What you’ll learn about dogs and their amazing sense of smell:
- A dog’s nose is its superpower
- Dogs can be trained to use scent to discern cardiac incidents, diabetic episodes, and seizures minutes before they occur
- Dogs can also detect cancer using scent
- Your dog identifies you through scent and keeps track of you at home and out on the trails
- Sharing daily life with your dog creates a deep shared intimacy and connection- trust this connection and your dog’s amazing sense of scent when practicing Free Range Dog skills out on the trail
Welcome to another episode of Free Range Dogs Podcast
In this episode, we are speaking with Kristi Smith, the Head Trainer at Dog Trainer, U.S., and the Canine Development Center in Peoria, Arizona. Kristi shares that these training centers focus on three basic areas: 1) Pets, 2) Behavior Modification, and 3) Scent Work: Search and Rescue, Therapy, and Facility and Service Dogs.
In this episode, we are primarily discussing Scent Work. Kristi is an acknowledged expert in dog training and the process of developing a dog’s sense of scent to help people in a myriad of ways. Since the early 2000’s she has worked with clients literally all over the world.
Although a dog’s sense of smell is extremely powerful, Kristi shares that it is difficult to get people to understand the role scent plays in your everyday life with a dog. Dogs SEE the world through their nose… not their eyes.
This episode discusses the multitude of ways dogs are trained to use their superpower to help humans: finding IEDs in war zones, alerting to cardiac, diabetic, or seizure events prior to their happening to allow for immediate help; identifying the presence of cancer; and locating lost or perished humans.
Kristi discusses the differences between Canine and Human languages, and how training a remote collar creates a bridge for effective communication and learning. A collar can provide a “tap on the shoulder” to a dog and is the “fastest, clearest, and most stable” method for communicating and training a dog. This bridge extends not just to scent work training but is also invaluable in training your dog to become a Free Range Dog hiking off-leash on trails with you.
You will love hearing this episode about the superpower of dogs- their noses and ability to smell the world. Understanding that your dog’s way of perceiving the world is so different from human’s visual perceptions is a step towards deeper connections with your dog and learning to trust him out on the trail. Your Free Range Dog will find its way back to you by your scent! Who knew?
Featured in this episode
Persons being interviewed: Kristi Smith, Head Trainer at Dog Trainer, U.S., and the Canine Development Center in Peoria, Arizona. https://dogtrainerus.com