Rethinking Your Use of Canine Scent Knowledge and Skills
A few years ago, we hosted Dr. Robert Hewings from the UK College of Scent Dogs to present a couple of back-to-back workshops at our training business in Tampa, FL. One of these workshops was the five-day Canine Scent Instructor Certification workshop. To be honest, at the time I was eager to host Dr. Hewings and his business partner Karen for our membership, but scent training wasn’t something I was really into! I considered it a Canine Sport and given my time constraints and the fact that I already participated in Agility I didn’t feel I had the time, nor the motivation to take on another hobby.
When Rob and Karen visited for the first time, my Aussie Doogie was only 5 months old; she participated as my partner at the workshop and excelled at this fun activity. In fact we both just loved it and became so captivated by Scent Training that we invited Rob and Karen back the next year to deliver two more programs.
In 2019 after another highly successful visit with the team from UK College of Scent, it became more obvious to me that there was a place for Scent Work in all areas of our dog training businesses and that professionals would benefit from Canine Scent Work independent of competitions and trials. With my newfound knowledge and skills, I fully and successfully integrated Scent Work into my puppy raising approach with Doogie; it helped resolve so many puppy “issues”. Soon after that I found I was integrating components of my scent knowledge into many of my group and private lessons. Clients just love it and it’s accessible for everyone.
Once again, we have invited back Dr. Robert Hewings and Karen Hewings to deliver two programs this November on the Nature Coast of Florida. The location is affordable, spacious, on the coast and in a beautiful and serene setting. The first workshop is titled Scent & Scentability – Scent Work for Practical Training and Behavior Solutions and is designed for all behavior and training professionals. The goal for this workshop is to deliver specific tangible skills you can learn, implement and manage across your own lesson planning to support behavior change, enrichment and management for your clients and their pets. Day one covers the basics of scent leading into these fun and educational topics we can all benefit from:
- From Reactive to Noseactive: Scent Work for canine reactivity in private consultations
- The Nosey Puppy: Scent Work to help promote puppy confidence in puppy classes
- The Nose Leads the Way: Scent Work to help promote enriched walks and nice leash skills
- Nosing Around: Scent Work to help promote confidence in canines in private consultations
- Take Me Out to the Nose Game: Scent Work to help Shelter & Rescue Dogs thrive in their environments
- The Old Nose’s Still Got It: Scent Work to help build enrichment for Grey Muzzle Dogs
- Ring Around the Noseys: Scent Work to build fun group classes
- Smell Something, Do Something: Scent Work to help with Service Dogs such as PTSD night tremor detection
Workshop Two is for the scent enthusiast and is titled Canine Scent Advanced Handling Skills – Beyond the Basics of Scent, Introducing Advanced Detection and Handling Skills.
The last two years have been hard on all of us, and I know personally I am looking forward to sharing a few days with many of you in this beautiful and serene setting. During the day we will laugh, learn and scent, and our evenings will be spent around the fire playing fun outside games and enjoying each other’s company.
So, if you, like I once did, feel that these workshops are not really pertinent to what you do or your dog training lessons because you don’t want to, nor are you interested in, competing at Canine Scent then please think again. Come and join us for one or both of these workshops and make new friends, rekindle old friendships and recharge surrounded by your training community.
You can register for the event here
Quick Links
Scent & Scentability 3 Day Workshop with Dr. Robert Hewings and Karen Hewings
Canine Scent Advanced Handling Skills – Beyond the Basics with Dr. Robert Hewings & Karen Hewings
