Odor Imprinting Tubes
Today's post takes a slight detour from dog photography, but we're still in the canine realm, just not behind the lens.
AKC Scent Work Trials in Las Vegas
A few years ago, I wanted to get scent work tubes to work my dogs' alert behavior - a freeze. I should mention, that I'm not an expert at nosework training, I've only dabbled here and there. However, starting this year, we will now have AKC Scent Work trials in Las Vegas, so I'm getting back into it, which is why this topic is on my mind. When, I was searching for my nosework tubes, also called imprinting tubes or scent tubes, I searched Google and found some that I liked, but the wait was several weeks, which was not going to work with my ADHD.
DIY Nosework Tubes
Instead, I did an online order, for in-store pickup at Lowe's to make my own. Luckily, the PVC in my pickup was a mismatched mess. Some fit together and others didn't. Sigh... It was time to be an adult and go shopping for myself. Yay for me, the adulting paid off, and I not only swapped out the mismatched parts for ones that fit, I found a part that improved a flaw in my design. The key piece to fixing my flawed design is the toilet flange. The one linked below has a bottom and my initial one didn't. With the bottom, I can use the alcohol wipes to clean it out and reuse it with a different odor or no order, Without the bottom, the odor would be on the wood making a tube specific for one odor since the wood absorbs the odor and can't just be wiped off.
The hardest part was finding the right parts. But, once that was done, I had tubes that same day. Today, I pulled them out to work my dogs and thought I would put together a shopping list to make these to hopefully save someone else the time of walking the Isles of Lowe's and fiddling with PVC. Hopefully, these products don't get swapped out for new products with new links.
I'm not going to go into why anyone should use odor imprinting tubes, I'll leave that for the experts who teach the sport. I'm just covering how to make the tubes that I made, since they were so darn easy, once I found the parts.
Materials Needed
You'll need one of each of the following for each tube you'll make:
additional items:
The wood is to stabilize the tubes so your dog doesn't learn to push them around. It doesn't matter what wood you get or how you cut it. I had mine cut in squares, but you can always keep them in a row, or on one piece of wood. I found my wood piece outside of the wood section, and I don't remember where it was, but it was something like this, and had them cut it there.
I have several tubes that aren't attached to wood. I usually don't put odor in them, but I occasionally do to make sure my dogs aren't learning to skip them.
I'm not handy, but this was super easy to throw together. The pieces go together pretty easily and you can have your scent work tubes ready in no time. The only step that I couldn't do on my own was to drill the hole in the back for treat dispensing. I tried and thankfully didn't lose an eyeball or anything. But, I had to have those drilled out for me.
I can't claim you'll save any money on this DIY project, but you will have tubes ready to get started with your dog training in hours instead of weeks.
Happy building and training! Hope to see you at the Las Vegas Nosework trials!
12 Comments
Feb 29, 2024, 10:18:21 AM
Nicole Hrustyk - Thank you, Cahlean! Scent work tubes are super easy to make!
Feb 29, 2024, 10:15:53 AM
Nicole Hrustyk - For sure, Lynn. Nosework is an excellent mental exercise for dogs.
Feb 29, 2024, 10:14:33 AM
Nicole Hrustyk - ohh truffle hunting would be fun! Do it!
Feb 28, 2024, 8:47:46 PM
Nicole Hrustyk - Thank you, Terri!
Feb 28, 2024, 8:47:25 PM
Nicole Hrustyk - Thank you, Sharon!
Feb 27, 2024, 3:01:21 PM
Cahlean - This is super cool! I've thought nose work is a cool activity to do with one's dog, I didn't realize making scent work tubes was that easy to do! Huzzah for nose work!
Feb 24, 2024, 12:32:49 PM
Lynn - I love the idea of nose work tubes! Lili loves to sniff and these would keep her brain thinking.
Feb 23, 2024, 10:45:24 AM
Carol - I'm impressed! I've had this dream of doing nosework with my dogs and put them to work finding truffles for me! I know 0 about nosework nor have I even heard about odor imprinting tubes, so thanks for the info! I was told to put a bit of cloth with truffle oil into a kinder chocolate toy container (obviously I eat the chocolate first) and hide those...haha your way sounds much more AKC Scent Work Trial worthy.
Feb 22, 2024, 10:11:20 AM
Terri - Great info for anyone involved in scent work! Good luck for the AKC Scent Work Trials in Las Vegas.
Feb 22, 2024, 6:26:24 AM
Sharon - Good luck in the AKC Scent Work Trial in Las Vegas. Scent work tubes seem like a fun activity to do with your dog. Keep us posted on how nose work in Las Vegas goes.
Feb 19, 2024, 6:09:35 PM
Nicole Hrustyk - Haha, sorry to throw you for a loop! Thank you, I'll need that luck for sure!
Feb 19, 2024, 3:31:51 PM
Kim Hollis - LOL I totally did a double take when this blog opened up because I thought I was on the wrong page. This is not dog photography ha! I'm not very familiar with scent work and I've never heard of odor imprinting tubes, nosework tubes, or scent work tubes. I am impressed by your DIY project. Good luck at the AKC Scent Work Trials in Las Vegas,