How to train scent discrimination?

At the dog training our GSD goes to she is going to be starting scents, If anyone has any tips on how to start etc please share. I have been told to carry a cloth round with me all week and get her really intrested in it.

Provided that your dog knows what 'find' means scent discrimination is really very easy for a dog. Make sure that you never touch the dummies and, when you are starting, have the dummies pegged down to prevent your dog making a mistake. Some dogs will work better on a freshly scented article. They do not need much scent to distinguish which is yours so no need to carry it around for days.

Start off with only two or three dummies and build up gradually. Are you using all cloths or do you have to do wood, leather, & metal as well?

we have been told to use a square piece of cotton

when i took her out in the evening i used to take her food with me let her stay and put the food every day a bit further away the trail i used to lay was take a little food out rub it or lay it on the ground this worked fine she learnt it in no time, when she new that she had to find i used other articales and a reward

Do you need any futher explanation on how to teach scent discrimination?

Its just weird to think that how the hell is the dog gona understand to get the one i have had.

He will find the cloth because it carries your scent My dogs can find, by scent alone, articles of any material that I have touched - wood, cloth, leather, metal, plastic, etc., from among a pile of similar articles untouched by me. It's not difficult for a dog when you think how powerful their sense of smell is. Think about bomb detection dogs, arson dogs, cadaver dogs, tracking dogs, etc. They work on minute scent molecules to find their targets

Scent discrimination is one of the easiest exercises to teach

If you are in the UK all scent is now done on cloths & the way I teach it is to use two blank cloths & one hot one, The blanks are covered with a tile(you can use a tile alone)& I put a very small titbit on my cloth

I do teach the hold & pick up of the cloth separately

The dog does not need masses of scent so you don't need to carrry thecloth around with you all day & I lay out the cloths out of sight if the dog

When the dog actually grasps the idea of scent & checks the cloths & indicates the right one loads & praise & reward

It is something that needs quite carefully teaching to ensure the dog understands what it is required to do

You can develop a hot cloth by rubbing your hands together & then the cloth LOL it is one time when sweaty palms can be a bonus !

It is amazingly easy for a dog to pick up your scent. I have many times lobbed a stick over the river into the woods and Woody has come back with the exact same one, despite me only having contact with the stick for about 3 seconds!
Incredible really!

Off topic but please don't throw sticks for your dog this link will explain all :smt009 :smt089

Stick to toys