https://www.dogwoodadventureplay.com/training-behaviour

Scentventure Guide Justine, Sedgefield (2025)

25/04/2025

Two years on since losing Bells.

Bells taught me so many lessons. This week, as I write my presentation, I visited the final lesson that only came as we lost Bells in a much quicker and more traumatic way than anyone had planned.

Life is so precious with our dogs. A reminder to keep making time for those simple, fun, and connecting moments—the ones that truly mean everything. I’m pleased Scentventure had already brought this to Bells’ life. While our planned memory-making was cut short, we have plenty to reflect on.

Bells inspires mine and Alfs’ journey as we navigate him growing older. She reminds me how fortunate me and Alfs are to have this time to make memories. It motivates me to get the best out of this time—not just for Alfs, but I want you to have that advantage too.

Two years on, Bells’ legacy is still going into Scentventure.

Forever Loved. And Forever Scentventure and Club Dogwood poppet 🧡

24/04/2025

Busy couple of days—both in the office and with in-person Scentventure sessions! But me and my chief dinner buddy still made time for some important chill time. I love that Alfs is my chill time now… trust me, it wasn’t always like this 😅 But we got there—the Scentventure way☺️

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22/04/2025

👋Meet Rosie, who joined my 1-1 Puppy Package this week!

In just week one, we’ve already started building the foundations of training—but just as importantly, we’ve begun looking at what’s really needed to help build a happy, confident pup that settles into busy family life.

Training is just one piece of the puzzle—puppyhood is also about creating the right experiences, setting your dog up for a lifetime of calm confidence. I’m so excited to support Rosie and her lovely family on this journey! 🧩

21/04/2025

I’ve spent some lovely time with Alfs this weekend—but I also made sure to carve out some time for self-care too. At one point, I did start to question whether the Cleveland Three Peaks counted as self-care… thankfully Emily was there, unofficially stepping into a PT role to get me to the top of all three! 😅🤣

☕️ It’s all too easy to find reasons why we “don’t have time” for self-care, but the truth is, we can’t pour from an empty cup. And that absolutely applies to what we pour into our dogs and their training too.

🪫 Whether it’s life events, work, or those busier summer schedules creeping in, sometimes we need to pause and refill our cups—ideally before they’re running on empty! Last year, I made a promise to myself: 20 minutes a day just for self-care. It’s the same 20 minutes I’d happily give to someone else—but wasn’t giving to myself.

🔋Honestly, I didn’t even realise I was pouring from an empty cup until I started filling it again. What a difference! I felt recharged and ready to bring fresh energy to both life and dog training.

So when you’re looking at your dog training plan, ask yourself: are you making space for you, too?

⁉️ What does self-care look like for you? Or maybe this has nudged you to start your own little routine?

Here I am at the top of Roseberry Topping yesterday ⛰️🙌
(And yes… this definitely took longer than 20 minutes! 🤣)

Check out how Emily—my unofficial PT for the day—motivated me to the top! 🤣🤣 Reward based training at it’s finest!🤣

20/04/2025

Sadly I couldn’t make today’s Easter Dogwood trip… but the Easter Bunny kindly stepped in to take Alfs instead! 😅🐰

Happy Easter, folks! Hope you’re all having a day filled with eggtra fun, sniffs, and maybe even a treat or two!

17/04/2025

Well…the secret’s out! We threw a surprise party for Kathleen! 🥳🎉🎈

Kathleen is such a well-loved part of our Teesside Mantrailing and Scentwork community, and it was so lovely to celebrate her Birthday—and all things Kathleen! 🧡

It was also lovely to get together outside of training—so many laughs, so much fun, and just a brilliant reminder of the beautiful community we have here ☺️🐾

Happy Birthday Kathleen🥳🥳🥳

15/04/2025

👃Do you think Myth knows where his odour is? 😂

When working on your dog’s indication, you want something that clearly shows when they’re on odour—and it’s a bonus if others can recognise it too!

Just like in Phoenix’s video, Myth wonderfully showed his confidence by exploring the environment and balancing on a step while giving a lovely indication. 🎉

Scentventure is different from other Scentwork programmes. It’s not just about working the nose—it’s about engaging the body too. That’s how you truly build search confidence! ✨

Scentventure takes a multi-modal approach, blending a variety of activities to help dogs grow in confidence and skill set.

Good job, buddy!🤩

14/04/2025

When was the last time you fitted in an ice cream moment with your dogs? 🍦🐾

Now, of course, it doesn’t need to be ice cream, but just a moment shared, your dog getting something they love. Just for the fact they love it — no training involved. 🍦

Alfs loved it, and guess what? That’s not going to ruin our training journey! 🤷‍♀️

Anyone that says your dog needs to earn every treat simply doesn’t understand the value of these moments.🧡

And yes, whilst I use food in training, I know training also goes way beyond that as it should. It’s connection, love, trust and fun together. Partnership!

So the next time you question if your dog should have a treat for nothing, think absolutely yes! 🙌 And actually, it will also feed into your training journey.

13/04/2025

Let’s talk Finds vs Hides in the Scentwork world! 🐶👃

I often see the two mixed up in the Scentwork world — and honestly, it could be holding your dog back from progressing and truly getting the full benefits.

While both involve a container with odour inside (like a scent tin), the difference is key:

Finds = the container is visible to the dog 👀

They’re great at the very beginning of your dog’s scent journey to help build confidence. When your dog comes across odour, they also spot the familiar tin — which helps them feel sure they’ve got it right!

But…
Whilst finds are great at the start, overusing them can slow your dog’s scentwork progress.
If you can see the tin, your dog can too!

