# care of utility articles



## Auenk9 (Oct 23, 2008)

I have "washed" both metal and leather. Howevah.....with that said....I know a lot of trainers will "cringe" at me saying I wash the leather ones. I just have never had any issues doing so but I don't do it often and it probably isn't necessary! Most trainers will say letting them "air" for 24 hours is sufficient and for a seasoned dog it most likley is. If you are just starting your dog on articles and you have used them in the past on another dog....you may want to give them a good rinse to start with. If you mean in between training sessions with a dog.....just let them air overnight and rotate.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Couple of diffeent thoughts here.
First if you are training articles I would leave the one you scented out in the open air for 24 hours before including back in with the others. If you are just beginning I use the same ones (#6 metal and leather) over and over and over so that they always have scent. Once I get past the stage where i know the dog is using it's nose relialbly I don't use these articles (#6s) anymore till I start with my next dog's training.
Now if I am past the teaching point I just throw them in the bag with the others and reuse them next day. They learn to find "hot" scent and do not have a problem. I NEVER wash or clean them. Same goes for my gloves but that is more od a "guy" thing than anything else.


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## Auenk9 (Oct 23, 2008)

Thanks Hank for expanding on the process! I tend to use #6 too and do just what you said.....leave the one I am using "out" overnight when training a "new" dog! As to to the "wash" part......it isn't just a guy thing. A lot of my "girl" friends think I am nuts too! :


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Thanks for the replies! Yes, we are just starting out so I wanted to know what you do with them in between each training session.
Another question...when you train articles, how many times per training session do you do it? I've been using the tie down mat, with 2 articles tied and 1 untied and him where he can't see me place or move the articles. The first two times he gets it right 100% of the time. The third time, maybe half. After that, he seems real random. Am I trying to do it too many times in a training session? 
I've never done this and really really don't want to mess him up!
Thanks!


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

hotel4dogs said:


> Thanks for the replies! Yes, we are just starting out so I wanted to know what you do with them in between each training session.
> Another question...when you train articles, how many times per training session do you do it? I've been using the tie down mat, with 2 articles tied and 1 untied and him where he can't see me place or move the articles. The first two times he gets it right 100% of the time. The third time, maybe half. After that, he seems real random. Am I trying to do it too many times in a training session?
> I've never done this and really really don't want to mess him up!
> Thanks!


My thought if he is doing it correct two times (the same article) and then struggling he is thinking "well the first two times I brought back the wrong one, maybe it is one of the others". 
If he is reliably bringing you the proper article the first two times I would then begin to add another article to the tie down mat.


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## Auenk9 (Oct 23, 2008)

Do you just have metal tied down? Or a combination of metal and leather tied down? I usually (in the beginning) only send once and since the dog cannot be wrong (unless he drags the entire mat back)...I quit. I will do that several times a day for a week....gradually increasing the amount of articles tied down.


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