Here are some resources and helpful tips so you may get started with Cyber Scent Work, Inc.
Ideal Video Submission Example
This video demonstrates what to include:
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show the search area
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indicate where the hides are
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indicate where the distractors are
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keep the dog and handler in view
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handler calls "ALERT" and "FINISH"
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assistant says "YES"
Thank you to Deb and Daci for this fantastic video!
Search Examples
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Are you stumped on how to design your searches?
See visual examples of searches for each level and element!
Get ideas for your own searches, be creative and have fun!
These are only suggestions. Searches do NOT need to follow or mimic these images.
Odor Resources and Tips
Recommended odor vendors
We recommend the following reputable vendors:
Odor preparation
BEGINNER - INTERMEDIATE LEVELS
For the Beginner-Intermediate levels, hides are expected to be prepared following the “24-hour” cooking method.
Here is a video demonstrating how to prepare your odor.
You will need the following:
one large canning jar
two smaller canning jars
Minimum of 50 cotton swabs (with the paper straws) cut in half
Here are the steps for using this odor preparation method:
The large canning jar is for holding your odor oil vial and dropper (which should be stored OUTSIDE the odor vial itself, since the essential oils are corrosive).
Fill one of the smaller canning jars with the cotton swab halves.
Draw up some oil in the dropper and place 3-5 drops on the inner wall of the smaller canning jar with the cut cotton swabs.
Return any unused oil back into the oil vial, close it, place the dropper OUTSIDE the vial and return the vial and dropper to the large canning jar.
Close the smaller canning jar and shake it for several minutes.
Allow this to sit and “cook” for 24-hours. NO formal cooking is necessary. We are simply allowing the odor vapors to permeate all the cotton swabs.
In 24-hours, you may insert 3-5 scented cotton swabs into an odor vessel (e.g. metal tin, straw, tube, etc.) to place within the search area.
After a search is done, these scented cotton swabs may be removed from the odor vessel and placed into the second smaller canning jar. These scented cotton swabs may be reused for a few months in your practice sessions.
ADVANCED - EXPERT LEVELS
For the Advanced-Expert levels, hides are expected to be prepared by placing 2-drops of oil directly onto a single cotton swab (with the paper straws) and only 1 scented cotton swab may be placed into an odor vessel (e.g. metal tin, straw, tube, etc.).
Once a search is done, scented cotton swabs should be removed from the odor vessel and stored inside a small canning jar. These may be reused for a few months in your practice sessions.
Loading odor vessels
Here is a video showing how odor vessels should be loaded.
Target novel odors require special attention and handling to ensure we are not inadvertently contaminating the search area. Doing so can cause the dog to alert on the odor contamination!
As such, we strongly recommend all handlers and assistants follow these tips when storing and handling their odor:
Store all target odors in air-tight cases away from any clean odor vessels, containers, adhesives (earthquake putty, GlueDots, etc.) or other supplies you may use within your searches (surveyor flags, start line tape, staging supplies, clean objects, etc.).
Once an object has had a hide on or inside of it, it is now and forever considered an odor item! These odor items should be stored together and away from anything that is considered clean.
Wear plastic gloves whenever handling odor (loading, placing or removing your hides) and use tweezers to load any odor vessels.
NO NAKED SCENTED COTTON SWABS! All scented cotton swabs MUST be contained within some sort of odor vessel (e.g. metal tins, straws, tubes, etc.).
If you are interested in learning more about preparing or storing odor, check out the Prepping and Storing Odor Webinar offered through Scent Work University.
Search Setup Tips
Setting hides
In formal Scent Work trials, highly experienced and talented trial officials will set the hides. Ensuring hides can indeed be found and are level-appropriate is an art! There are countless factors that may affect the odor picture, including but not limited to, weather, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, airflow and the presence or absence of objects in the environment.
Since the goal of Cyber Scent Work is to promote as many dogs and handlers become involved in Scent Work as possible, we do NOT have a requirement that approved officials set the hides.
We do, however, recommend that handlers and assistants learn as much as they can about odor theory.
Here are some recommended resources:
Tools for designing your search
Other helpful tools include a smoke pencil or dry ice, which can help one better visualize what odor may do within a given space. The Wind Tunnel Free app is another wonderful tool designed to provide a representation of what airflow may do within a given space.
You may also be interested in the Tools to Help Design Your Scent Work Searches Webinar offered through Scent Work University.
Advice when using food or paired odor hides
It is essential when using food and paired odor hides that the dog is able to reach the hide itself to self-reward. This means NO inaccessible hides (e.g. hides within closed drawers or closets) or elevated hides that are above the dog’s head that lack a way for the dog to safely reach them.
