Nose work encourages your dog’s natural instinct to hunt using their outstanding sense of smell. It can be done anywhere.
Shy or fearful dogs build confidence and overactive dogs put their energy into fun searches. In K9 Nose Work, dogs learn how to search for a specific odor or odors.
Beginner Dogs start by searching for their favorite food or reward hidden in a variety of environments, increasing the difficulty and adding new challenges in changing environments as the dog and handler progress. Once the target odors – anise, clove and birch – are introduced to the dog, they will search for the odor only and find its source. Searches are done blind and it is up to the handler to cue in on the dog’s reaction and identify when the source has been found. Miss the alert and the whole search may need to start again.
In classes, dogs work one at a time and rest crated or safely in a vehicle between searches. Shy or fearful dogs build confidence and overactive dogs put their energy into fun searches.
Nose work also strengthens the bond between the dog & handler as the handler learns to observe, understand, and rely upon their dog.
Any dog can enjoy K9 Nose Work. The training is designed to help dogs tap into their incredible sense of smell and to build broad and solid foundational scent detection and teamwork skills.
