Paws at Play Dog Training

25/10/2026

Yesterday Phoenix and myself went to another Scent Work trial, entered in Excellent Exterior only and we walked away with another qualification which now makes us eligible to play with the really big kids in Masters Exterior, and only one pass away from our Scent Work Excellent title!! That’s around 9 passes in a row for us, all at Excellent and Masters levels which is not an easy thing to achieve. 🌟

If you want to get bit of an idea of what scent work looks like, hop onto my page and scroll to the post below this one ⬇️ and into the comments section where I posted a video of Phoenix running over a search area in between clients. 🙂

If you were thinking about finding out more about Scent Work - whether for competition or simply for fun - now is the time to get in touch as I still have a couple of spots available in my calendar.

Training is one to one starting in the comfort of your own home, particularly great for the more nervous or reactive individuals but just as beneficial for the confident doggies too!

Competitive prices servicing Flagstaff Hill and surrounds, travel fees may apply for distances over 10km because the price of diesel is insane. 🤪

National Dog Trainers Federation Certified in Dog Behaviour and Training, Trainee ANKC Scent Work Judge, and highly seasoned and successful ANKC dog sports competitor in multiple fields for over 10 years.

Eva 🙂

23/10/2026

When the human brings you along to client scent work sessions and you are made to wait over an hour before being allowed to run yourself, it’s important to voice your opinions on the matter.

Miss Phoenix - Brafferton Raven at InkdinIce FS.S. LP. RN. SPRD.A. SWA. SWC. TK.I.

11/10/2026

Copy and paste from my page because we are still driving home from VIC back to SA…

What a day we had yesterday despite my best attempts at self-sabotage on Friday afternoon!

Some 850km from home competing at the VIC State Scent Work Trial in 3 elements (balloted from Excellent Interior) and despite sporting a freshly bruised and swollen sprained ankle, neither dog nor handler put a foot wrong yesterday… pardon the pun lol.

We went 3 from 3 playing in Excellent Vehicles, Excellent Exterior and Masters Containers!!

Our two Excellent passes mean baby dog is now eligible for Masters Vehicles and, omg we are only two Q’s away from our Scent Work Excellent title!! We are missing one Excellent Interior (balloted out) and one more Excellent Exterior. Just incredible.

But, what is even more incredible is after starting Phoenix in Scent Work trialing at 11 months of age in January 2025 (yes, last year), her taking to trialing like a duck to water, then smashing through Containers to be eligible for Masters Containers in something like September or October last year, a little delay starting in Masters as I tried to finish SWC with Rocky as I knew I was going to call his retirement very soon, then finally debuting in MC just a couple of months ago, yesterday Phoenix strolled into the MC search, found the single hide (MC is 1 to 3 hides, number unknown to handler - let me assure you Masters is one big handler mind game 😂), she clearly told me nothing more to find, as I cued her to keep searching she persisted at pushing into me to communicate “all done, no more odour” handler made the call to say “finish” and the judge said “Correct!” So Phoenix walked back out with a (happy) teary handler and her SCENT WORK CONTAINERS element title!!!!!!!

The SWC is baby dogs 7th set of letters to be added to her name and what a HUGE set of letters these are - element titles is where the elite titles begin along with SWM, SWU and one day, the prestigious SW Champion title.

So, Miss Phoenix who won’t be 3 years of age until February next year will now officially be known as…

⭐️ Brafferton Raven at InkdinIce FS.S. LP. RN. SPRD.A. SWA. SWC.* TK.I. ⭐️

To be blown away by this dog and her achievements, her drive, her temperament, her confidence and her zest for life and working would be an understatement. ❤️

03/10/2026

My very clever young girl and myself were out playing in Scent Work this afternoon, as a reminder this girl won’t be 3 until February next year so what she is achieving in all sports, but particularly in Scent Work is nothing short of amazing!

Two elements today - Excellent Exterior and Masters Containers.

Two from two passes coming in 3rd from only 11 Q’s in EX and 5th from just 5 Q’s in MC!

The Exteriors search today was challenging due to the weather conditions, it was a beautiful search, the swirling wind is what made it challenging hence the lower than expected pass rate.

Fortunately Containers was inside but again, a beautifully set out and really fun search, just the fact that it is Masters is what made it challenging but 5 Q’s in Masters is pretty good, at least in SA it is.

So after today, Miss Not Even 3 has earned 8 of the required 12 passes towards her Scent Work Excellent title - we are missing 1x Vehicle, 1x Interior and 2x Exterior. But even more exciting and amazing is Phoenix now needs ONE more pass in Masters Containers and she will have her first element title - SWC!!!!!

For those not involved in Scent Work, element titles are massive amounts of work and are not easy to get. They require the dog to achieve 2x Novice passes in that element, 3x Advanced passes in that element, 3x Excellent passes in that element and finally, 3x Masters passes in that element.

