How to Train AKC or UKC Novice Handler Discrimination (K9 Scent Work)

How to Train AKC or UKC Novice Handler Discrimination (K9 Scent Work)

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HOW IS THIS UNIQUE ANYWAY?

In AKC novice handler discrimination, the handler-scented item is placed in a cardboard box. The dog must discriminate between ten identical boxes, and indicate which box holds the article (One of the other boxes holds an article scented by the judge, while the other eight boxes are empty). 

The UKC HandlerDiscrimination class involves searching for your scented glove in containers.

Note. If learning HandlerDiscrimination in a class environment, like a club, Handler Discriminationwill usually be the first event so that the teams do not contaminate the search area with other target odors. 

THE EQUIPMENT/MATERIALS

For AKC, at the lower levels, you will be able to compete with a sock and at the higher levels with even more precision you will compete using a cotton ball. The person handling your target scent will bring a fresh box over to you and you will drop your sock or cotton ball inside the container.

SCENTING THE ODOR

Let’s talk a little bit about scenting the odor. Well, there are a few ways to do this…

• You could run in the target socks and seal them up for later use

• Sleep in your socks ifthat’’s your thing

• You could store the socks in your dirty clothes hamper

• You could keep it in your bosom area or anywhere close to your skin

• Rub the odor somewhere against your body thoroughly

Bottom line, you need to “cook” the odor to make it very obvious to your pup what he or she is looking for. Unlike the essential oils we usually work with, our human odor scent cone tends to be much less. Your pup will really need to “hunt it out,” which means maybe even leveraging the seems of the container for a hint of your odor.

BUILDING VALUE TO ODER

K9 SCENT WORK/NOSEOWRK BASICS

Place the “burnt-in” sock (cotton ball, glove) in a container and reward the dog for placing his nose on the sock with my scent. Once again, we are appealing to the dog’s natural curiosity and creating a positive association with that particular scent.

You want to start the search very easily so that you set your dog up for success. Over time, you can slowly cover or close the container. Remember, dogs do not generalize as well as people do so you want to make it really obvious what you are asking your dog to do and then slowly increase the difficulty only once you are getting consistent success at the early stages.

Start with one container and then add additional ones - Rotate the containers around and continue with the search, reinforcing when your dog identified the target odor.

PUTTING THE SEARCH ON CUE

LET’S BRING IT ALL TOGETHER

For handler discrimination, I do recommend that you do your part to differentiate this search from when your dog is searching for the essential elements such as Birch, Anise, and Clove.

For instance, I will tell Disney to “Search” when we are looking for the oilsand I will tell him “FindMommy” or “Seek” when looking for handler odor; you can use something different, but keep it consistent with this type of search.

You can even consider switching the outfit or equipment up…for example, instead of running your dog in a harness, maybe use their collar instead to add even more of a differentiating factor to the handler discrimination search.

Check out my Guide on How to Train AKC or UKC Novice Handler Discrimination (K9 Scent Work)



Hi, I’m Geryah! I am a dog lover and enthusiast whose life is enriched every day by the company of my furry friend. I started training dogs in 2017, when I decided to make my passion a reality. I film, edit, and post training and pet photography videos with my GSD, Disney on my YouTube Channel: Dingle Days. My mission is to train dogs and teach people to enable pets to best share in our lives.