Can a dog be trained to smell?

[270.Rose]

Just out of curiosity, can you train a dog to follow a scent if they seem to have zero natural ability?
We have a family dog who is two years old and is a shelter mutt (the story is that a border collie came in starving with a litter of mix'n'match puppies, and he was the runt of the puppies. He could have some greyhound, or some lab, or someone suggested a boxer, but it's something larger than a border collie.) He is not the brightest bulb in the box and his primary responsibility is to be protective of the children and teach them the responsibility of having a pet, which he excels at. Our five year old can walk him around the neighborhood on the leash, and he knows useful tricks like 'wipe your feet on the towel when you come in the door'. He loves to go on hikes, so just for grins and giggles I thought it would be fun to teach him something useful for hunting. He has fantastic drive to retrieve, and will continue to chase and bring back anything thrown for him until he literally drops from exhaustion. Bones, toys, sticks, snowballs, he doesn't care, he just loves to fetch. It's fun to watch him catch and retrieve snowballs until they melt. He's also working on the 'bring it' command, so that he carries his own toys to and from the park down the street and doesn't let them go until cued.
But if he doesn't see the object thrown and see it land, he's a total ditz and can't find it. He'll chase a rabbit or a squirrel if he sees it run by (he's super obedient about being called off the chase too, which is a point in his favor), but his nose can almost touch a toy or a treat and he has to see it to find it. He has a neon orange bone shaped toy that he loves, but he can't find it on a concrete driveway if he doesn't see you throw it and watch where it lands. He'll make an honest effort to run out and look for it, but he'll only find it if he trips over it. I can drop a piece of raw meat on the kitchen floor and then call him into the room and he won't find it unless I actively show it to him.
So I'm just wondering, how would you go about training a dog to follow a scent?
Also, he's practice for if I ever get a hunting dog with actual instinct to do hunting things, it will in theory be easier to train if I've practiced already

 

[Devil Diver Down]

My GSP had a natural stink to him. No training required.

 

[Moserkr]

I taught my dog the word and action to smell. Just held food to my nose and sniffed. Then said the word and held it to his nose. At first they try to eat it, then quickly learn to just smell first. This dog had a great natural nose and tracking ability.

Take that then apply it to a scent on the ground. Drag scent lines longer and longer. Not sure if that will work with a dog that does not have a good natural nose.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Yes, dogs can be trained to detect and identify various scents through a process called scent training. Dogs have a highly developed sense of smell, making them excellent candidates for scent detection work.

 

[Dakotakid]

My wife’s dog has learned to use her nose. I started with go find where we hide the treat and she has to sniff it out. I have also had her on blood trails.
She is not in the gifted and talented class but with focus and training I could get her to find Timmy in the well.

 

[OpenCountry]

With a puppy you can always try to wrap a rag with the scent of choice around his food bowl so every time he gets fed he correlates the two together or place it under the food bowl as well. Then start small drags as mentioned above and add length as he starts progressing with the same scent. Might be worth a shot with a little older dog like yours. Training sessions don’t need to be long at all to start out with.

 

[270.Rose]

Good advice thanks heaps everyone!! We'll give it a try!

 

[Bill Zent]

Dogs have better noses than humans so they have the ability to use them for almost any scent. Training is best just after weening and Dad was known for his excellent tracking Beagles. Older dogs may take a little more time.

Border Collies are known for their brains and are very quick learners. Dad also raised and trained Border sheep dogs as we ran around three thousand head a year.

With a little time your dog should do the trick for you. Borders can be timid, have their feelings hurt easy, so don't push the training and always give a reward when they do good. A dogs wish is to please you so show it affection afterwards.

 

[LQ9]

I'm quite interested in doing this too. I've seen it on Dog Borstal where they were hiding a toy or treats under cones then letting the dog find it.

 

[howl]

That's an odd combination of playing with fire and wasting your time. You can annoy the snot out of a smart dog until it does what you want somewhat but it'll never be as good nor as consistent as a purpose bred canine. You can annoy a stupid dog until it just learns to avoid you.

Don't waste time on a cull. Get a dog bred to do what you want from a cross proven to produce what you want.

 

[beaglegun]

Beagle hounds can smell better then their brains can allow them track properly

 

[TwistedSage]

If your dog doesn't know that you want it to start tracking or following it's nose then you need to be clear/ build in a command for it.

This can be just going to a hotspot for the scent and tapping on the spot while giving a verbal- ie go find it

Vienna weenies are great for early training. Keep the area small and set the dog up for success. Small hallway, make a 5 foot drag of a weenie with a couple at the end. Bring dog up with leash or lead. Tap the beginning hot spot, along with your chosen verbal command. If your dog doesn't start following encourage him along the line tapping to the treats. Repeat keeping training fun and short at first, not getting frustrated is key. Figure out how to communicate with and read your dog. Make the training harder as you go. But starting small in a no fail situation will build confidence and drive home the command, make it incremenely harder and if they aren't keeping up take a step back and develop the basics more. Don't skip steps or go from a small hallway right to a big yard with intermittent scent trails..
Eventually they will understand your verbal command means they should be putting thier nose down, it's time to find something.

 

[Bonasababy]

Never seen a dog that didn't have a nose a lot better than any of us do. Enhancing and bringing that out can be done in training, have to figure out what motivates the dog and make it a game. Be consistent with commands and they'll surprise you.

I've used "find it" for everything from a downed bird they didn't see go down to a ball tossed in the woods.

 

[Don Fischer]

I suspect that the dog has already forgot more about smelling things than you'll ever be able to tech it! Get something for your dog it really really likes the eat and drag it around outside and hide it. Then walk your dog through the area and just watch it. I'd bet it will find that treat without your help!

 

[hank4elk]

Get them near a pasture, and they will smell.

 

[Robert N]

Really simple starting idea: get a couple plastic salad bowls and the kitchen floor. Put the bowls on the ground upside down and put dog treats under only one of the bowls.

If he goes after the bowl (*and he’s going to have to work a bit to flip the bowl over) then you absolutely know the dog can smell.

Now associate a favorite toy under the bowl…like a ball. If they bring the ball to you, they get a treat. (Two step process, uncover the ball, and bring it to you).

Then up the ante with a ball scented with what you want the dog to find.