All things going to plan, no girl in season, Rocky okay health wise, everyone else okay health wise, Phoenix and myself are making the trip to VIC next weekend to compete in their State Scent Work trial and we will now be doing so sitting on an element title! If everyone can have good thoughts and wish us luck for next weekend, we would appreciate it - not that Phoenix needs it but the handler, she still needs it sometimes to avoid making silly handler errors.

⭐️ Phoenix - Brafferton Raven at InkdinIce FS.S. LP. RN. SPRD.A. SWA. TK.I. ⭐️

02/10/2026

Rogue the almost 6 month old German Shepherd loving his intro to odour course. What an absolutely cool young dude and his human is doing a smashing job working on his obedience and manners with another trainer, Rogue is such a good boy for a baby dog. 😍

I am really looking forward to watching how this team develop, their bond is already so strong and will only get stronger with all the time his human puts into training and providing enrichment to Rogue. ⭐️

28/09/2026

We have had a couple of quiet weekends free of dog events, a rarity for us, but this weekend we were back out helping at a Scent Work trial on Saturday playing demo dog and the human volunteering in the timer role and on Sunday competing in Tricks Intermediate just for fun.

Miss Phoenix LOVES her tricks so much! In some pretty horrible strong windy conditions we were the only qualifiers in the Intermediate ring on a day where there weren’t many qualifiers in any of the events being held at the ground - Tricks and also Rally and Obedience. By default we came 1st but then Miss Phoenix’s history tells us she has placed in the top 3 with multiple 1st placings in all but 2 tricks rings, and this is our third spare in Intermediate so that is A LOT of tricks rings from Starters through Novice and then Intermediate!

My superstar girl who isn’t even 3 yet! ⭐️

Phoenix - Brafferton Raven at InkdinIce FS.S. LP. RN. SPRD.A. SWA. TK.I.

19/09/2026

When you have a Masters dog and handler team doing a training session, it’s the perfect time to practice setting up an ANKC Masters Interiors search. 😃

Miss Liza and her human had lots of fun today running two Masters Interiors setups blind, I had fun planning and setting up the challenge, as well as “judging” them. These girls are preparing to travel interstate in October to compete at the Victorian State Scent Work trial, we will hopefully be joining them pending Miss Phoenix and her girlie business timing. 🤪

Feel free to reach out via private message if you would like to find out how to get involved in this fun and relationship building sport, for competition or just for fun! Training is one to one and we start in the comfort of your home, competitive prices starting at $50 for each session, travel charges may apply for distances greater than 10km from Flagstaff Hill and a $10 charge applies for the first session to cover the cost of a basic odour starter kit (cocktail).

Happy sniffing! 🐕

12/09/2026

Miss Phoenix’s new scent work leash, super pretty in pink! 😍😍😍

Thank you Corinna. 🙂

🩷 pretty in pink 🩷

3.5m, 10mm Rope Leash with Wutz whipping for scent work 🐾

05/09/2026

Miss Phoenix and myself were invited to the Royal Adelaide Show to do something a bit different, to be part of the DWD demo team.

I am so proud of my young girl Phoenix, she handled the big busy and noisy environment beautifully, a massive testament to her amazing temperament. ❤️

Here is a video of our first performance from today, this is a HTM.S or Heelwork to Music - Starters routine. 🫶🏻

Phoenix - Brafferton Raven at InkdinIce FS.S. JC. RN. SPRD.A. SWA. TK.I.

19/08/2026

Is your dog full of energy, in need of mental enrichment or a bit of a nervous nelly?

Why not try Scent Work for dogs!

Scent Work puts your dog’s number one asset - their nose - to work by teaching them to sniff out hidden odours (dog safe essential oils).

Sniffing helps to calm and tire your dogs brain, combining it with working with their person to seek out hidden odours has the added benefit of building a super strong relationship and build confidence in a fun and interactive way!

Great for dogs of all ages, from young puppies through to the senior members of the family, as well as all temperament types from the uber confident ones through to the nervous, life is a bit scary individuals, scent work can help build confidence in dogs of all ages and temperaments.

Location: we start in the comfort of your own home teaching the foundations. 🏡

When: I work one to one so we pick a time that is mutually convenient, I am available Monday to Friday during business hours with limited late afternoon and evening spots, these fill fast! ⏰

Cost: first session $60 which includes a mini odour kit to get you started, follow up sessions are $50 each and run for between 30-45 minutes depending on the individual dogs drive. 🐕

Servicing the southern hills and suburbs including the foothills, travel charges may apply for locations greater than 10km from Flagstaff Hill. 🚙

Send a DM to get started in this fun activity with your four legged bestie. Eva 😊

*Certified in Dog Behaviour + Training through the National Dog Trainers Federation, trainee ANKC Scent Work judge and highly successful with multiple dogs competing in Scent Work and multiple other dog sport disciplines for over 10 years.