Teach your dog to hunt out smells:
(This can be used just for fun, or for a real job like search and rescue)
Step 1: Find a scent you want your dog to recognize and hunt for. I was just doing the game for fun so I used Basil.
Step 2: Find two or three small glass jars (glass has less of its own scent than plastic). Baby jars work really well. Place the scent in one of the jars. I shook about 1 tlbs of crushed Basil into the jar.
Step 3: Place the jars (only one has the scent in it) in front of your dog. When he sniffs the jar with the smell say "YES" and treat him. You could also use a clicker in place of the "yes". Do this several times. In fact, your whole first 10-15 minute session might just be encouraging him to sniff the jars and then rewarding only the sniff with the jar that has scent in it. Some dogs will be able to focus on this activity for a long time others may only stay focused for a few minutes. Just go at your dog's pace, and break it into as many training sessions as he needs.
Step 4: When your dog is consistently sniffing only the jar with scent have him wait and walk across the room. Place the jars down about a foot apart and tell him "find it". Then again, reward him for finding the right jar. At this point you can even start placing the jars around the corner and widening the space between them.
Step 5: When your dog has figured out that finding that scent gets him a reward take away the other jars. Have your dog sit and stay while you hide the scent jar out of his sight but still in an easy place. Again, say "find it" and when he does reward.
Step 6: By now your dog should be able to understand the game and you can move outside placing the scent jar in harder to find place. Each time reward with lots of praise.
There is no limit to how far this game can go for you and your dog. You can hide the scent in harder and harder places, go to the park and play it there. You can even start adding in more scents. When your dog gets really good at the game you can even try showing him one of your socks, or a toy. When he smells it tell him "yes" and then treat. Now you can place new objects under his nose and he will get that when you say "find it" he is to find the object he just sniffed!
Have fun learning and playing together!
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