Educational Materials

©American Kennel Club

Browse blogs by subject matter below and in the left navigation.

• Assessment

  • Obedience or no?
  • What makes a successful detection dog?

• Dog Sales/Procurement

  • What makes a successful detection dog?
  • Dog Sales Overview, Part II
  • Dog Sales Overview, Part I

• Environmental Stability

  • Starting with an 8 week old pup

• General

  • The two dog trainer paradox
  • Catching up!!!
  • Obedience or no?

• Genetics

  • Genetics of anxiety

• History

  • Our journey to today

• Independence/Self Discovery

  • Understanding reinforcement in detection dogs
  • Play is pay!!!

• Key Concepts

  • Training Plans and Development Overview
  • How training frequency impacts learning

• Olfactory Training

  • About the nose
  • National Odor Recognition Test

• Overview

  • What is a working dog?

• Play

  • More on play
  • The Play Ideas video

• Puppy Development

  • Training Plans and Development Overview
  • How Training Frequency Impacts Learning
  • Lemonade

• Records

  • The two dog trainer paradox

• Resilience

  • Resilience

• Socialization

  • An unusual training week

• Standards

  • The two dog trainer paradox

• Trainer Development

  • Impacts of Anthropomorphism
  • Understanding operant conditioning without physical control

• Training Science

  • Trying to simplify
  • Impacts of Anthropomorphism

The opinions expressed herein reflect Scott Thomas’ experience and expertise as a dog trainer and breeding program manager that specifically prepared detection dogs to serve with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and similar programs. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or perspectives of the American Kennel Club.