Expedition K9 is proud to present

Laurel Scarioni
NACSW™ Certifying Official & AKC Expert Judge
 

Two special topics with education and working spots for Nose Work dogs and handlers

Day One: What’s that smell? Understanding odor movement and how to use this understanding to train and trial confidently and with purpose.

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Day Two: Drawing a blank on blank areas? Understanding the training process and confidently trialing with blank rooms and areas 

March 7th and 8th, 2020

Glendale Springs Fire Department, 7479 NC Highway 16 South, Jefferson, NC 28640

With the explosion in popularity of the nose work/scent work competition venues, it pays huge dividends for handlers to understand how to systematically and successfully train their dogs. When a handler understands specific training exercises, they can in turn present those exercises to their dogs without misunderstanding and confusion. Confusion can turn the excitement and fun of Nose Work into something a dog loses enjoyment in.  Developing a great search dog and handler team begins with a training program tailor-made for the dog in front of you. The handler must understand how to set up exercises appropriately to put in place the building blocks of continued success. In addition, knowing how to transfer knowledge to an actual competition search will improve your success in trails!

Day one of the seminar will focus on understanding odor so that you can make the best training choices, and in day two, how to advance your training and trialing as blank rooms and search areas become part of your skill level. All exercises and training will be done with the goal of having fun and increasing the bond of love and trust between handler and dog. The seminar will offer a variety of training exercises for the handlers and dogs with working spots, and the opportunity for auditors to concentrate on the overall learning experience with the advantage of written material designed to give them guidance as they return home to train their own dogs.  Laurel will discuss the basics of odor movement and flow, and how this affects the hides we set and the exercises we do with our dogs in training. She’ll also cover what things we need to think about before we search an area during competition.  Beginning training for blank rooms requires much concentration on the handler’s part. Learning to read your dog’s body language is key to making those “unknown” blank areas easy to identify.   Laurel is an expert at reading dogs and helping handlers see even the smallest of signals they should attend to. ​
 

Saturday, March 7th, 9:00 a.m.- 5 p.m. 

What’s That Smell?
Lecture/Video/Discussion/Working teams

Sunday, March 8th, 9:00 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Drawing a Blank on Blank Areas? 
Lecture/Video/Discussion/Working teams

Working dog teams will be (pending review of registration and acceptability based on their skill level and ability to meet the requirements below) on a first come, first served basis. Please be sure to read the cancellation policy below before registering. 
There will only be 7 working dog spots in order to give handlers and dogs more personalized attention. 

Once registration opens, we will accept working dog/handler team applications until the 7 spots have been filled. We will then notify you via email that you will be filling a spot and a link to pay for your spot will be sent via email. You must pay within 48 hours or you will forfeit your space as a working team. 

Dog requirements:

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• Participating dogs should be working successfully on birch, anise and clove. Passing an ORT for each odor is not required but highly recommended.

• A title is not required, but because the purpose of the demonstration day is illustrate dogs working odor challenges, dogs should be very driven, resilient to challenging environments, should have strong odor obedience - meaning the drive to odor/source should override all other aspects of the environment, and be comfortable being watched by a large group of people.

• Dogs who have less experience or understanding of odor or who can become easily distracted by the environment would not be well suited for a working spot for this seminar.

• Additionally, dogs who are very environmentally sensitive or reactive/aggressive with people or more than mildly reactive with other dogs would not be well suited for this type of demonstration. 

• Dogs must be able to stay quietly in their vehicles or in a crate, out of sight from their handlers. Handler will need to bring bedding, cool covers, pop-ups, fans or whatever your dog needs to be made comfortable and cool/warm enough in between working exercises.

• Only one dog/handler team per household will be selected but you may submit more than one of your dogs for consideration.