Here are some tips for food and paired odor hides:
For food hides, we recommend balancing the treat/food on top of an empty metal tin or similar odor vessel that has never come into contact with odor.
For paired hides, ensure any scented cotton swabs are placed inside the odor vessel and the treat is balanced on top of the outside of the odor vessel.
Depending on where you place your hide, it may be easier to use stickier treats (e.g. liverwurst, peanut butter, etc.).
Even though these hides must be accessible, they can still be placed so they are not easily seen by the handler (e.g. the underside of a chair).
Removeable v. environmental hides
Whenever possible, placing a hide on a removable object is preferrable. This will keep the potential odor contamination in the space to a minimum.
This does NOT mean that all search areas need to be staged or filled with objects that are out-of-place. Rather, handlers and assistants are urged to be creative in how they design their search areas.
Here are some suggestions to get you thinking:
Fake deadbolt with the odor vessel within it attached to the doorframe via a magnet.
Fake rock that has the odor vessel within it.
Extra weather stripping with the odor vessel within it and then placed over existing weather stripping.
If placing an environmental hide (e.g. on a tree trunk, on a wall, on a piece of furniture, etc.), be careful about the odor vessel you choose (ideally the handler will not be able to see it as they are working the dog), ensure odor can indeed escape so the dog can source it and clean the area once the search is finished with an alcohol wipe or Dawn soap and water.
Here are some considerations when placing an environmental hide:
Are there any safety concerns?
Where will the odor be potentially going?
Will the dog still be able to source it?
If placing a hide on a fence, where is the wind taking the odor? Is the dog blocked from getting to the odor itself?
Where is the sun and shade and how will this affect the odor (will the odor rise and spread or fall and stay close to the hide itself)?
Choosing a search area
The goal of Cyber Scent Work is to promote as many dogs as possible to participate in the game of Scent Work as possible. This may include dogs who have significant environmental sensitivities.
As such, it is the responsibility of the handlers to choose search areas where their dogs will be safe and able to rise to the challenges of the search.
Safety is of paramount importance, so if a handler determines it would be safer for a dog to only search in familiar locations (at home, at a friend’s house, at a dog training facility), they may do so.
This includes the upper levels of Cyber Scent Work where the requirements list “ideally, search a novel location”. Safety always comes first.
RULES TO FOLLOW
When choosing a search area, handlers must follow these rules:
Dogs must be permitted on the grounds.
If a business, written or verbal permission must be obtained prior to filming the searches.
All steps must be taken to ensure the safety of the dog, the handler, the assistant, any volunteers and public at-large (human and canine alike). Includes but not limited to scoping the area out ahead of time and passing on a location if loose dogs are commonplace.
Handler Tips
Importance of practicing
The biggest piece of advice is to practice setting hides and running the dog on them before submitting any entries to Cyber Scent Work. Practicing in this way will allow handlers and assistants to have a much better idea of what odor may do within a given environment.
General guidelines for searching in public
When setting up a search area to be run and filmed for Cyber Scent Work, there are some general rules to keep in mind:
The boundaries of the search area should be visibly marked with surveyor flags and/or painters tape.
The entirety of the search area, including where the hides are located, must be included in the video submitted to Cyber Scent Work to review.
All search areas must be left better than how handlers found them.
All brought in objects removed.
Dog is cleaned up after.
Any garbage in the area is cleaned up and removed.
All hides are counted, accounted for and retrieved.
Any hide locations are wiped down with alcohol wipes or Dawn soap and water after the searches are done.
Running the search
The goal of Cyber Scent Work is to provide a bridge between training and trialing. To that end, handlers are expected to run the searches as honestly as possible to get the most out of the feedback from Reviewing Officials.
Cyber Scent Work assumes all submitted entries were filmed following the required Rules and Regulations. This includes following the required odor concentration, hide preparation, hide visibility to the handler and the handler’s awareness of hide placement prior to running the search.
Calling Alert and Finish
Handlers must be certain to all “ALERT” and “FINISH” as loud and proud as they can to not only be heard by the assistant, but to be picked up on the video as well. This is especially important when running in outdoor spaces where there may be wind or vehicle traffic noise.
Assistant Tips
Officiating the search
In all levels, the assistant who sets the hides should also be the one who repsonds with a “YES” or “NO” when the handler calls “ALERT”. Assistants must determine what will constitute as a “YES” call and what will constitute as a “NO” call for each individual hide.
