I’ve been wanting to start playing around with scentwork for a really long time, and yesterday I just decided to go ahead and try it with what I had available. The only thing I didn’t have on hand was the essential oil, which I got at the grocery store. This was a really cool thing to do on a rainy day where I was pretty low energy and didn’t have a lot of physical or mental resources available. I’m super glad I tried it, and I learned a lot in the total of 15 or so minutes I spent on it.
- First exposure ever to an intentional scent
- Using cinnamon because they’re not likely to encounter it anywhere else so there won’t be any confusion (I’d use lavender, but that’s in my flyspray)
- Only two drops of oil, but I can smell it, so I know they can
- Using plastic containers, but need to figure out how to store them without contamination
- Ultimately I’ll get the tins used for dogs, but I just really wanted to try this with what I had
- I love how you can see their nostrils flaring, also because it gives me something to click
- Putting food in the bucket so I can start a clean/clear loop for the next presentation. Not quite how I’ve seen how to do it, but it felt like it had the most clarity
- Not presenting for very long because I don’t want them to think it’s a target and touch the container
- I did 12 presentations per horse, but these were within the first 6 or so (first for Siri, a bit later for Fi)
- I’ll do this a few more times before adding the “dead” container to proof finding the scent
