Food tubes - this is how we begin to teach scent articles

Crispin-Little gets a belly rub after a successful training session.  Learning is SOOO stressful.

Spent the morning helping out at an obedience training match at Companion Dog Training.  I got to run a bunch of dogs through an Open routine which was very fun. I find it amazing how much you learn about dogs, dog training and dog (and people) behaviour when you play "judge" for the day and get the opportunity just to observe. 

Rowan and Crispin are the dogs that I'm currently working on obedience training with (that's obedience, the dog sport, as opposed to obedience as in behaving one's self).  While we were on vacation, Rowan and Crispin both spent a whole bunch of time working on scenting.  Crispin picked it up very quickly and soon figured out how to reward herself by popping open the food tube (they used to hold M&Ms, now they hold cheese).  Rowan and I are struggling with the same exercise.  Rowan seems to think that scent articles are about retrieving, so he quickly picks up and brings back the first article he sees.  I'm still working on convincing him that it's the SCENTED article I want.  Other than that, he's about ready for me to start taking him to some matches and getting some ring experience.