Train my boxer (dog) to find things using sense of smell?

Dave!

Hey folks,

I've got a 6 month old boxer which I got a good while ago... I've got her trained a bit -- she can sit, lie down, stay, fetch(kinda), give the paw, and speak -- although she is still kinda undisciplined(doesn't always stop when I tell her to, pulls the lead too).

Anywho, I've noticed that she, like most dogs, has a good sense of smell... I let my cat in a few minutes ago, and the dog was asleep in the corner, not able to see him, but after the cat went by she started sniffing and sure enough found him.

I know that cats and fresh air have a fairly strong smell, at least to a dog anyway! But I've read some people saying that their dog is able to find things like their ball using their sense of smell.

Again, that probably has a strong smell, but dogs are used to sniff bags and things at airports, so they can obviously pick up feint scents.

So I was thinking, how possible would it be to train my dog to find and possibly retrieve things like my mobile phone?

Thanks!

Arcadian

I might be wrong but i think a 6 month old boxer still has a major chewing phase to come so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to encourage her to be picking up anything of value