Tests involving a dog’s sense of smell are one of the fastest growing areas of competitions today. They are fun for dogs and people alike, the training is fun and easy, and no fancy equipment is necessary. Scent Games not only offers invaluable training advice for participating in these events but has challenging new games to keep you and your dog’s skills sharp. It is one book you must have for your collection.
Debby Kay has been a pioneer in many areas of scent detection work. Her highly acclaimed Super Sniffer® program has been taught in over 20 countries around the world.
What experts are saying about Super Sniffer Scent Games:
From a master on scent detection, Scent Games is more than training, it is a wonderful way to develop the human-animal bond. The dogs have to think on their own. With this kind of training, you can go to whatever level you want to achieve.
—Mark Hines, Kong® Lead Behavior and Training Specialist
Give your dog a break from boring obedience commands, and let them use their instincts! Debby Kay now shows everyone how to develop your dog’s natural scenting abilities in a fun and practical format. She takes the mystery out of scent detection training. and brings it to the everyday pet owner. 5 barks!
—Camilla Gray, author of Lipstick on a Leash and owner of Dairydell Canine
All our dogs and handlers had a blast trying out the scent games with Debby Kay. Can’t wait to play some more.
—Joan Dandy, owner of Dandy Dog Training
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Super Sniffer Scent Games A Guide to Having Fun with Your Dog
Scent work has taken off around the world in recent years with all sorts of providers delivering programmes as workshops or franchises; often offering their own systems of progression of awards as well as trials for the pot hunter. Debbie is no exception; however she does have a very sound background in the field in the US, with over 40 years’ experience. I strongly suggest that the true novice would benefit from reading her earlier publication, Super Sniffer ™ Drill Book, A workbook for Training Detector Dogs before embarking on this so that they have established a firm foundation before going “freestyle”. In the very short introduction, the author is at pains to emphasise the importance of the correct mindset before embarking on nose work and underlines it is an activity very much based on teamwork. Sample management is gone into in some detail stressing the importance of contamination, containers, and content or “The Three Cs” as Debby calls them. A whole chapter is devoted to The Scent Wheel along with an appendix on how to construct one, very useful for the true enthusiast or instructor. Teaching the Room Search Pattern (including baggage searches) and Outdoor Search Areas is covered before the writer gets down to the Games section which is divided into Discrimination, Tracking and Water Games (1). Some of these are designed for more than one participant. It should be mentioned here that not all handlers/dogs will be able to participate in all games as they will differ in skill levels and experience. There is a very useful troubleshooting section a key to game types, useful list of supplies/equipment as well as further reading. Score sheet templates are provided already for a competition and pro tips throughout and collected as a group at the end and handy note pages. This could be an interesting adjunct to the library of the scent work instructor however I am not sure of its overall value to the general enthusiast.
