Canine Nose Work: Why You and Your Dog Will Love It with Bonnie Hartney
Learn all about this fun activity for you and your dog from Certified Nose Work Instructor Bonnie Hartney CTC, in the latest episode of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation.
This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
Watch the conversation on Youtube or below, listen wherever you get your podcasts (Apple, Spotify), or scroll down to read a transcript of the highlights.
Canine nose work: Why you and your dog will love it
We learn what canine scent work is, why it's so good for dogs, and how to get started--and progress--in this activity with Certified Nose Work Instructor Bonnie Hartney of Ocean Park Dog Training.
We talk about:
- How Bonnie got started in scent work and how the activity first came about
- Why scent work is fun for dogs and for their humans
- What to expect at a beginner class
- Whether scent work is for all dogs
- The kinds of scent that are used, how dogs progress to searching for a target odour, and the kinds of searches they do
- What Bonnie has learned about her dogs from doing scent work
- How Kristi's dog Archer is likely to do at scent work if she tries it
- Differences between scent work classes and professional scent work
If you'd like to try nose work, Bonnie recommends:
- National Association of Canine Scent Work
- Find an Instructor
- Online Scent Training with Scent Work University
- For shy and fearful dogs with Kelly Lee
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like Ep 35 on human remains detection dogs and historic searches with Kim Cooper and Cat Warren.
Bonnie Hartney is the owner and head instructor/trainer of Ocean Park Dog Training in Surrey, BC, which is AnimalKind accredited. Bonnie is a force-free, reward-based dog training professional, who brings knowledge and experience working with shelter dogs and pet dogs to advance other’s understanding of pet dog behaviour. Bonnie earned her CTC (Certificate in Training and Counselling) from a distinguished, international leader, Jean Donaldson at the Academy for Dog Trainers. To further her understanding of scent detection for pet dogs, Bonnie studied with NACSW (National Association of Canine Scent Work) founders and is a certified CNWI (Certified NoseWork Instructor) with 9 years experience teaching Nose Work. For over 25 years, Bonnie has volunteered and worked with the BC SPCA, helping shelter dogs to be adopted. Currently they have Nose Work classes every day of the week with 4 certified Nose Work Instructors and more than 95 dog teams.
Learn more about Bonnie Hartney on her website, Ocean Park Dog Training.
The book Bonnie chose is Finding Flora by Elinor Florence.
Highlights of the conversation about canine nose work with Bonnie Hartney
Z: So how did you get started in scent work?
B: I have to confess, when I first heard about it, I thought, I don't think this is going to fly. But it started back in about, I think it was 2009, and my friend Ann Gunderson told me about a new class she was starting, and wondered if I was interested.
It was called Canine Nose Work, and it was a class to teach pet dogs how to do scent detection. She'd recently been to California to learn from the founders at the National Association of Canine Scent Work. She was super excited.
And at first, though, I was like, I'm not sure. I don't know. But anyways, I decided to give it a try, which was really lucky for me.
So that organization was started with the late Ron Gaunt and Amy Herot and Jill Marie O'Brien. They were professional detection dog handlers, and they had an idea. They recognized how happy and joyful the professional dogs were when they were searching for bombs and drugs and things, and they wondered if they could replicate something like that for pet dogs.
"And so in nose work, they get to be a dog. They get to follow their nose. And I think it really does feel good and right to them."
So they came up with this idea. They designed classes. They had a small group of people in Southern California who got started, and people loved it. And they were searching for food. The food was hidden, the dogs were searching. They made it more and more complex, and the dogs were able to do it.
But then as humans, the students wanted to compete. They were wondering how they could test their skills. So they kind of went back to the drawing board and came up with the idea of having a target odour that they could train the dogs to find, and that way they could hide it and the humans could go into competition.
So as things went on, Ann had this great idea, and. Oh, and by the way, the dogs learned to find the target odour really easily.
And so the whole organization took off, and it now has an educational side, it has a competition side. But the majority of dogs, I think, probably are just dogs that are out there doing it for the fun of it.
