Scent Wheel: Day 1

INTRODUCING the SCENT WHEEL

I found a lovely 18" circle of sanded but unfinished wood at Rona. I got a roll of industrial-strength Velcro and 2 different sizes of pill bottles. I put Velcro on the wood circle and on the bottom of the big pill bottles. I stuck 1 big bottle on the outside of the circle.

I put a tea bag in one small bottle, held it in my hand, and asked Which One? She touched it and I rewarded, then I asked again and she touched and got nothing, so she touched longer and got rewarded. I repeated that 15 times, then I dropped the small bottle in the big bottle on the circle and asked Which One? and Syn immediately spun around and started searching the room. Then I took the small bottle in my hand again and moved it gradually over 5 reps to the board on the floor.

Then I told her to come in the room and just indicated the board. She went right to it, snuffled around, found the scent, lay down, looked at me, stood up, and punted the bottle across the room. Syn 1, Velcro 0.

OK, I knew that was going to happen. Then I got a flattish exercise ball with a holder and put the board on it. This brought the bottle up to low muzzle height. Much better. She tried putting her paw on it a couple of times but I said No and encouraged her to look again. She tried going over the ball/board to get to the bottle on the other side, but I cued her to Go Around. Two Go-Arounds and she understood that she had to walk around it.

So she found the scent x10. Some I rewarded with a piece of kibble. Some I asked for a longer touch and then rewarded. Some I asked for a longer touch and then tossed the kibble away. She enjoyed the chase and that gave me time to turn the board.

Then I added another big bottle with a little bottle in it. In the little bottle was some crumpled paper. The paper and the tea bag looked so much alike, I occasionally had to search for the string to know I was looking at the tea bag. 3 more reps, all successful, and I added another. Once in a while she'd go wandering off to search the room, which I let her do, and she'd come back and find the scent on the board. I repeated each new bottle 3 times, then added another, until we had all 6 on the board.

At this point she tried indicating the first bottle she came to, but she got nothing for it so she went back to searching.

She totally understands this game. She'll need more practise to have the stamina on a continuing basis, and she DEFINITELY needs work on the touch-indicator, since I asked for a touch, then a down, and then nothing at all which morphed naturally into a retrieve.

Her indicators at present include a down, trying to lick the tea bag in the little bottle, and nibble on the bottle to try to retrieve it.

The exercise ball. The gray ring is the base to hold the ball steady.

The two pill bottles, the large Velcroed to the board, with crumpled paper inside the smaller bottle.