How to Train Your Dog to Detect Peanuts

Hello Diannah, Unfortunately we do not. The online Trainers and writers at Wag live and work remotely from all over the country and are not located at the main office. My dog training company is located in Atlanta Georgia for instance. I suggest googling: "Service Dog Trainer Los Angeles" "Service Dog Training Los Angeles" "Service Dog Trainer Los Angeles California" "Service Dog Training Los Angeles California" "Medical Alert dog training Los Angeles" and similar phrases. Make a list of all the qualified trainers and training groups close enough to your home and look on their website to see if they train for things like "Medical Alert", "Celiac disease", "Allergen detection", or other scent type tasks. If they do I suggest you call those training facilities and ask them about their training and tell them what you are needing and explain the level of detection you need for the training to truly be effective - a high level of detection to only trace amounts of scent. If you can find someone who has done Celiac training or allergen detection training before that would be best. Like allergies, Celiac disease also requires a very sensitive level of scent detection because trace amounts can be a huge problem for someone with Celiac too, so trainers who have done that and actually understand what Celiac is and how severe it is (opposed to treating it like gluten intolerance - which is totally different) are familiar with the type of work you would need for peanuts more likely as well. Someone who has done peanut detection would obviously be the most ideal. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Laviny, First, does your dog find what you are using as a reward motivating - be sure to find something pup sees as rewarding to use for training. This might be a different treat, people food like chicken, or a toy instead of food. Second, be sure to start the training off in a quiet, distraction free environment. Third, break down the steps for pup. If pup is struggling to succeed and thus getting distracted or frustrated, simplify the training even more, rewarding pup for even very tiny progress in the right direction and building on their small successes, until they can do the whole first step of training and go from there. Fourth, keep training sessions short but frequent, such as just 5-15 minutes but several times a day. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Suzie, For that situation, I would recommend teaching her to paw at the door of the crate so you would both see and hear it but it wouldn't be as loud as barking. But, for scent detection the dog usually needs to be able to access the thing they should sniff with their nose, allowing the dog out of the crate to sniff the handle and basket of the cart or other potential areas of problem in order to detect peanut scent accurately. Inside the cart your dog may miss smells or falsely alert to a general smell of peanut butter in the air near certain isles where peanut butter products are kept, and not just areas where you could come into contact with something. Is the dog is trained to be well behaved in public? Will your dog not cause a nuisance, are they fully housebroken with no risk of accidents, and can your dog be quiet without barking while or poor behavior while heeling next to you. If so, then once they are fully trained to perform at least one task that directly helps you with a medically verified condition (detecting peanut scent and alerting), then your dog should not have to be in a crate while in the store. I would recommend having them wear a Service Dog vest and you carry a small laminated copy of ADA law with you in your wallet - which states your rights to bring your dog places, in case anyone thinks pup is just a pet. Your dog would have to be very well behaved to qualify though - if they are not, you can be asked to leave by the store owner. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden