Let's just suppose for a moment that something was buried somewhere, hidden, if you will, and you wanted to find that something. More to the point, you wanted that something found with a certain amount of efficiency. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters? Um, I don't think so. In a case like this you may ask yourself, "Who has the right tool for the job?" The first scent work trial at the 2024 Collie Club of America National Specialty in Peoria, Illinois, would seem to suggest that a certain furry, white-footed, four-legged friend with a spectacular nose would be perfect for the job. I would go further and recommend to you, "Diamond," Trinity Bling It On PT OA OAJ OF SWE SCM, who earned first place in the Scent Work Master Buried Class, which those initiated to the "fun" will tell you, is no easy task. Diamond is owned by Beth Elliot of Trinity Collies and what follows is our interview with her about the inaugural event and her many successes in the activity.
Trinity Collies has been very successful in performance venues over the years. Tell us about your background in Collies.
I got my first Collie after graduating from college in 1990. I had watched the Westminster Kennel Club broadcast and thought I might want to show dogs, but when I went to the benched International Kennel Club shows in Chicago and saw the obedience competition, I decided that looked like much more fun. To date, I have shown 9 Collies to high level titles in obedience, agility, flyball, tracking, scent work and am now working to learn advanced herding.
When did you know that Scent Work was a venue you wanted to explore?
I had started taking obedience classes with Flair in 2015. The instructor also taught scent work, and since I had started tracking with her and my Belgian/Collie mix CC, I thought I would learn a new scent sport with them.
American Kennel Club held its first scent work trials in September 2017. When did you first start training in scent work? When was your first trial? What attracted you to scent work with your collies in the first place.
My first trial was in 2019. Since I was now training 3 dogs in scent work with 2 ready for competition but only allowed to show one dog at a time at the same level, I planned on showing one in the USCSS organization and the other in AKC. Flair loved to be in charge, hated obedience, and while we were training for VST tracking, it gave her another venue to use her nose and let her lead. CC was starting to develop larangyal paralysis, so TDX was as far as she would go in tracking. Scent work gave her an outlet to still do a scent sport.
What Collie have you shown most extensively in Scent Work? Tell us about their journey. What titles are you most proud of?
I have titled 4 dogs to the AKC Scent Work Master title, 3 Collies and a Belgian Collie mix. Flair was the first, and I would say she was shown the most only by a little bit, as once she moved up a level, I started the next dog. She had a strong foundation in Containers, and finished that Master element first. Once you have your first element Master title, you are eligible to enter Detective, and I did that with Flair within a couple trials. I don't think we were really together as a team, and she started to lose the strength of her alert indication, causing me to not call a hide when she found it and eroding her confidence. I stopped entering Detective until we finished the rest of the element titles and worked on her indications and my confidence in her. We lost her last fall, so what I am most proud of isn't a title, but that our last weekend in Detective, I was so in tune with Flair that we qualified both days.
The CCA National Specialty held its first Scent Work Trial this year (2024) in Peoria, Illinois. You trialed Trinity Bling It On HSAs OA OAJ OF SWE SCM SEM in the Scent Work Master Buried Class to a first place. Tell us about the difficulty of this class and what it takes to trial in this class.
Any of the Master element classes are difficult, as you have an unknown number of hides, therefore requiring you to not just read when your dog has found a hide, but also to know when they are done. Master Buried is especially difficult due to having to search containers with 2 different substances, sand and water, grates on the top of the boxes that don't allow the dog's nose to get close to the substance and also allowing the odor to escape and pool more than a receptacle used in Containers. After having some difficulty with Flair and CC finishing their Master Buried titles, I started setting the buried boxes at home. They are a pain to cart around and set up, but after a tip from a friend on filling the boxes with shredded paper to simulate a substance in the box without the weight, it was a little easier to set up training sequences at home and on the road, then switch to sand and water occasionally at home. That helped Diamond and Dazzle figure out the puzzle of Buried much quicker.
What does it take to earn a Master Level title on a Collie?
Let your dog lead and give them room to work! It is so easy to push a softer dog like our Collies off of odor by following too closely or quickly. Since you do not get a 30 second warning at the Master level, get a timer so you can set your own warning alarm. Learn your dog's signals that they aren't finding any new sources of odor, such as leaving the search area or re-alerting on a previously found hide.
Your Collies have excelled in Tracking events in the past. Is scent work similar to tracking? How do these venues compare.
I have found that the skills needed for tracking and scent work are the same. The dog has the nose, and as long as you know you have trained them to know what they are searching for, can read their tells when they are on odor source or searching for it and give them the confidence to trust themselves, you'll do fine. The big difference between the two is that in tracking, they need to follow the scent trail on the ground, whereas scent work involves more air scenting. I have found with Diamond, who started training both sports about the same time, that in tracking if she catches scent of an article on the track, she will follow it in the air, possibly causing her to cut a corner which could fail her in a tracking test. My previous girls were tracking for a year or so before doing scent work, and didn't have that issue. I am not sure if that is due to the training, or that the 1st 3 girls were trained in IL, but the 4th was trained here in Colorado with different methods and climate. We'll find out with dog number 5.
Do you have any training methods that you work into a typical day for training a Collie for scent work?
I will work them at home more frequently at the beginning when I introduce them to odor and teaching them to find and indicate source. Once they are doing that, I will only set up something at home that they may have had problems with during our weekly training session with my instructor or at a trial.
What temperament does a Collie need in order to succeed at scent work? Is a particular temperament even required?
I think any Collie can do the lower levels of scent work. My newest girl is very environmentally sensitive, and can easily be distracted during a search. She just finished her Scent Work Novice title in AKC, and I will probably enter her in her first NACSW trial next year, but I don't think she will make it to the Master/NW3 level. To compete at those levels, you need a dog with a little more drive and confidence to search independently, as well as one who can recover or work through the harder distractions you'll encounter.
Can you share any scent work/nose work training techniques that someone can try with their collie to see if scent work might be worth doing with their Collie?
I introduce my puppies to searching by throwing a handful of treats on the ground in the grass. It makes them rely on their nose to find them rather than their eyes. Save those Amazon boxes, put 2 or 3 of them out and hide a really good treat in one of them and let your dog find it. Your dog may have to see you put it in at first, but should quickly learn to search the boxes.
Performance venues can bond owners with collies in special ways. Does scent work bond an owner with their Collie more or less than other venues?
I don't believe a scent sport will strengthen a bond any more or less than another performance event, but scent work and tracking do require a different type of teamwork than agility or obedience. I think the enjoyment that both you and the dog share in whatever event you take part in is what strengthens the bond.
Cover photo: "Dazzle" Karachristo Absolute Brilliance at Trinity RN TD HSAs HSDs AX AXJ XF SWM
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