AKC Scent Work is the country’s fastest growing dog sport. Scent Work competition was designed to mimic the serious task of working detection dogs to locate a scent and communicate to the handler that the scent has been found. Real-life detection dogs are trained to search for a variety of things–drugs, explosives, human remains, currency, other contraband,living humans (such as for Search and Rescue), and much more. AKC Scent Work takes this amazing working relationship and turns it into a fun game that any dog can play. AKC Scent Work is open to all dogs 6 months and older that are registered with the AKC, listed with the AKC Purebred Alternative Listing/Indefinite Listing Privilege (PAL/ILP), or the Canine Partners program. Scent Work is especially appealing as it is accessible to people and dogs of varying abilities, and fosters a bond between the dog and its human in a very special way. Newbies as well as serious competitors who want a “title at both ends”, showing the versatility of the dogs in their breeding program, are enthusiastically participating in these trials. These team-based activities are often therapeutic for rescue dogs and/or timid dogs who benefit greatly by this confidence-building activity. At a trial, teams of dog and handler search in a variety of classes at a variety of levels. Judging will usually begin at the Novice level each day and includes Interior, Exterior, Buried, and Container search. Levels of searching accomplishment run from Novice, Advanced, Excellent to Master, each level requiring 3 qualifying searches to attain. Teams may also earn Elite titles at any level by successfully qualifying 10 times. Overall titles at each level are also achievable,requiring 3 successful searches at the given level in each class. The targeted scents are Birch,Anise, Clove and Cypress. AKC Scent Work also offers Handler Discrimination where the dogs will search for an article containing the handler’s scent.
