Our Active Nose Initiative is aimed at getting more dogs in East Lancashire using their noses for physical and mental enrichment. It’s widely accepted in the dog world that scentwork is a fantastic way to give a working dog a job that will mentally tire them, and is also great for teaching pet dogs new skills as they learn to harness the power of their nose to find a specific scent. We currently have two activities in our Active Nose area:
Mantrailing – An outdoor game of hide and seek. You and your dog will work together to locate missing persons in a variety of different locations, and take it in turn to hide for other participants’ dogs. Because your dog will be actively following a scent trail and must work at a steady pace, there is no running involved in this sport. Mantrailing is ideal for those who want to participate in some non-strenuous aerobic exercise whilst providing their dogs with the opportunity to learn new skills and engage in mentally enriching scentwork. All dogs can participate in Mantrailing, including puppies and those with physical disabilities which may exclude them from more intensive dog sports. Mantrailing is always practiced in a group.
Scent Detection – In our scent detection classes, you and your dog will learn how to carry out active and passive searches to find a variety of different scents in different environments. From Kong to gun oil to catnip and more, you’ll have fun introducing your dog to new target odours and learn to work with them to search for the scents, which will be hidden in increasingly difficult locations as you and your dog progress and gain experience. Some of our searches include scent pipes, bag searches, vehicle searches, wall searches, high and buried/water searches, and more. Dogs are usually worked individually, or occasionally two at a time depending on the dog and the activity being undertaken, making Scent Detection a fantastic, low-impact sport for nervous or reactive dogs.
Tracking – Teaching your dog to follow Ground Scent using a precise and accurate method of following ground disturbance. You’ll learn how to lay a track to set your dog up for success and then read your dog’s body language whilst it’s following the track. Once you’ve got the basics in paw, you’ll then move on to article indication – teaching your dog how to indicate on an item it comes across on the track itself. Tracking is complimentary to Mantrailing, and can help those dogs who often find switching from air scent to ground scent tricky. There’s plenty of scent theory involved in this training, so you’ll learn the science behind how dogs use their olfactory system. Dogs are worked individually whilst tracking. You’ll start on our UK Sniffer Dogs Bronze Tracking Series 1 before progressing onto Series 2. We run regular classes between the workshops to allow you to get in plenty of practice and work up to entering in Trials.
All of our classes utilise positive reinforcement to teach your dog how to use their nose productively and build drive and motivation for the game.
To learn more about each activity you can view their respective pages, or click below to visit the online booking system and arrange your introductory session.
Dog Ways Lancashire 