Online Scent Work Classes
SESSION 3 Closed for registration
Session 4 (Competitive Push) opens May 24th
Release Canine Scent Work classes help teach you and your dog about the amazing sport of scent work. In classes, either online or in person, we will work to create clarity and confidence while you both learn to become a strong working team ready to do well in competition.
All classes are listed below. Please select the class you want to register for and choose either to pay online or to pay in person (payment due the first day of class). DETAILS for classes are listed below. Preference is given to continuing students.
All online classes have a weekly "live" lecture on Tuesday evenings on Zoom, which is recorded and available for you to watch up to a year after class finishes. There also is a written lecture with written assignments, sometimes with a video demo or setup help.
For video feedback you will need to upload your videos (to youtube, vimeo, or google drive) and share the video within the forums, guidance on how to do this can be found in the forums. I will regularly be reviewing and commenting on your videos to help you improve! It is up to you how much you participate. Some students sit in on Tuesday evenings and do the assignments at home, others submit several videos per week for feedback. Choose your own adventure!
Please choose only ONE dog to work through online class. I will be giving feedback and watching videos for only one dog (please only post videos for one dog). Thanks! If you have multiple dogs you would like feedback on, you can sign up once with each dog (2 registrations).
Tentative Schedule for 2025:
June 2-July 13: Competitive PUSH ("Always" new class with new topics each time it's offered)
July 21 - August 31: Intro to Odor & Odor Theory for Hide Placement
Sept 8-14: WEBINAR WEEK! Stay tuned for more details!
September 22 - Nov 2: Novice Scent & Competitive Advantage ("Trial Prep")
Classes open for registration roughly 1 week prior to start date.
6-week classes: $130, registration by clicking link below
Online only: Unlimited questions and video feedback.
You will be given a lecture and assignments each week.
Payment is due by the first day of class to reserve your place in class.
Material presented in class builds on the previous week.
Missed classes are not credited forward.
No refunds, or make-up classes. No substitutes if you have to miss a week.
Introduction to Scent - Online Only This class is for new teams that want to learn about the fun game of scent work. You will have the most success if you know how to motivate your dog (food or toy). No prior obedience training is required. Suitable for dogs of all ages. Your dog will learn to recognize birch essential oil, communicate its presence to you, and start working simple search areas. Through this class, your dog will learn to hunt independently and confidently. You will learn about scent work competitions and what is expected from your dog to be ready to start competing. We will use a marking system to create clear understanding of how to earn a reward and to create value on odor. This class is occasionally offered in a “compressed” format that is 4 weeks long. The material is the same, and requires teams to be ready to work each week. The cost is the same as the 6-week class. Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): Tuesday evenings at 6:00pm (No "In-Person" classes)
Novice Scent - Online Only Great for teams that have started competing or have trained to the level to start competing. Dogs should be confidently searching for birch (or more!) in various different environments and have done container and area searches. What you can expect: We will be working on reading your dog, building more confident alerts, and learning how to handle. Each week your dog will be working on different skill-building puzzles while we get to work on your own skills in handling and reading your dog. Topics include: Cleaning/creating communication at the odor source, Buried Hides (AKC), Expectations & Assumptions, Handling foundations, Containers, and Multiple hides (finding UNFOUND odor). Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): Tuesday evenings at 6pm (No "In-Person" classes)
Competitive Push (a “Skills” class) This class is designed for all levels of teams that are competing. Each week will discuss a specific skill, focusing on what the foundation of this skill is and how we can apply it to even the top competitive dogs to create confidence and amazing skill. Assignments each week will be separated by level, it is up to the team to decide what level they would like to work. Topics are based on what I have seen as weaknesses in teams while judging as well as while teaching. Topics in the past have included: Increasing time on source (pooling near source), Handling with containers and vehicles, Multiple hides - from pairs and Triples to CLOSE hides, Distractions – “not always something you can manage, building the skill of your dog to ignore it”, what to do with those COBs, and Pooling Puzzles: Getting out of the pool. Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): TUESDAY evenings at 7pm AZ Time (No "In-Person" classes)
