K9 Nose Works
Susan Scelzi ANWI
Blue Ribbon Dog Training School
A brand new sport has been introduced to the east coast by Amy Herot, Jill Marie O'Brien, and Ron Gaunt called K9 Nose Work. This sport taps into the dog's ability to use his powerful sense of smell to locate specific odors in the environment. The founders all have a background in dog detection work either canine drug or bomb detection work. They wanted to develop a game for the whole dog world to experience since reactive dogs are not always welcome to play games with others. Although the classes are held as a group , only one dog is worked at a time. This gives the reactive or shy dog a chance to work without the stress of other dogs around. It is also less physically demanding than other canine activities that require young and athleticism, so that geriatric or athletically challenged dogs and their handlers can still enjoy a shared activity. Dogs of every age can participate in NOSE WORK from puppies to the mature and semi-retired dogs. As long as the dog can move from place to place and still has his sense of smell they can play, so even the physically challenged dog can play. Dogs who are blind and deaf have found a wonderful activity that their handlers can involve them in.
To begin with, the dogs are simply encouraged to find a particularly delicious smelling food or a favorite toy that is inside an open box. Once they demonstrate aptitude in confidently going directly to the food box over and over again.. the game is ON ! Soon the level of difficulty is increased so that the number of boxes increases and also the top of the boxes are closed so that the dog must learn to USE his nose. While the number of boxes is increases, and the top on the boxes are closed, the locations begin to change. For instance, the box may be placed on a chair. Once the dog is actively hunting for his reward things get really interesting. The boxes are faded out and other containers take their place. Those could be luggage, pocketbooks, flower pots, empty shipping tubes, anything that will hold your food or toy. When the dog is crazy for the hunt, the food is replaced with a specific scent of an essential oil. The first scent used is sweet birch. Now things get even more interesting! The birch scent is infused onto half of a cotton swab and this is now hidden for the dog to find. Locations for a "hide "can be an interior room, an exterior location such as your front lawn or a car.
For those of us who have to make a competition out of everything there are three titles that your dog can achieve. The Nose Work I (NWI) title, involves the dog finding just the first birch scent hidden in 4 locations. The Nose Work 2 (NW2) title involves two scents ( birch and anise)in the four locations. The Nose Work 3 (NW3) title requires that the dog successfully finds all three scents (birch, anise and clove) in the four locations. Competition details are described on the National Association of Canine Scent Work's website www.funnosework.com or you can e-mail info@k9nosework.com
Only a small number of instructors are being certified to run K9 Nose Work classes at this time since it is such a new sport. At this time they are being referred to as Associate Nose Work Instructors (ANWI). The requirements to become a Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI) include attending all the training workshops held on the east coast, going to nose work camp, and having a dog pass the NWI test along with a written test for the instructor and be able to provide proof of years experience training dogs.
So if your dogÓ needs a jobÓ so to speak, checkÊout K9 Nose Work classes.
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