The program commences with an introduction to basic groundwork for truffle scent training including games and exercises to strengthen your bond with your canine and boost confidence. It proceeds with a step-by-step guide to include how to create reliable alerts and strengthen searching behaviors.

Objective: By the end of the course most student’s dogs will be able to:

• Identify the source scent of a truffle.
• Locate a hidden truffle indoors with limited distractions.
• Begin developing consistent alert behaviors.

Success Criteria:

• When presented with more than one identical targets, the dog will correctly identify the one containing truffle scent with at least 80% accuracy.
• When given a verbal cue, the dog will correctly locate a single hidden target indoors 4 out of 5 times without showing signs of frustration or stress.
• When locating a truffle scent, the dog demonstrates an initial identifiable alert with 90% consistency.

Lesson Plan:

Week 1:

Designing Sessions for Optimum Learning

Scent Imprinting/ Identifying the Correct Scent

Basic Indoor Box

Week 2:  

Shaping an Alert

How Scent Moves

Week 3: 

Teaching Reliable Alerts

Intermediate Indoor Box Hides

Week 4: 

Advanced indoor box hides

Week 5: 

Advanced Indoor Hides (without boxes)

Week 6: 

Multiple Hot Targets

Scent Discrimination

Exercises and Assignments:

Each lesson will include written instructions and video demonstrations for exercises.