The other day I started working on Sue Ailsby’s scentwork with both Katy and Ellie.

The first step, at Level 3, is taking a single item and placing a piece of food under it and then letting the dog find the food. I used both a towel and some big plastic party cups. Both dogs “got” the game and found the food.

The next step, at Level 4, requires the assistance of a stranger. I took two of the plastic party cups to work and had my co-worker handle them for about 30 seconds each. He then put them back in a plastic bag and I didn’t touch them.

Today I took out one of the cups, being careful not to put my hand in the bag or to touch Ben’s cup and put my scent on the one that I pulled out. We played the game where I put just a little bit of cream cheese on the cup and send Ellie to “find it”.

After about eight successful “finds” and three times when she picked up the cup and brought it to me, I brought out Ben’s cup and placed it next to mine (mine has writing on it so that I can tell the difference between the two cups). Ellie found my cup about eight out of ten times. I changed the relative position of my cup on each trial so that she wasn’t picking the cup based on it’s positioning. Twice, I set the cup down while she was in a sit-stay in the other room, so she couldn’t watch me put it down. She got those right as well.

As Sue indicates, the hard part for the dog isn’t the scent discrimination. It’s learning that what I want is for her to pick the one that smells like me! The only thing that I wonder about (well not the only thing) is whether she’s playing this like the hot/cold game. I don’t think she is - as she’s going straight to the correct cup at a high rate. But, I’ll have to work a few more sessions to determine if I think she really get’s that it’s my scent that she’s working for. The other difference between this and the H/C game besides the fact that I had Ben stink up the cups is that the items are identical in appearance. When we play the H/C game, I use items that are very different physically from each other.

L2 Distance - Dog goes out around pole from 2′ away
L3 Distance - Dog goes out around pole from 4′ away

L3 Front - Dog hits center line of front ray diagram at least three out of five times

L2 Handling - Dog allows for handling of feet, tail and ears. Minimal fussing

L2 Leash Manners - Handler stays in one spot. Dog maintains loose leash for one minute.

It’s about time I do this Level One Homework. Ellie has tested up to level seven on some of the behaviors and still haven’t completed MY homework.

Five things I hope to accomplish by training the levels:

1. All around good behavior from my dog(s)
2. Increased awareness on my part in the planning and design of training sessions. I don’t want to keep my criteria too easy for too long nor do I want to raise the criteria too quickly. Record keeping will help with this.
3. Increased eye contact and attention in challenging situations.
4. Solid foundation of self-control for future obedience and agility training.
5. The ability to use eye contact to move my dog (Sue demonstrated this at her seminar and it’s really cool to watch)

To work on:

Level Three Watch (Required) The dog finds the handler’s face and holds eye contact for 30 seconds with as many voice cues as necessary. Glancing away is acceptable but any prolonged look is not.

Level Three Down Stay (Required) The dog Downs and stays while the handler walks 20′ out, stays for one minute and comes back. One cue is allowed for the Down, and two cues for the Stay. There will be one mild distraction. (Tested and failed - she only stayed for about 45 seconds and then went into a sit.) Work on duration and maintaining position. (work Level Two outside on the long line!)

Level Three Sit Stay (Required) The dog Sits and stays while the handler walks 20′ out, stays away for 30 seconds, and comes back. One cue is allowed for the Sit, and two cues for the Stay. There will be one mild distraction. (tested and she broke the sit after about 45 seconds. Increase duration)

Level Four Sit Test this! The dog sits from a down with one cue.