For scent training motivation and confidence building, see Content to Scent

North American Sport Dog Association programs: Lost Item Recovery and Shed Hunt

Details for NASDA Lost Item Recovery and Shed Hunt can be found in the rulebook

Lost Item Recovery – Train your dog to find lost items for yourself, (handler scent) or for someone else (“stranger scent”)! Your dog’s potential to find anything by matching the lost item scent to a given sample is amazing and fun! If titles are your thing, NASDA offers live trails, or virutal trials where clubs provide the setups and video the runs for submission to NASDA for judging and placements. NASDA also has an online titling by video program, you video your runs according to NASDA rules and submit for judging. The best part though is that this activity of finding all kinds of items with either handler OR stranger scent is practical and fun to do anytime, anywhere! Here are example videos of my own dogs in a blog post I wrote on Lost Item Recovery: https://dogsontheball.com/2024/05/07/lost-item-recovery-fun-practical-scent-training/

Shed Hunt-Shed Hunting is searching for naturally shed deer antlers, training your dog to search and retrieve antlers as you walk through fields and woods. Shed antlers are prized by collectors and used in art, decor and crafts, so many shed hunters actually sell their finds. For some of us this is just another way to have fun with our dogs, so it has naturally evolved to an organized titling sport and training activity! UKC has live trials, at least 2 other organizations are offering both live trials and titling by video. In the testing/titling scenario, the sheds are thrown into the search area and the dog is judged on time to locate and retrieve (lower levels do not require a retrieve, only locate). Number of sheds, time allowed, etc. all contribute to the challenge at different levels. Here is an example of a training session with Wilkie .

You can read more about this sport, training, etc. on my blog post here: https://dogsontheball.com/2023/05/26/shed-hunt-a-super-fun-scent-activity/

Details for NASDA Lost Item Recovery and Shed Hunt can be found in the rulebook

If you are interested in training for Shed Hunt or Lost Item Recovery contact me for lessons or class info. I can also offer field space for training and video titling. Contact Char, dogsontheball@gmail.com