K-9 Nosework Classes: with Sherm and Walter

by Christy Caplan | October 13, 2015

First, why did I get into K-9 Nosework? Two words – reactive dog.

I live with not one but TWO reactive dogs. Shermie has always been reactive, I’m not sure what happened with Walter.

This morning, a large dog (likely super sweet) ran towards us and picked up Walter as he started lunging and barking – there is no question the interaction would have ended badly. No one wants to have to pick up their lunging dog while on a peaceful walk at 7:30 a.m.

Shermie is worse on leash and louder than Walter. He’s mellowed out over time. K-9 Nosework is a sport where reactive dogs can play as one dog hunts at a time.

It’s a great sport and if you like to compete with your dogs – it’s worth checking out. The video below looks at a vehicle search exercise with our nosework trainer, Joyce with Joyce’s Dogs. Shemie has done this for many years and vehicle searches are his favorite “element”. Other elements include: interiors, containers and exteriors. More can be found at the National nosework site: https://www.nacsw.net/.

You have to register your dog and yourself to compete. It’s not expensive.

There are trainers all over the Portland metro area and K-9 Nosework is now popular all over the country.

What is it?

Your dog doesn’t have to be a natural born *hunter* or any “type” of breed at all, your dog just needs to enjoy eating lots of treats or pulling tug toys with you. This isn’t obedience or agility – far from it. The less obedient your dog is the easier it will be to teach them to hunt odor.

You actually start this sport with boxes and odor. The odors are birch, anise and clove. You start out on birch and then after dogs can successfully find odor in a box, you’re hooked! Odor is paired with treats so they figure out that odor results in yummy treats! You need to orientate them to the boxes first and that can be half the classes of your first session.

If folks want to take to their dogs to compete, they first have to pass their Odor Recognition Test (ORT). It’s a basic container/box search and one box has odor. They have three minutes and typically are video taped. Your trainer will let you know when you and your dog are ready.

Things I hear people say?

My dog is tired after nosework! Hooray!

My dog loves this game and we play at home – he’s searching for odor on my car.

I can recommend teachers in the area of you’re interested!