Odor Theory for Better Hide Placement - Online Only - Offered Every Summer This 6-week class will focus on learning how air moves, how it affects odor, how odor moves within a space, and how to use all this information to place hides to target the skills you want to work. Each week you will learn a different element about odor theory and how to apply it. Topics include: •Converging odor – How it applies each week, and how important it is to first understand single hide odor movement before trying to set converging odor puzzles. •Upwind & Downwind - learn to get your bearings and use air direction as an advantage •Wind Speed – learn how different wind speeds can affect a hide and how your dog will work an area •Rising or Sinking - learn how these tricky elements cause hides to sometimes be impossible •Obstructions - learn how different objects can change the direction and way air moves (corners!!!) •Light or Concentrated - learn how different types of concentrations and environmental elements can affect a hide and the availability of odor to your dog. •Aging, Pooling, and Contamination - learn how tendrils of odor can be left behind and no longer lead to a source of odor •Putting things together - How to make things more complex and changing elements to change a hide. The assignments for this class focus on building YOUR skill in setting a good hide. The lectures will help you understand all the elements that go into a good hide, and why hides might become impossible. Each week you will be able to test your knowledge by what you see in your dog’s search, which in turn will make you better in reading your dog! Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): TUESDAY evenings at 7pm AZ Time (No "In-Person" classes)
Competitive Advantage (AKA "Trial Prep") - Online Only - Offered Every Fall This 6-week class will focus on various elements of trialing. This class will focus much more on the handler end of the leash and how to be the best handler for your dog on trial day. We will talk strategy, timing, stress, goals, training plans, and confidence. Each week will have a different topic, and a search to execute the skills and strategies discussed during the class. This class will be an opportunity to review your own trial experiences through trial video review (learn how to do this yourself!) and how to apply learned lessons to the future. The topics include: Purpose, Preparedness, Being Present, Perspective, Pliability, and Post Trial Assessments. Please choose ONE dog to focus on for this class. This class is designed to work on YOU as a handler, but there will be focus on preparing your dog and working through training plans. Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): Tuesday evenings at 7:00pm AZ time.
Driving ALONE to Source - Online Only This 6-week class will focus on building and improving your dog's skills in working odor independently. We will work on various types of independent skills, and discuss how our own actions can impact our dog's ability to do their job. This class is suitable for any dog that is currently competing. There will be assignments each week at various levels of experience, you pick your level of difficulty! This class focuses on building confidence and drive in your dog to lead you through the search (when odor is or isn't present, and through pooling odor), source without "your help" and be able to indicate source, regardless if they can see you! If you have started competing and have been struggling with your dog checking in too much or moving away from you, this is definitely a class for you! Payment either through Paypal on the website, or you can arrange to get me a check/cash/zelle. Please contact me directly if you would like to pay outside of the website. Once payment is received, you will be added to the class. Each week you will learn a different element about independent skills. Topics include: • Independent Hunting/Searching - this is in the absence of odor! •Upper-level dogs can expect to work on this skill in blank searches as well as large empty areas within a search • Independent Sourcing - can your dog work to source, regardless of where you are and what you are doing? •Drive to source - building your dog's desire to source a hide, even when objects are in the way (layering!) •Sourcing without your support - proofing games •Upper-level dogs can expect to do this game with more difficult types of hides, including elevated, deep, inaccessible, threshold, and converging • Independent Indication - Alert behaviors at any distance, even when you are out of sight! •Alert behaviors are often unique to each dog, we aren't removing this element, just making YOUR dog's indication stronger •Building your dog's confidence to indicate, even they can't see you! This class will be a fun change of pace from typical skill building! It's goal is to create a stronger dog in searching (odor obedience!), and make them much less reliant on your own actions or decisions. Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): Tuesday evenings at 7:00pm (No "In-Person" classes)
Handling Tools - Online Only This 6-week class will focus on building skills within the handler to better understand how to respond to their dog's behaviors within the search. It will allow you to learn your dog's COBs more clearly, give you options on what you can do in response to their behaviors, and ultimately, better support your dog for success and joy within the search. Topics will include leash handling, pressure, movement (handler and dog), and selection-type search handling (containers, buried, vehicles) vs. area search handling. The goal of the class is to improve the handler's observational skills, develop the tools in the handler, and build confidence in both ends of the leash. The teams in this class should have a strong understanding that "odor pays" as well as the ability to search independently in new environments. This class will not focus on your dog's indication at source or ability to work specific types of hides. Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): Tuesday evenings at 7:00pm AZ time.
