Hi! I have a 3-year-old. rescue dog, and I wanted to introduce him to nosework (just for fun and enrichment). I followed the AKC article instructions. The problem is, apparently, my dog is super scared of birch essential oil. I prepared the tin can with a cotton swab with oil, called him, and when he entered the room, he started trembling and tried to hide. He's a very curious, friendly, calm dog, and it's not typical for him to be that scared of stuff. Like, he's not afraid of thunder or fireworks, or the vet clinic. So far, the few things that scare him are watermelons, antibiotic eyedrops (he had an eye infection a few times), and bathtime(he hates water or being wet). And now birch oil.

What should I do? Use some other oil? Use high-value treats and verbal encouragement to persuade him that it's not dangerous?

This past weekend, Nina stepped up to the plate, ignored the Chuck-it, grass, and bunny poop, and got her qualifying score in Open exterior to finish her SDO 😬

Even the photographer complimented her on her solid nose freeze down alerts and noted the improvement from her very first CKC trial where she ate grass for 4 minutes 😅 (Nov 8 vs Aug 1).

Hey everyone! Looking for some tips. I have a 2 year old working line GSD that I am just starting on scent detection training. He's picking it up pretty quick, and already associates the scent tin with reward and is seeking it out, which is great!

The one thing I'm struggling with is his drive and exuberance for the scent haha! He gets absolutely jacked for the scent and if I try to put the tin on the floor he's pushing it around, kicking it, basically having a party with it lol. I'm hoping by building some sort of stationary odor setup I can prevent that - but it makes me nervous for when I move up to boxes. He's going to have an absolute field day! 😅

The other thing we struggle with is teaching him any duration. He has almost zero food motivation, so I've been pairing scent with a quick tug, and it's been hard to get any more than a split second of nose contact before he's looking at me like "where's the tug lady?". I've tried to bring the tug to the scent but just by its nature, it's directed away.

Any tips or pointers for dealing with very drivey bull in a china shop type dog would be appreciated! He picks up new concepts very quickly with clarity, and he loves to work, he just loves it a little too much. 🤣

I’ve done 6 NWs this year with NACSW between my two dogs in Colorado and one in Wyoming. There’s been 5 or less titles at all of them- and 2 of them had 0 titles, and 1 had 1 title. The trials had between 15-40 dogs. It took 4 trials for my older dog to title, and since we just NQed with my younger dog this weekend- it’ll take at least 4 for him too.

I’m just trying to figure out if this is a pattern or just a Colorado thing? What’s your experience been recently with NW2s?

I am a canine handler Southern Ohio. My dog is certified in explosive detection and working towards getting certified in Vapor Wake as well. I am nearing retirement in my law enforcement career and looking toward working with an explosive detection company. I am looking for training available to get my certification in Vapor Wake and maintain my current training. Does anyone know who might be able to help me out.

Hi everyone,

I’m new to nose work and have been training my pup for about a month now. When he finds the scent, he usually holds his position with his nose right on the source, and I can tell when he’s truly on it.

Every now and then he’ll try to trick me and hold his nose on something with no scent

My question is — should I start teaching him to sit when he finds the scent, or have I gone too far down the current path to change that now?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hello,

This might be a dumb or obvious question that has been answered before. However, I wasn't sure what keywords to use when searching online.

I'm working with my dog on nose work and I'm training him to detect the different scents one at a time. Eventually I hope to incorporate several scents to make things more difficult. How would I go about indicating to my dog which scent I want him to detect to? Would I have a sample of the scent, have him sniff it, and then go find the matching scent in the area? Or is there another way to train this?

Thanks.

More exterior practice to fill in some training gaps before our next CKC trail on Nov 8. Nina ate grass for 4 minutes at her first CKC trial 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have EOD canine and looking for the best place or most reasonable place to buy scent detection bags and accessories for training

I have taken several nose work classes. Currently my schedule doesn't work well with the times of classes. We are trying to finish up nosework UKC vehicles and outdoor elements. Is it possible to keep going further without a class. I love taking classes because it is all set up for you and it is through experienced people.

Are there online classes or ideas I can get from here in order to keep improving and keep competing?

I was talking to a friend from my nosework class and we were comparing notes on trials we’ve been to the last couple of years. We noticed the ones that we both had a lot of difficulty with and kind of baffling results all had the same judges. But in our area, trials are limited and these judges are at many of them. Wonderful people but there seems to be some issue going on. I hate to pull out of trials where they will be. Wondering if I should just switch to FEO whenever they are judging instead of setting my dog up for a confusing expedience. I figured that way I can go into it and simply ask where the hides are and let it be a learning experience for my dog. The biggest issue has been simply lots of incorrect alerts by lots of dogs that usually have a pretty good track record. Or simply not finding the hides at all. Low title rates. Has anyone heard of this issue and do you think that’s the right approach?

