“It’s Never Just One Smell, Understanding Odour Discrimination”
We often think our dogs are searching for the exact smell of a target odour as we know it straight from the container or jar. But once that odour is placed into the environment, it no longer exists in isolation.
Out in the real world, it begins to mix and interact with everything around it, pine trees, manure, freshly cut grass, car fumes, a complex and an ever changing scent picture.
So what is the dog really doing?
They are not looking for a “pure” version of the odour. Instead, they are expertly discriminating within that scent picture, filtering through layers of environmental contamination to locate the relevant odour molecules they have learned are important.
As they work closer to source, the concentration increases. What we often see them indicate on is within the headspace, the area just above or around the source where the target odour is strongest. But even here, it is still not isolated. It remains blended with the surrounding environment.
And yet, they find it and commit to it. This is why it is so important to train with your dog in as many different environments as possible.
There ability increases in how to separate, prioritise, and confidently indicate within such complexity is what makes their noses truly extraordinary.
It’s never just one smell. It’s a decision made within many.
Truly amazing 
Mandy Rigby
Canine Scentwork Academy