Introduction to Scentwork

This course is designed for dogs and owners with no previous experience in pet scentwork training. It provides all the essential knowledge needed to begin your scentwork journey. While similar to the in-person version, the online course includes additional learning materials, such as step-by-step guides, detailed demonstrations, training exercises, and videos focused on developing your dog’s search skills. Throughout the course, you will learn: • How to prepare scent odours correctly • Proper odour storage and how to reduce the risk of contamination • How to identify and use your dog’s favourite reward • How to imprint your dog onto a specific odour or scent • How to develop a passive indication (such as a sit, freeze, or down) • How to build your dog’s confidence to search independently • The foundations of search training • Basic search systems and techniques Please note that this course teaches one of many methods used to train scentwork. Different trainers may use different approaches. Example equipment list: • A scent starter kit with your chosen odour (e.g., clove, gun oil, or truffle oil) • One or more of the following for linear searches: scent indication boxes (x4), bricks (x4), or football training cones (x4) • Soaks (such as filter tips), sometimes included in starter kits • Airtight containers (glass jars or plastic containers) • Scent containers such as snuffle cones or small tins (sometimes included in kits) • Disposable gloves • Tweezers The College of Scent Dogs instructor. Copyright material – all rights reserved © NHU Ecology Dogs 2026. Please note: No refunds are available once the course has been purchased. This course is designed for pet scentwork using any odour. A separate course is available for operational-style detection dog training designed for high-drive dogs.