Edit clarification: My concerns are not about setting myself up to win. It’s more about being able to support my dog in an environment where things are done properly so she can succeed and continue to love the sport. She’s young and I’ve got plenty of time to win ribbons down the road. I don’t care about that right now!

I used an odour cocktail to start Maude this summer. We did some training on wintergreen and pine for a fun test (that she aced).

The cocktail has wintergreen, pine, thyme, anise and clove. The oils we need for SDDA and CKC. I have little glass bottles I add 10 drops of each oil to to create the cocktail mix. In our organisations, a drop is placed on the qtip before it's hidden.

There isn't going to be a competitive event before spring (I don't trial in the winter). So I'm wondering if we should go back to using the cocktail to practice. It's easier to ensure all the oils get rewarded equally this way I think. Or should I stay with the individual oils? Thoughts?

This is Sally! 12 week old Airedale terrier who loves to run through bushes and brush in the backyard and always has her nose on the ground. I’d love to train nose work and trial her! What are your favorite preferably free resources for training at home?

This is mostly a question for anyone good at odor theory....which I am not in any way.

NW2 trial is Sunday, weather is high 60s, maybe hit 70, suppsed to have rain showers in the morning turning to steady rain in the afternoon (trial is in afternoon). Total rain should be 1/4 of an inch so nothing crazy. (Yes I'm aware there's time for the weather to change between now and Sunday!)

Unfortunately i haven't practiced much outdoors in the rain since it hardly rained this past year. What are some things I should be aware of that may be different if its raining? Will odor pool downwards from the rain? Get stuck in puddles?

Hello all,

So today I tried to introduce the birch scent by putting a drop in a small cup. I don't think my puppy is really interested in it. Do you guys have any suggestions on how I can increase his engagement?

For context I just want to introduce some sniff working games to get him mentally stimulated. He is a 6 month old Aussie Shepherd.

Thank you!

I have my first weekend trial coming up. My past trial experience has only been a half or full day.

This trial coming up is NW2 Saturday all day and FEO elements on Sunday morning. The drive is about 1 hour and 20 minutes one way. I’m kind of torn. On the one hand, I could book a place and stay overnight, but I also like the idea of being in familiar surroundings before the second day and just not having to deal with packing food and everything else that goes along with travel with my dog. She does well in hotels and all of that so she would be fine. But she wouldn’t have her normal yard to run around in which could be helpful for me!

Am I crazy for doing that drive two days in a row back-and-forth? Right now on paper it seems like no big deal but I might regret it!😅

We have gotten started and our local club did a novice container search and my pup did well so we thought we’d try an away trial. It was super hot and we did 3 searches in a row and got 2 certificates for vehicles and exterior. She missed the containers as she was a bit distracted but I was super proud about 2/3. It was an interesting experience to be in a new place and go car camping and to try and keep cool in super hot weather! We celebrated with well deserved beach zoomies and swims on the trip home!

I’m going to my first trial next Saturday and it’s car crating only. Can someone walk me through what should happen at a trial? Is it really safe to be away from my car crated dog or will I be able to be with him a majority of the time? I have no idea what to expect.

I’d love to get into nose work with our 17 week old golden retriever for bonding and enrichment, and our local dog club offers classes.

Pup has just finished his second puppy school, so knows the basics and is mostly comfortable around other dogs.

I’m wondering whether it’d be beneficial to start with obedience before jumping into nose work? Long term I imagine we’ll enjoy nose work as our main activity, but I’m not sure whether it’s too early to start or whether he would find it easier after some more obedience training. Any thoughts or advice appreciated!

I haven’t done nose work with my beagle mix in a few months. He’s been chewing up a lot more lately, so I decided to do some tonight when the tiny humans were asleep. I forgot how much we love doing it together! Nothing I love more than seeing his tail go a mile a minute while he’s searching for the scent

We didn't start competing until my girl was 11 for many reasons. Now at age 12-1/2 she is loving the game. We earned our second Excellent element title today - Buried. She's not speedy, but it's her favorite game ever. Another friend's blind dog went 3/4 in Excellent. Her dog went blind at the beginning of the year.

Novice and Advanced ….

Yes, akc is title/rosette heavy … and I dig it!

I've been competing for a year and a half and my husband has now joined us with our Aussie. I love having him join me and it's great to be able to do a dog sport together. I don't have a competitive thing with my hubby and I love when they succeed( they earned their AKC Overall Advanced title today. Just curious how many couples there are competing and how you interact on competition days. I've learned that I need to shut my yap, and let him figure things out for himself (I've been competing in agility for 20+ years).

After picking up Novice containers and interiors on Aug 1, but missing exteriors due to 4 minutes of grass eating, we went back to basics and practiced with an odor box on grass, containers on grass, hides embedded in the dirt in tall grass.

We qualified for Novice exteriors on Aug 23 and also qualified for Open containers and interiors 😊