Can't Reach: Inaccessible Hides - Online Only This 3 or 6-week class will focus on building skills within the dog to work inaccessible hides that you may see in the AKC Excellent and higher level, or NACSW NW2 or higher levels. The goal is to build understanding and drive in the dog, and confidence in the handler to read and call inaccessible hides. This class covers elevated hides, deep accessible hides, inaccessible due to reach, and inaccessible due to containment. The teams in this class should have a strong understanding that "odor pays" with accessible hides. Handlers will have a minimal role, mainly as observers, but we will be introducing some proofing. Each week we will be touching on the topic of all three of these types of inaccessible hides. As we go through the weeks, you will be working on slightly different set ups to target a different element of these hides. Each week builds on the previous, but you can choose the level that is appropriate for you and your dog. Each topic will have 3 levels of difficulty. The week’s focus will be to work on a specific skill of that type of hide, but the assignments will differ based on the level of you and your dog. You can choose to work any level (or all) of the assignments, keeping in mind that these skills need to be practiced and worked through experience! I do not expect that a dog can move from Level 1 to Level 3 necessarily all in one week, but it can be a good measure of what to work! Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): Tuesday evenings at 7:00pm AZ time (No "In-Person" classes)
Making Containers FUN again! - Online Only Do you struggle with containers? Do buried searches drive you crazy? Are you plagued with false alerts? Feel like you will "never" pass this element? This class is for you! Each week we will be working on building you & your dog's joy for this element, creating clarity through targeted and thoughtful training. You will learn how your own actions affect your dog's ability to do this search, and we will be teaching your dog to learn how to WORK containers. Each week will have a written lecture as well as a zoom "online lecture". You can expect to see video examples of your homework to help you know what to do! Suitable for ALL levels of competition. You will need to have several types of containers, a detailed list will be posted in the forums. This class focuses on the skills needed for "selection" type searches. If you want to focus on buried throughout the class, there will be a section for you to apply the lessons specifically to AKC buried. If you want to ONLY do containers, there will be lots of information for you as well! Live online lecture (attendance optional, meeting is recorded): TUESDAY evenings at 7pm AZ Time (No "In-Person" classes)
IN PERSON classes
I have several in-person classes held in Phoenix, AZ. These classes are first priority to those who are continuing from previous sessions. My in-person classes are full at this time.
Classes include: Upper level competition (AKC Master/Detective or NW3/Elite); Advanced Competition (Advanced to Excellent Level AKC or NW1/2).
Classes are held day time and evening on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Private 1-on-1 Services
1-week of unlimited Private Coaching OR One-hour private online zoom session ($50)
-
Any Topic
-
Build a training plan specialized for YOUR team.
-
We will create an action list (checklists!) of things you can work on to improve your weaknesses
-
I will have different setups and exercises that you can do to target these skills
-
-
Zoom 1-on-1 room available to discuss or do live feedback (used for the 1-hour option). (contact me to arrange meeting time, the schedule in online booking is not updated with my schedule)
In-Person Private Lessons - ($100 - 1 hour)
-
Please contact me for availability - Currently booking at least 1 month out.
-
The location could be my home or a nearby park or space, depending on my schedule and topics needed to be worked.
Trial Video Review - ($30)
-
This is a great opportunity to have me take a look at your trial videos! You can submit up to 10 minutes of trial video (multiple videos ok), and I will take a look at them and put together a video review that is recorded and for you to watch on your own time!
-
Review will include feedback on your dog’s behavior, your handling, as well as possible training plans to help address issues that were noted in the videos!
If you are struggling to book online, you may need to delete your cookies (or alternatively you can open a "Inprivate" (Edge), "Incognito" screen (chrome), "Private" (safari). Updates to the website background can accidentally reroute you if you've signed up for classes in the past.
50 US dollars
30 US dollars