Right On The Nose Scent Challenge

Dog Scouts is celebrating dog snouts this September.  Join us on a scent safari that provides opportunities for your dog to seek, search, sniff and snuffle for a full thirty days this Fall.  

Nosey dogs of all ages and abilities can learn, develop and hone their skills in finding target odor and as you participate in these aroma adventures you’ll add another dimension to understanding your dog’s world and his communication of it.  

How It Works

During September, two daily scent challenges will be posted on the event’s private Facebook group:

Novice Nose activities are perfect for handlers starting out in scentwork, looking to build confidence and shape an obvious alert while increasing their understanding of how and where odor may be detected and sourced.  Novice Nose handlers have access to Super Sniffer activities so they can continue their scent journey after the challenge is completed.  

Super Sniffer activities provide novel ways to revitalize nosework training, reinforce odor obedience, increase comprehension of search factors and enhance the dog/handler teamwork.  Super Sniffer handlers have access to the Novice Nose activities for beginning steps in new concepts and to pull in some simpler searches to boost a dog's confidence and maintain a great search ethic.

All participants will receive a “Right On The Nose” Scent Kit and a participation patch.  Scent kit contains four labeled storage containers with pre-scented Q-tips (Birch, Anise, Clove & Cypress), four mini tubes, a magnetized tin, sticky dots and a pair of tweezers ($20 value).

A materials list will be posted to the FaceBook group to enable participants to gather any additional household items recommended to complete the daily challenges.

All proceeds from this scent event will go to furthering the mission of Dog Scouts of America (a national 501(c)3 non-profit). Note:  During the setup of this challenge, we had to choose a location for the event to be based, so we chose Michigan Dog Scout Camp, the happiest place on earth, but this odor odyssey is open to everyone and can be enjoyed no matter where in the world you’re searching!  

If you and your dog enjoy participating in scent activities, Dog Scouts of America offers a number of scent-related merit badges both in the Nose Work and Competitive Sports categories; we'll also soon be adding a new badge in the Trails & Outdoors category -  GeoScenting - which gets your dog actively involved in the "treasure-hunting" fun of GeoCaching.