While dogs are amazing sniffers 🐾 if they can use their eyes instead, they will! Sniffing takes more energy, and dogs are clever — they’ll choose the easier route.

Hides = the container is not visible to the dog 🔍

Hides remove the visual element, which means your dog has to rely on their nose. That’s where the real scentwork magic happens — and where the full benefits of scentwork kick in!

Struggling to move from Finds to Hides? Drop me a message — I’d love to help support your dog’s Scentwork journey! Message me 💌

12/04/2025

👃From needing to bide our time before introducing Dexter to Scent Detection… to now watching him thrive with it!

This honestly applies to so many areas of training—if something isn’t going to plan, don’t assume the training doesn’t work for your dog. Instead, take a breath and explore the why. 😌

For Dexter, it was all about building his calm confidence first. And now? Just 3 Scent Detection sessions in, and we’re onto outdoor searches and hidden hides (more on them tomorrow!)

11/04/2025

Famous last words… “He’s not wrong, but that’s a dead end and he won’t be able to get to the trail layer that way…”

By now, I’m 99% sure Fudge throws in curveballs on purpose just to prove me wrong 😅

When we feel like there might be an access issue, as handlers we sometimes step in to help them find an alternative route—which is exactly what we did. Onto what we thought was the clearer alternative route.

Only… it wasn’t quite as clear as we’d hoped—thanks to the woods being in full spring bloom! We made it, just slightly more twig-covered than planned 🌿🤣

Then, on the way back to the car, Fudge confidently led us right down the route he’d originally picked… the MUCH clearer one all along. Turns out, the fence that used to block that path wasn’t even there anymore 😅

Fudge, this is a public apology 🤣 and another reminder: trust the dog 🧡🐾

10/04/2025

🏵️Otis and his lovely family, Mike and Gail, first joined me for behaviour 1-1s and then progressed onto 1-1 Scentventure, where we explored a variety of activities, including Scent Detection.

He’s got such a real enthusiasm for life—which I absolutely love 😍—but that energy wasn’t always used in the most desirable ways. Providing him with a focused, fulfilling outlet through Scent Detection has been a real game-changer.

By channelling that energy into Scentwork, we’ve been able to fulfil him in a way that leaves him feeling more settled. That calm, confident mindset has been so valuable in supporting his behaviour plan—especially when building calm confidence around other dogs.

Otis will now be invited to group scent detection classes, where he’ll continue to grow and develop those skills around distractions. I’m so excited to watch him grow 🧡🐶

09/04/2025

Nancy had a big win yesterday too! 🧡🐾

Nancy can get worried around men, but just like with Bandit, we’ve been using Mantrailing to help build her confidence. She’s been going from strength to strength, and yesterday it was time to trail a man in a public space.

And honestly? It was beautiful to watch.

Nancy was positively keen to get going and find Jimmy, her male trail layer. 💪

She’s progressed to using scent article starts—where she finds the hidden person by following their unique scent left on an article they touched. 👃But for this session, we wanted to support her confidence and avoid any surprise at the end. So instead, we used an intensity start, where she saw Jimmy head off to hide and knew exactly who she was looking for. 🚶‍♂️

The best part? She was still so motivated to go—even knowing she was finding a man. And she was so happy when she found Jimmy! 😍

We were all happy watching her. It’s incredible to see just how far Nancy has come!

Well done, Nancy! 🎉

08/04/2025

Yep, that’s the same Bandit who used to be overwhelmed by people…🙌

Then me and my colleague Emily at Club had this little idea: get him into Mantrailing classes. It might’ve sounded a bit crazy at first—his human Lorna even momentarily thought so 😅—but I’m so glad she trusted us! ☺️

This plan took careful, step-by-step planning to build Bandit’s confidence at every stage. Now, we’ve got ourselves a Mantrailing superstar! 🧡

I absolutely love blending my behaviour knowledge with Mantrailing to help build progress like this. Seeing transformations like Bandit’s is just the best!

Tonight in Mantrailing, he ended up sitting on the knee of his trail layer, Katy!🥹🥳🤣

07/04/2025

Well, who guessed right?!🕵️‍♀️

Don’t worry if you didn’t—because Fudge was on the case and figured out exactly who was carrying the gunoil!🙌

Fudge absolutely loves being around people, and I just adore watching him put his “training pants” on! (No actual pants involved, of course 🤣) But he knows exactly what he’s trained to do when it’s time to get searching.

This week we focused on indications in Class. Whether you’re a beginner or further along like Fudge, we adjust the training to suit. For him, that meant practising people-appropriate indications—like calmly hovering his nose over the odour on the human. This was the most people Fudge has ever searched—and people he knows and loves—and he absolutely smashed it.

With a Fudge party to celebrate his success!🎉🥳🎉

I can already feel the next case brewing for this brilliant team…🕵️‍♂️🤣

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06/04/2025

🎶Dramatic music plays…🎶

Fudge and Katy turned up to class today only to discover—there’s been a robbery, and we needed to find our suspect!

The thing is… they all looked innocent to me 🤷‍♀️ Just who was hiding the incriminating evidence (aka the gunoil)…?

Drop your guesses below! 🤣🕵️‍♀️🐾

The answer will be revealed tomorrow… stay tuned!

04/04/2025

Summer’s convinced she’s found her trail layer but I can’t see them… 🤔😅

The camouflage netting always makes me laugh—so many dogs get so into following the trail that they stop in confusion when the trail ends and there’s ‘no human there’… and then it clicks! 🤣

Absolutely brilliant focus from Summer, even resisting a picnic to stay on the trail!

Great work, Emma and Summer! Another fab Mantrailing session from you both.💪

Scentventure Guide Justine