Once again, in formal Scent Work trials, these calls are made by experienced and talented officials who have extensive expertise reading environments, understanding what odor may be doing in any given moment and so on. These “correct call areas” may even be determined by an agreement between the hide setting official and the official making the “YES” or “NO” calls, depending on the trialing organization.
Since Cyber Scent Work is not requiring certified or approved officials to set the hides or officiate the runs, we urge assistants to lean more toward saying “YES” than “NO”.
Some examples may include:
Hide is set on the upper spoke of a vehicle hubcap. Dog sniffs the center of the hubcap and shows a change of behavior. Handler calls “ALERT”. Should be a “YES” call.
Hide is set on the underside of a chair toward the front of the seat. Dog hits on the chair from the side but is clearly sniffing the underside of the seat. Handler calls “ALERT”. Should be a “YES” call.
Hide is set inside a closed storage shed for an exterior search as an inaccessible hide. Hide is placed near the hinge, but the dog hits on the bottom corner of the door below the hinge. Should be a “YES” call.
When to call "Where?"
Should a handler call "ALERT" and the assistant is unclear where exactly this is, the assistant should respond with "WHERE?" to get more information from the handler. Once the handler indicates exactly where they are calling "ALERT", typically by pointing, the assistant should then respond with either "YES" or "NO".
Here is an example of when this can happen:
Dog shows interest in a chair where the hide is located but the handler does not call "ALERT". Dog moves off and starts sniffing a completely different chair. Handler is still looking at the correct chair and then calls "ALERT". It is unclear where they are calling "ALERT", the chair the handler is looking at or the chair the dog is now investigating. Therefore, the assistant should respond with "WHERE?".
Importance of prompt assistant responses
Here is a video showing how odor vessels should be loaded.
Target novel odors require special attention and handling to ensure we are not inadvertently contaminating the search area. Contamination in the search area can cause the dog to alert elsewhere, we do NOT want this to happen!
As such, we strongly recommend all handlers and assistants follow these tips when storing and handling their odor:
Store all target odors in air-tight cases away from any clean odor vessels, containers, adhesives (earthquake putty, GlueDots, etc.) or other supplies you may use within your searches (surveyor flags, start line tape, staging supplies, clean objects, etc.).
Once an object has had a hide on or inside of it, it is now and forever considered an odor item! These odor items should be stored together and away from anything that is considered clean.
Wear plastic gloves whenever handling odor (loading, placing or removing your hides) and use tweezers to load any odor vessels.
NO NAKED SCENTED COTTON SWABS! All scented cotton swabs MUST be contained within some sort of odor vessel (e.g. metal tins, straws, tubes, etc.).
If you are interested in learning more about preparing or storing odor, check out the Prepping and Storing Odor Webinar offered through Scent Work University.
Video Tips
Filming the search
Here is a short list of what you will need to film your search:
smartphone or video camera
tripod or something to prop the camera up (recommended)
light (if filming indoors, choose areas with lots of natural light and where you can also turn lights on)
2 cones to denote the start line
surveyor flags or tape to denote the search area boundaries
Here are some tips for success for filming your search:
Hold your smartphone sideways to take a landscape video. This will allow the Review Official to get a better view of what is going on.
Try to position your camera so the sun or brightest light source is behind the camera.
Ensure there is enough light. When working indoors, open the shades and turn the lights on so it is as bright as possible.
Ensure the Review Official will be able to see the entirety of the search area and the hides as well as the dog and handler team who is working.
There is no need to zoom in while a team is working; the camera should be positioned in such a way that this is not necessary.
The Review Official will need to hear the handler call out “ALERT” and “FINISH”, so make certain the handler knows to speak up, especially when working in exterior searches on windy days!
Vehicle searches can be challenging to video. Having someone hold onto the camera is best so they can try to reposition if necessary to see the dog and handler team working. As long as the Review Official can see where the hides are in the video, you are good.
Most importantly, don’t let the videoing piece be a stress point. You’ve got this!
What to include in the video
An overview of the search area before the team runs indicating:
The level, element and track and total number of hides within the search, including the number of noted and blind hides (e.g., Master, Interior, Food Track searches. Interior A with 3 total blind hides, Interior B with 2 total blind hides and Interior C is blank).
where the hides are (this can be done by standing back and pointing or walking up and indicating exactly where the hides are.)
where the start line and search area boundaries are.
Show the entirety of the search, which includes:
team approaching the start line
team searching
handler calling "FINISH"
NOTE: For consecutive searches, be sure to include all the individual searches for both the overview of the search area, showing the relationship of the search areas to one another and the team searching in each.