Nose Work This and Nose Work That. Yeah. It’s kind of a big deal.

 

Have you heard of this new canine sport called K9 Nose Work? If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you may have heard a lot of chatter about our trip to K9 Nose Work camp this past week, which we’ll blog about tomorrow.

But first: what’s this nose work all about? Oh, it’s only the most addicting thing to ever happen to canine sports. Yup. It’s that awesome.

What it is, what it do

We all know a dog’s nose is far superior to that of a humans. But do you know by how much? Our puny noses have just 5 million scent receptors, while a Bloodhound’s tally up to about 300 million. Uh, yeah. That’s a lot more. For a more sciency breakdown of the dog’s nose, visit this link.

Nose work allows the dog to use that schnoz…without human interruption. Which is pretty much the most awesome part of this sport.

At a very basic level, the dog searches for food in a controlled environment. The handler is there for the ride. Oh! and to reward the dog when they’ve found the food. The dog quickly learns that we are encouraging him (in fact, we’re paying him) to search for food.

First, food is hidden in boxes. Then, the criteria increases by making the search more difficult using elevation, environmental distractions, and more. Many dogs go on to learn how to search for scent. The scents used in nose work are birch, anise, and clove. *sniff* ahhhhhhh.

Bark Magazine has an awesome article and video about Nose Work that can be found here.

Who can participate

This is the other thing that gives me goosebumps, the good kind, about this sport: ANY dog can participate. There were dogs of all kinds at camp: border collies, chihuahuas, bull terriers, you name it. Know who else gets to take part? Reactive dogs. [huge sigh of relief]. That’s right. Reactive dogs finally get invited to play with the group.

While at camp, reactive dogs were identified by their red bandannas. Big round of applause: most handlers had phenomenal handling skills with their dogs so that there weren’t many outbursts over the weekend.

Why it’s so awesome

It’s interesting how many times the instructors at camp had to remind us: your dogs are smelling ALL the time. And yet we’d still ask questions like “when do I know that my dog is searching for the food?” or “I don’t think he smells it – can I help him?”

It was a very humbling experience. The dogs don’t need us. They’ve got this one in the bag.

Fascinating basically sums it up. You would let the line out (that’s nose work talk for “loosen the leash”) and let your dog search. Just when you think he isn’t getting it, he’d make a sharp turn to the left. Then a gust of wind would come through and you’d notice his tail twitch as he reached towards the sky with his nose. He picked up his pace, stuck his face behind a trash can and Bingo! He got it. Get yo’ ass in there and reward that dog.

What it isn’t

This isn’t tracking. It isn’t schutzhund. You aren’t finding cadavers, bad guys or missing persons. And while that kind of stuff is cool and all, this is purely for the fun of it.

You can compete if you want to or you can just go to workshops.

It has nothing to do with the trainer/handler, so leaves your ego at home.

How to get started

We went because we thought it would be a lot of fun. I had no idea it was going to become my newest addiction. I hate competing in dog sports, it’s just not my thing. I don’t have the time, the preparation, the equipment, the funds. But with nose work, you need food, cardboard boxes, a harness, and a leash. Done. Who doesn’t have all that already?

To get started, visit the National Association of Canine Scent Work for more information.

Have you tried Nose Work yet? Are you interested? Have any questions? Post a comment below!