So fast forward. Today, there are teams everywhere, all over the globe. There are other scent organizations. They may be slightly different, but they're all doing the same thing. When trial registrations open up, it is not at all surprising to have a wait list that is so long because it's so popular.
So the thing about nose work that makes it different, I think, from any other class that people might take is that one dog comes into the search area, which is typically a classroom or a hall. So one dog comes in at a time and does the search and then goes back and waits in the car for their next turn.
And that was a part that I thought, I don't know if we're going to like this.
So I went to my first class with my white Swiss shepherd, Lily. She was an adolescent at the time. She was about a year old, full of energy and all sorts of fun, very lively. And so we had our three turns, and she waited in the car in between.
And when I drove home, she slept the whole way. And I was like, what was that about? And she was so content, and I didn't have to take her for a super long walk afterwards. And I thought, wow, she loves this, and it's very tiring. I love that, too. And so we were hooked.
K: Oh, man, I love that. I love that story. And I love how you said earlier that the detection dog handlers noticed that their dogs loved it. And that's something that I see when I'm in an airport and I see one of those airport spaniels, you know, like the handler has a kong or something in their pocket, and the dogs look like they're having fun.
And it's so different from the image that you might get of other working dogs, especially working dogs who are trained using aversives. It just looks like they're having the best time. It puts everybody around in a good mood, you know.
"Scent work is dog led. It's very much tapping into that natural instinct that dogs have."
Yeah. So, following that, and I apologize. I know we were talking about this before we got started on Zoom, but my Internet is a little glitchy today. I think it's because we got our first big snowfall here in Northern BC.
So I apologize if my voice is crackling in and out, but we wanted you to talk a little bit more about what are the benefits of scent work for dogs and their people. Like, I think you touched on that. But let's drill down on that a little bit more.
B: Sure, sure. I like to start, I call it the school year of nose work. So we start, we take the break in the summer, but we come back in the fall.
And I like to ask my students, you know, what brings you back? Why did you sign up again and again this year. The answer was the same. The number one reason that people continue to come to classes is because they say, my dog loves it.
And it's true. And that's what keeps people coming back. And some people said it's also because they love it too.
People find that, you know, it's mentally tiring, and it's very fulfilling for the dogs. It really does tap into their natural hunting abilities. And it feels good and it feels right to the dog.
There are lots of times when we're saying to dogs, oh, don't sniff that or get out of the garbage, or don't sniff that person too closely, because that's rude. And so in nosework, they get to be a dog. They get to follow their nose. And I think it really does feel good and right to them.
It turns out the part that I was worried about the brakes in the car, it turns out that they actually really do need that because it is meant mentally tiring for the dogs.
And sometimes I will maybe do four searches instead of three. And the dogs, you can see, they're starting to lag. It is like doing the most advanced crossword puzzle.
And so they do actually need a break. So my students also said that they love learning more about their dog.
So I feel like as they watch their dog, there are so many light bulb moments, and they say things like, wow, I had no idea my dog could do this.
And it's like when someone shows you, you know, the owner's manual for your phone or your TV or your car, and you're like, oh, I didn't know my TV could do that. That's cool.
And that's kind of what it's like when people come to class. Like, I had no idea. It's really exciting people.
And I totally agree is. It is definitely a confidence builder for dogs who are maybe worried about moving away from their person. It's a great opportunity for them to do that in a really positive and safe way.
Some dogs at the beginning are afraid to put their head into boxes or move close to tight spaces. And you can see over time how their confidence really, really grows with nose work.
And then the other part that I love is that it's a fun activity that dogs who might otherwise not be able to come to classes can do, and that is because it's one dog at a time. So, for example, if a dog is dog reactive or maybe shy around people, it's fine because they're coming in one at a time.
The humans don't do anything. We don't talk to the dogs while they're searching. We don't interact with them at all. And so they start to become more and more confident over time.
And so for those people who have especially dog reactive dogs, I think it's just so lovely because finally they can be part of a class and they can see their dog in a different light.
And I really love that. And usually over time, it's not at all surprising to me now because I've seen it so much when the dog that is highly dog reactive starts to learn the game and loves nose work and loves coming into the training center, they ignore the other dogs in the parking lot and the reactivity really goes down, which is really cool to see.
