Anne Lill Kvam - The Canine Kingdom of Scent: Fun Activities Using Your Dogs Natural Instincts

THE CANINE KINGDOM OF SCENT

Fun Activities Using Your Dogs Natural Instincts

Anne Lill Kvam

Wenatchee, Washington U.S.A.

The Canine Kingdom of Scent

Fun Activities Using Your Dogs Natural Instincts

Anne Lill Kvam

Dogwise Publishing

A Division of Direct Book Service, Inc.

403 South Mission Street, Wenatchee, Washington 98801

509-663-9115, 1-800-776-2665

www.dogwisepublishing.com / info@dogwisepublishing.com

2012 Anne Lill Kvam

First published in Norway in 2005 as Nesearbeid for Hund

Cover design: Brittney Kind

Interior design: Lindsay Peternell

Interior photographs: Annika Petrn, Lydia Zivkovic, Bjrn Owe Holmberg, Anne Lill Kvam, Siri Mller, Silvia Fller, Gerd Khler, Turid Sunde, Esa Viitala, Carl Otto Samuelsen.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, digital or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty:

The author and publisher shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions and suggestions contained in this book.

ISBN 978-1-929242-72-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kvam, Anne Lill, 1960

The canine kingdom of scent : fun activities using your dogs natural instincts / Anne Lill Kvam.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-929242-72-6

1. DogsTraining. 2. DogsSense organs. 3. Smell. 4. Games for dogs. I. Title.

SF431.K83 2011

636.70887dc23

2011022048

Printed in the U.S.A.

More praise forThe Canine Kingdom of Scent

This book is one of my favorites and is required reading for my trainer students. It could easily be one of your favorites, too! It certainly is a one-of-a-kind book on this subject.

Anne Lill has been a treasured colleague and friend for years, and I have enjoyed watching her develop her special interest in nosework on all levels. She has had success in working with new dog owners with no ambition other than having fun with their dogs as well as with people wanting to train advanced scent-discrimination tasks like mine-detection, finding peanut oil in food for allergic people, and many, many other variations of using a dogs incredible nose. She has learned that using the nose is motivation in itself; no other motivation for the dog is needed.

With a background in search and rescue, mine-detection in Africa, ID tracking and other areas of nosework, Anne Lill also enjoys the small things everybody can do with their dogs on a daily basis and making a dogs life so much more meaningful and happy. Her students love the way she teaches and makes the dogs work fun. Anne Lill has nosework workshops and camps all over Europe, and has also been to the US, Canada and Japan. She is a much treasured speaker in many seminars and conferences.

This book will help you get started doing nosework with your dogand your dog will love you for it. For those of who already do nosework with your dog, you will find new, better and easier ways of doing it, as creativity is one of the hallmarks of Anne Lills training methods. And, best of all, your dog does not need to be obedient or know anything at all about nosework. Just read the book and get started!

Turid Rugaas, author of On Talking Terms With Dogs, My Dog Pulls!, and Barking, the Sound of a Language.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This book became a reality after many years of teaching classes for dogs and their owners around the world. What I teach are fun and simple nosework activities for dogs, mainly tracking and scent discrimination. My students range from pet owners to professional dog trainers to search and rescue people, customs officials and police officers. Almost everywhere I teach, my students ask if I have written a book yetand now I have!

While my professional focus is on various kinds of nosework, the real theme of my work with and about dogs is a passion to learn more about them as individuals and as a species, which has led me to a greater respect for their needs, natural language and behavior. The more we ask questions about a dogs habits and instincts, the more we learn about his behaviorand the better trainers we become.

For me, the renewal of my childhood wonder for each animals individuality and personality occurred through an entertaining but strenuous friendship with Chico, a little Vervet monkey, who lived with me in Angola. In order to train him to do something, I had to study his behavior to discover his likes and dislikes and what made him react this way or that way. After two weeks of training and living together, there came a major test: I let him off leash for the first time. The young monkey rushed like a tiny, furry blizzard to the top of a eucalyptus tree 90 to 120 feet high and vanished. After a while, I regained my breath and followed my training plan. I called, Chico, come. From the tree tops, Chico gave a screech of recognition and came scurrying and jumping back to collect his strawberry!

Little Chico, the mind opening monkey.

The training methods described in this book are all free of physical punishment and unpleasantness. I prefer to plan the training so the dog, by herself, will choose to do what I want. It is up to you and me to make sure the pay-off for the dog is motivating enough so the likelihood that she will repeat any desired behavior increases. In the art of dog training, many things can happen, and quick improvisations are needed. This makes it necessary to observe each dog to find out what makes her do what we ask. Because of this, you may have to make your own little adjustments to some of my methods, or recipes as I like to call them. But do not fall for the temptation to help her solve a problem. Rather, devise an entirely new task for your dog that is slightly easier. Remember to always set your dog (and yourself) up for success!

I hope you and your dog will have many wonderful times together as a result of reading this book.

Anne Lill and Chico, the monkey that trained her so well.

When did you last sense the smell of water? My late dog, Troll, could smell water from a long distance. Troll could also hear water, especially when the water was in the form of a cheerful and tempting creek or a waterfall. Of course, I can hear waterfalls, too, but not as far away as she could. On the other hand, Troll could not see people standing still in the distance, although I can. In fact, someone could hide from Troll simply by standing motionless next to a tree in the distance. Troll could only spot the person if he moved.

Troll, the Poodle who taught me so very much.

One day, Troll sat in a chair in my house and barked as she looked out the window. None of us humans in the house could see anything suspicious. But Troll was persistent, and eventually we saw, on the slope about 90 yards away, some roe deer who were moving about between the trees. Were it not for their white tails, none of us humans would have seen the deer, even though Troll could easily see them moving about.