Nosework Scent Detection Class Toronto

Scent Detection

Your dog’s got an amazing nose! Train them to use it! Dogs using their nose benefit from:

  • Enrichment from being able to express their natural instincts to sniff
  • Mental stimulation from having to use that sense to perform a specific job
  • Reduced stress and boredom at home, in just 5-10 minutes of scent detection per day

In this course, we’ll teach you how to train your dog to search for, detect, and indicate they’ve found a specific scent. Exactly how working dogs are trained to detect bed bugs, flora and fauna, contraband, and even medical conditions in patients.

Students must obtain their own equipment, most is from the Dollar Store, other than Essential Oil:

  • Wintergreen Essential Oil (or whichever odour you wish to train for)
  • Q-Tips
  • Airtight jar to store scented q-tips
  • Tweezers and gloves to handle odour
  • 1 x Kitchen Colander
  • 4 x Cosmetic tins, or Tupperware containers (condiment sized), with holes cut in top
  • 4 x Larger Tupperware Containers, identical style, with hole cut in the top
  • Blu-tack adhesive

Curriculum:

  1. Handling and preparing scent, scent tins, and pairing the odour.
  2. Building motivation to conduct search work, hot and cold boxes.
  3. Building commitment to remain and indicate the detection of the target odour.
  4. Proofing, and doing a blind search.

K. Turner

“Rachael was absolutely wonderful – she is experienced, knowledgeable and makes you feel super comfortable and confident. She gave us great tips, answered all of our questions, and was overall an excellent teacher (showing us by example and then having both my husband and I try). We had moved condo buildings and our dog had become reactive to some of the new dogs in the building and in just 2 sessions with Rachael he has improved so much. He now seems relaxed and secure and excited about his new routine and skills.  How much she cares about dogs comes across and you can tell she really wants to help.”

– K. Turner

Steph, Dylan, & King

“We are thrilled with how far King has come!

King is a rescue from the Toronto Humane Society and we got him a little over a month ago. He’s about a year and a half and to say he’s full of energy is an understatement. When we first got him we were told he was very dog aggressive, and probably wouldn’t do well in a condo.

Enter Stephanie – Within the first few minutes of meeting her we knew she was perfect for us. She’s extremely knowledgeable, confident, and you can just tell she loves dogs. She was very patient with the 3 of us and gave us confidence in our training. Without Stephanie we would have never realized how smart King is, and how much potential he has. “

– Steph, Dylan & King!

Tom and Deborah

“A year after our private sessions with Andre, our beagle Jake sits on our front porch and watches dogs walk by without aggression — dogs that used to set him off on sight at any distance. We continue to use food rewards on walks and have reduced fear-aggression responses to a rarity. He no longer guards the porch when the postman, delivery people or friends approach. Can’t tell you how grateful we are for Andre’s sound advice.”

– Tom and Deborah

Lauren R.

“We had an absolutely fantastic experience here. When we adopted our dog, Corky, she didn’t even know her name and didn’t know any commands. By the end of the Foundations Skills Class she knows a ton — how to sit, lay down and even go to bed! Most of all, the trainers gave us the skills and knowledge to train Corky on an ongoing basis. The trainers are awesome and always give individual feedback about your dog. Corky had a blast going to class.”

– Lauren R

Lauren K.

“My husband and I took the Puppy Start Right classes with our pup when we first got him. Two years later I still think it’s the best thing we’ve done so far as pet “parents”. In addition to teaching him the basics and teaching us how to properly train our pup, I think the early socialization made a huge difference in terms of how he interacts with other dogs. We take him to doggy daycare a few times a week and every time we pick him up the staff comments on how good he is with other dogs (even the ones who don’t typically play well with others).
The classes at When Hounds Fly were fun, informative and taught us how to train our dog instead of just focusing on teaching obedience and tricks. If you have a new puppy, I highly recommend the Puppy Socialization class.”

– Lauren K

Program Tuition

$240 plus HST for the four week program

For details regarding class/training policies, please see our Policy page:

Where and When?

Dundas West – Mondays 8pm with Luca. Jan 8-Jan 29. Sold Out!

Dundas West – Mondays 8pm with Luca. Feb 12-March 11. Sold Out!

Riverdale – Sundays 3:30pm with Stephanie. Jan 14-Feb 11 (Skips Jan 21). Sold Out!

Riverdale – Sundays 3:30pm with Stephanie. March 3-March 24. Sold Out!

 

Okay, I’m Ready to Go!

This is an advanced class.  Dogs must have finished all Foundation Skills classes first.

Trained Elsewhere? Challenge our Evaluation Module and pass to get access.

Login to our class calendar system, purchase credit(s) and register for available spots.

If you are a returning student and do not have a login on our new platform, please email info@whenhoundsfly.com to request a login.