K: That's awesome.
Z: Yeah. So many benefits. So if someone decides to sign up for a class like a complete beginner's class, what can they expect to happen at the class at the very first class?
B: So the part I always want people to know is that the dog has to be comfortable and safe when being left in the car. And I think in some of the warmer places in the world doing nose work, they have areas for crating dogs to keep them separate.
And the reason that nose work is one dog at a time is it does tap into that natural hunting instinct. And we don't need them worrying about other dogs coming close when they're, when they're hunting for scent. So they take turns. So being comfortable in the car is really important.
The other thing is they're searching for treats when they come. So we want something that's high value. We want small ones because we're going to use a lot of them. I say 50, but I've never counted it.
You come with your container and your dog's name because at first the humans are not actually doing a lot. The instructors are, they're setting the hides, the treats, and the humans are watching, which is really a great opportunity for them to watch the dog's body language. The instructor can narrate what they see and tell them what their dog is doing as it, as they move around the room.
But learning really does happen from watching the other dogs. So once you're done, you'll go back out, put your dog in the car, and come and sit and watch the other dogs. It's endlessly fascinating to watch the different search styles.
It's interesting too, if you have different dogs in the class, because you might see some breed tendencies. The herding dogs have a really cool thing where they tend to come in and do a nice perimeter search first and then come back.
The spaniels do a bit of that quartering where they're all over. It looks like they're, you know, flushing out some birds from a bush.
It's exciting to see the differences. The retrievers, you know, I think humans have selected for going straight into, you know, they shouldn't hang around the hunter. They go straight in. So they tend to go right deep into the search area first.
And so there's just so much learning and opportunity to understand dogs more that I think people really love it.
K: What do you think Archer would do?
B: Archer, Livestock. I have a Great Pyrenees in class.
K: He's like a group of different livestock guardian dogs.
B: Oh, okay. Well, the Great Pyrenees in our class is a very good nose work dog. He's big and, you know, he lumbers around, but he seems to feel like he can manage the environment. I don't notice any particular pattern, but he's very good at it. I think Archer is going to be very good at it, too.
K: He's got the drool down pat. Isn't there something about, like, drool and scent?
B: Get ready for the drool everywhere, because we're anticipating finding the hide in the food. So that's part of the fun. And then the shake.
K: Are there dogs where it's kind of not great for, or is it really something that you can kind of manage for any dog?
B: Well, let me tell you about Dixie. So I didn't know then what I know now. So Dixie is profoundly fearful. She was basically feral when she came to us. As time went on, because my other dog was doing nose work, I thought it would be something that she would enjoy.
And at the beginning, for dogs like her, it's fine because we start them in, you know, flat cardboard boxes and we keep it, the search area, pretty simple. But as time goes on and they get better at, then we start to change the search area.
So for some dogs, if change is hard, I think it's better to continue doing it yourself or doing it in something that's predictable versus something that's novel and changing all the time.
So, for Dixie, the thing that she taught me is she was afraid of some things, like ex pens and tight corners and things. And so she definitely knew the hide was there, whether it was food or the scent, but she wasn't willing to go all the way in and not knowing. And I had instructors, too. We just didn't know. And we were luring her to get into those corners or get closer to the scary expen to get the food.
And over time, what I saw is that her fear in those situations started to get worse. You know, the opposite of desensitization. It sensitized, and she started to worry about the scent. So I took the scent out. We went back to food.
But the setup of nose work, the classes, to her, this was scary. It just meant scary. And so I made the decision that nose work wasn't a thing that I would do with her. Not in classes. And she's brilliant outside, and I hide treats for her all the time, but the actual setup, because I was putting her in situations that scared her, was not good for her.
And so what I learned from that is I do not let any of the dogs that I'm teaching now, we don't let them feel afraid when they're searching. If we see them starting to be nervous about something, we just ask the person to call their dog away, and we reset the hide so that they don't have to have a yucky feeling while they're searching.
And I think that's really important, and I think it's played out well. So I thank Dixie for being a bit of a guinea pig and teaching me that lesson. But we want it to be fun for them and feel good every single time.
