Today, Stacy, Robin, and Crystal talk all things odor hygiene. A critical factor in ensuring that your dog is well-trained, odor hygiene includes knowing where and how to store your odor and how to keep your training aids as pristine as possible. Our hosts give their best advice on avoiding cross-contamination between odors in your containers, as well as between odors external to your training aids.

They also talk about the importance of wearing gloves as a bomb dog or cadaver dog handler, and how often to change your gloves. According to our hosts, for even the most casual of trainers, such as those who do not participate in competitions, impeccable odor hygiene is still a foundational aspect of this work. To your dog, odor hygiene promotes clarity, which avoids confusion and, by extension, anxiety.

“If you are not willing to do some of the fundamental things to participate in your sport or your calling, including odor hygiene, then maybe this line of work is not for you.”

Key Topics:

• Why is odor hygiene important? (01:36)
• Odor hygiene for training versus for judging (04:47)
• Guarding against cross-contamination when using training aids (08:10)
• Giving your dog downtime and ensuring that odor stays as a motivation magnet (13:16)
• Transporting odor (14:26)
• Our hosts’ preferred training aids and how best to freeze odor (21:10)
• How often to change gloves (27:10)
• The importance of wearing gloves for bomb dog and cadaver dog handlers (30:50)
• Cleaning your training aids (33:30)
• Why thorough odor hygiene is important even for more “casual” trainers (40:14)
• Closing thoughts (51:14)

Resources:

• SciK9 
• Precision Explosives 
• K9 Detection Collaborative Episode 9: Canines as the Original Biosensor & Odor/Scent Chemistry with Dr. Lauryn DeGreeff
• Zero Odor spray, Cloud 10 case, Pelican, Harbor Freight Apache cases, Nitrile gloves

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