Anybody done K9 Nose Work?

[Pat and Traveler]

Trav and I are taking a class in K9 Nose Work.  This is a for-fun class, not to be confused with drug sniffing, cadaver-finding, or other working-dog trainings.  (And would you really want your dog to alert on a car truck while you were on your daily walk?!)

In a large room, a number of boxes are scattered around, one of which contains a high-value treat.  The dog searches, finds the treat, gets rewarded and praised.  It’s fun for the dog, and fun to watch other dogs do their searches.  There are more advanced trainings, but this box training is the beginning.  It’s a good class for dogs that are dog-reactive or shy as they work one by one, staying in the car between turns.  The dogs in Trav’s group are at various stages in their training.  One little terrier is a no-nonsense worker and just trots in, finds the treat, and is finished.  There’s an old lab that wanders arthritically around, only mildly interested in treats. 

Trav loves playing ‘find the fox,’ at home, and will patiently search the living room til he finds the hidden toy.  This game didn’t translate at all to the nose work.  Trav was delighted to see a row of people sitting in the training room and wanted to say hello to everybody.  After some coaxing, he found the treat.  He loves going to this training, but I can’t say he’s a star searcher.  He did do a lot better at our last class and found the treats in practically record time. 

If you continue on in the Nose Work, the dogs learn to search the perimeter of the room, vehicles, etc., and to search for three specific scents–birch, anise and clove–and there are trials and competitions.

Has anybody else taken their dogs to this training?  

[BG and Gavin]

Karen - maybe you could use a tennis ball for JD's reward?

[Pat and Traveler]

I use treats for Trav, but a couple of the dogs use toys as rewards.  Trav doesn't really need any reward other than finding the scent--he never got a reward for 'finding the fox' when we played that game at home, but he was always eager to play.

[GBK]

We all are into our 3rd set of classes and scenting on Birch.  They are doing fantastic, and finding the Birch scent unpaired with food when asked too.  It is a blast, and I have never seen my dogs so darn happy in doing a job, they especially love to search the cars ;)  It is amazing how they can follow the crazy scent through all the little crevices in cars and trucks.  We are hoping to get together an ORT trial in Las Vegas this Spring/Summer.  I think we have over 20 dogs between two teachers ready to test. 

Yes, the dogs do need to be crated or in the car in between runs.  Buddy is my velco dog, and he has learned that it is OK to be crated away from me while the other dogs run and he is OK in the car.  He knows his turn will come and he is full of joy for the chance to "FIND".  They don't have to stay in the car, they can be crated instead.  We use soft sided crates that work wonderful.

[Stella]

I have been taking my boys to Scent Games classes.  I think it sounds like the same thing (we are in Canada).  We began by learning to search for hot dog!  We are now pairing with Wintergreen, and will go on to learn Pine and ?Thyme, I think that is what she said.  Both my dogs love it!  Hartley especially gets so excited and has mastered a room search, including different heights and even inside a suitcase!!  Chase is very timid and reactive, so I was pleased to find a class I would be able to take him to.  He is making good progress and is startling less at noises while he is searching.  The classes go on to include an outdoor search and a vehilcle search, with the option of competing.  Agility season will be starting soon, so I think we will have to stop going - I can't manage two classes a week and agility trials at weekends!!  But, we will definitely come back to it next winter!