUST SHAKE IT OFF
Dogs constantly communicate through their body language.

A “shake off” is one of the many types of body language and is one of the easier ones to notice.

The shake off can provide us with important insights as to how our dogs are feeling.

Besides being a very effective way to get rid of dirt, pesky bugs and water - dogs can remove up to 70% of water in one single shake off - the shake off is often seen just after something that a dog needs a mental reset from.

It’s a way to flush out adrenaline and could be compared to us taking a deep breath to reset our nervous system and calm ourselves down.

Dogs instinctively know they feel better when they just shake it all off!

It’s their way of saying “Phew, I’m glad that’s over, now I can put it behind me and move on”.

Shaking off is a positive way to calm down, reset and cope with stress – be that negative or positive stress.

Sometimes a shake off could be due to an underlying medical reason like an ear infection, allergy, itching or pain.

If you notice a shake off, look at what has just happened beforehand. This will provide a good clue as to what it is that your dog needs to reset from.

Inside the Dog's Nose: Understanding its Impact on Dog Training — Canine Evolutions The world of a dog is filled with an incredible sense of smell that goes far beyond what we, as humans, can comprehend. Inside a dog's nose lies a complex and highly developed olfactory system, capable of detecting scents with remarkable precision. This extraordinary sense of smell has a significant

Integrity First Challenge.

This week; set hides at varying heights. Using successive approximations, see where your training holes are.

For example; if you're working towards searching for height, set hides at dog level (head height), then just above head height, then at a height they have to put their feet up to get to it, then out of reach. Take notes about your results.

Things to think about:
1. What odor are you using?
2. What method are you using (pairing or not)?
3. Choose locations appropriate to your dog. Use different trees or items to Proof your dogs understanding. remember context matters. Ensure safety first and Maslow's Hierarchy of needs are removed as barriers to learning. Context matters.
4. Be mindful of Set time (how long the hide gets to COOK).
5. Wind direction and speed. As well as other environmental factors.
6. RECORD your searches. Look for scenting dog behaviors such as; Pull, Nose Height, Breathing, Cadence, Crabbing, Circling, Tail, Head Swing. Make note looking at each of these things as you watch the videos. Rewatch looking ONLY for each of these criteria.

If willing post videos and your findings. Let me know how it goes through replies or DM me and we can talk about what you saw.

Lets discuss pooling odor.

To me those that discuss dogs indicating on pooling odor, in sport not in LE/Contract/Military circles (in these disciplines these indications are probable cause and part of their criteria), are making an excuse for not knowing the difference in their dogs in odor behaviors. So if we argue that the freshest (read strongest or newest) concentration of odor is at source then odor that effuses or diffuses from a vessel is older/weaker than source. That means that on some level there shouldn't be a reinforcement history associated with the amount of odor that is pooling.

Pooling odor and it's close cousins residual and lingering odor are not the source of that odor. So then the characteristics of that odor are different than odor at or near source.

So then aren't pooling odor indications, in sport, "Fringe" indications?

And if pooling odor indications are fringe indications, aren't these then less than optimal? So how do they happen?

Is it a training criteria problem? Is it a proofing problem?

Ever noticed those slits at the sides of a dog’s nose? Why do dogs have them?

Once again, nature proves her elegance in the design of our dogs. When we humans inhale and exhale, air comes in the same way it goes out. Any smells that come in through our mouths are forced out as we exhale.

When a dog exhales through his nose, however, the exhaled air is released through those slits and off to the side so that nice, smelly air going into the dog’s nostrils doesn’t get diluted with the outgoing air. Put another way, the slits allow the dog to avoid smelling what he just exhaled.

The slits help the dog hold scent particles in the nostrils even as exhaled air passing out the slits creates a swirling air turbulence allowing interesting odors to be inhaled directly into the centre of each nostril. Since dogs breathe faster when trying to sniff a certain smell, they widen their nostrils to pull in more air which makes it possible for a dog searching for smells to have a steady stream of air coming in for up to 40 seconds, maybe even longer.

The slits also allow dogs to wiggle each nostril independently which gives them the ability to know which nostril a smell entered. This is how a dog can pinpoint where a smell is coming from, and why a dog searching for smells on the ground will weave back and forth as he follows a trail.

We all know the superb smelling abilities of dogs, but let’s use an analogy between scent and sight to really put it into perspective: What we as humans can see at a third of a mile, our dog can see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well.

Episode 109: Being Coached Hard to Advance Your Training

“My job as a coach is not to identify your destination, but your goal, and to help you identify and remove roadblocks to your goal.”

Today, our hosts Robin Greubel, Stacy Barnett, and Crystal Wing unearth valuable lessons from coaching humans that handlers can apply when training canine companions.

They talk about what it means to create an environment conducive to learning, cultivating a delicate balance of pushing boundaries while remaining supportive of your trainee, and what it really takes to unlock the full potential of your learner–human or canine!

The Dames of Detection also give their thoughts on the importance of understanding learners’ unique learning curves, the keys to clear communication, and how to hold your learner to a high standard without falling into the trap of abuse, however the word may be defined.

They also discuss the art of coaching different breeds and personalities and laying the groundwork for search and rescue training according to the strengths and preferences of your unique dog.

Key Topics:

How Athletic Coaching Applies to Dog Training (02:00)

The Benefits of Crafting a Safe and Supportive Learning Environment (04:20)

Helping Learners Identify and Create a Roadmap Towards Their Goals (07:17)

What It Means to Coach “Hard,” but Not to the Point of Abuse (12:42)

Five Tenets to Keep in Mind When Training Dogs (and Coaching Handlers) (20:01)

Why It’s Important to Identify Your Dog’s Struggles and Preferences (28:34)

The Necessity of Having Reasonable Expectations and Goals (37:08)

The Ideal Coach (46:25)

Takeaways (50:34)

Distraction Camp Registration:
https://www.k9detectioncollaborative.com/events

The Fluffy Badger

Find the Dames here:

CB K9
Scentsabilities Nosework Training
K9Sensus Foundation

Great way to fine tune some skills.

I’m so late in posting about AKC Rally classes to get us ready for the Grand Traverse Kennel Club show in June.

I’ll be starting them on Monday April 15 and Tuesday April 16. Only a week away. Classes will continue until June 10 and 11.

Monday evenings at 7 p.m. and Tuesday mornings at 9:30. $10 for two runs.

If interested, please let me know by phone or text. I’ll need to know which day and what class(es) you’ll need. 231-342-1709

Which rewards do you use in each situation?

Read more: https://bit.ly/3TVSXKU

What Do K-9 Police Dogs Do? Police dogs come from generations of dog breeds specifically bred to perform the complicated tasks that police dogs are required to accomplish.

No need to be stingy now 🍪

Special thanks to FDSA instructor Caden of for today's dog training tip 🙌