Moorestown hosted New Jersey’s first AKC scent work trial on Saturday, Nov. 4 and Sunday, Nov. 5.
On Saturday, Nov. 4 and Sunday, Nov. 5, more than 200 dogs converged on Allen’s Kennels as Moorestown played host to the first scent work trial in the state. The American Kennel Club sanctioned competition came to the area at the hands of the Burlington County Kennel Club whose members were eager to bring the newly-formed sport to town.
At the weekend-long competition, dogs of all breeds and sizes were tasked with sniffing out the scent of birch. During the trials, cotton swabs saturated with birch oil were hidden in containers, and dogs were given two minutes to identify which box contained the scent.
Despite being a competition, any dog who correctly identified the scent walked away a winner with a ribbon, and dogs who successfully identified the birch in three trials earned the title of novice container class.
The day prior to the competition, cotton swabs are saturated with birch oil and placed into a small metal container with ventilation holes. The container is hidden in one white box among a series of boxes, and the dogs moved along the rows of boxes sniffing each.
When a dog thought it had correctly identified the scent, it alerted its owner through “exhibiting behavior” such as pawing the box. When an owner thought their dog had identified the box, judge Sarah Christiano then came over to see if the dog had made the correct determination. Unlike other dog competitions, in scent work, any dog who correctly identified the birch walked away a winner.
Christiano said the sport of scent work was started in the mid-2000s in California by working bomb detection officers with bomb-sniffing dogs. She said the officers thought sniffing could make an interesting sport, and the competition evolved from there.
Moorestown resident Linda Federici, chairperson of the Burlington County Kennel Club’s Scent Work Trial Committee, said in the same way dogs can be trained to identify bombs or smell a seizure coming on, the same principles can be applied when training dogs to identify scents.
Owners start by presenting their dogs with between 15 and 20 boxes — some of which contain food. From there, the food gets paired with the scent of birch, so the dogs begin to associate the smell of birch with a reward.
Federici said for the typical pet owner, training dogs to identify scents may not be a familiar concept.
“Spectators find it interesting to watch the dogs work,” Federici said. “It’s not something they think of.”
While the weekend’s competition was indoors, scent work trials can take place in four environments or “elements.” Elements include containers where the target odor is hidden in a container; interior where the odor is concealed in an object in an indoor search area; exterior where the scent is hidden in an object outdoors; and buried where the odor is hidden in a container and buried underground.
Dogs can earn titles in any of the four elements.Christiano said the buried hide element of scent work mimics what dogs who find humans remains detection are doing.
She said any breed of dog is capable of competing in scent work, and while labs and German shepherds often thrive, one of the most skilled sniffers she’s ever worked with was a puggle.
The proceeds from the $25 entry fees associated with the weekend’s competition went to the Burlington County Kennel Club. Federici said in turn, the club, a non-profit, will utilize those funds to go toward scholarships for local students interested in becoming a vet, to support the Burlington County Animal Shelter and other initiatives the club takes on.
For more information on the Burlington County Kennel Club, visit http://bckc.org.
