Do you teach Scent Work classes and/or provide private consultations? Then this episode is for you. We discuss a variety topics many instructors oftentimes overlook. Such as how you can help ensure your students (both canine and human) are successful in your classes and consultations, what you can do to feel fulfilled and happy with what you do as an instructor and common pitfalls to avoid.

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Scent Work University is an online dog training platform focused on all things Scent Work. SWU courses and webinars are not only for those who are interested in competiton, but also for those dog owners who are simply looking for something fun and engaging to do with their dogs. Check out Scent Work University today!

Interested in another dog sport, or looking for help getting your dog to learn some manners? Dog Sport University is sister online dog training platform, give it a peek and see what it has to offer you and your dog.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to the All About Scent Work Podcast. In this podcast, we'll be talking about all things Scent Work. This includes the behind the scenes look for how trials are conducted, what your instructor may be going through, training tips and other helpful information that we can provide. In this episode, we'll be talking about what it takes to be a good Scent Work instructor. This will include tips for success, pitfalls to avoid, things that some people don't consider, and just understanding how influential you really are.

Before we start diving into the podcast, let me just quickly introduce myself. My name is Dianna Santos, I'm the Owner and Lead instructor for both Scent Work University and Dog Sport University. These are online dog training platforms that are designed to provide high quality instruction, incredible convenience and flexible learning options. We offer online courses, webinars and seminars.

So if you have any questions about those, you're always more than welcome to contact me. All right, without further ado, let's dive in.

In this episode, I want to talk about what goes into that being a good Scent Work instructor. This can be a touchy subject because initially people are going to assume, "Well, that all depends on the type of instructing that you're going to be doing as far as the school of thought." And I don't want to dive into those weeds.

There are lots of different schools of thought as far as how it is that you should go about teaching Scent Work, what I want to discuss is how it is that you can go about being just a good instructor as in a good teacher. And this can be subjective, absolutely, I don't proclaim to be an authority in this matter. A lot of this is going to be common sense and making certain that we do not get lost as instructors in forgetting what it feels like to be a student, and also realizing just how much clout we have. How heavy our words are as well as our actions and how much influence they can actually hold over our students, both actual students, past students and potential students. Even people who may not have signed up with us yet, but may be viewing our information that's on social media for instance.

So I hope that it makes sense kind of where this podcast is going, this isn't a debate about how it is that you should be teaching Scent Work. It's more of the manner in which you carry yourself when you're teaching Scent Work. Now, some of these things are going to apply across the board, they're going to apply regardless of the subject matter that you are teaching when it comes to dog training.

But I think with Scent Work, we have to be even more especially aware of the potential pitfalls because with this activity it is inviting a certain class of dogs that are going to require a certain extra level of attention. Meaning dogs that are reactive and dogs that are fearful and dogs that have stranger danger and you may also just be incorporating this into your behavior modification programs.

With that in mind, you have to, as