Z: That's great. And you've already talked about how it is actually suitable for many reactive dogs because of the fact that it's just one dog in the search area at a time.
So what kinds of scent are used for the dogs to search for? You said they start with food, and that sounds like it's the food that they love and then progress to scent.
B: That's right. So at the beginning, we're building the love of the game, and they're searching for hidden food, and food is important to most dogs, so they're really keen.
They're learning independence to search without anybody saying, look here, look here, look here. They're learning to move away from their person, and they're learning to find it and then to continue to search again. So building that drive and that search style and so then once they're really good at, we've tried it in lots of different ways.
We've built puzzles. They're easily able to move into tight spaces. Do elevated hides. Do it, you know, in boxes, on plastic, or with objects. So we do all sorts of different scenarios.
And once we feel the dogs are ready to go on to learning the odor, we start by putting the hide, which is a Q tip, and. Or a few Q tips.
So we use National Association of Canine Scent Work, where it decided on birch, anise, and clove. They could have selected anything. They're looking for novel scents that the dogs probably have no history with.
Some of the other organizations use things like wintergreen, pine, cypress, but really, it could have been anything.
And when we are preparing the Q tips, it's really about, you know, a jar full of maybe 50 Q tips and some drops of odor in the container, and we shake it.
So it's not actually the oil on every single Q tip, it's the scent of it. Other organizations put the drop of the oil on every single Q tip. And amazingly, dogs can figure it out. They can understand different strengths of odor, and they can work around that.
So once we start adding the Q tips into it, we put the food right there beside it. So the dog is searching, they track it down, they find where it is, they smell the odor, and they take the treat.
And by doing that, we're building an association that finding odor is valuable and it's rewarding, and they get this instant reward.
After we do some of that, we start to bring in the human, which is really, really exciting that people are ready to help. And so we can start having the treat, rewards come from the human versus being right there beside the Q tip or the container with a Q tip.
We don't actually leave Q tips lying around. We keep them in the little, for example, slider, little metal container that's maybe the size of your thumb, and we can hide that anywhere, and the dogs can go off and search.
K: Super fun. So just so I'm getting this straight in my head, you start off with the dog searching for food around boxes and stuff, and then you start having the food next to scent. Is that what happens?
B: Exactly. Yes. Exactly. Yes.
K: Okay. And then you start removing the food from the scent, and the dog says, find the scent?
B: Exactly. Yes. And the human comes in to reward them. So the dog goes and finds the scent.
And if we've done it well, they tend to sniff it, and then they start to look back for their person because, come on, you bring my treat. I found it. And that's what is fondly called the sexy look back, which says, I found it.
That is our goal. You know, that some dogs will freeze. You know, some, especially the Terrier breeds, they often will freeze over odour, which is another nice way that humans can say they found it.
Some people might train a formal alert, maybe a sit or a bark or something. But in general, we just look for whatever the dog offers because they give us so much information.
And generally, it's not just kind of random that they go, oh, here. There's the whole lead up. So as the dog is searching the room, they're stopping where odour has come from the Q tips and is now landing on different surfaces. It's filling containers, it's trapping on tables, it's trapping under tables.
They're finding all this information. And you can see them getting the crossword puzzle and getting all the pieces ready. And then as they come closer, they get right on it.
And so it's not a surprise when they get there. So the humans, as they're watching, start to recognize, oh, my dog is on odour. Because now they're doing this and they're narrowing it down, and they get there and they sniff it, and then they tend to do whatever it is, look for their reward. But it takes time to build that.
But it's super exciting, and it's very fun when you see it.
K: As a side question. Sorry, if I can pop in real quick. You said the birch is one of the fence, right?
B: Yes. Tree, yes.
K: Because it would be novel. I'm thinking, like, we have birch trees all around us, and we cut birch and burn it in our wood stove. So there's, like, our environment is going to be saturated with birch.
Do you think that would actually affect or would Archer say, if I ever did scent work with Archer, would he be able to sort of discriminate?
B: I think earlier on, if. If someone was asked that question, they'd say, oh, I don't think this is going to work. And people have asked the question for wintergreen. Oh, it's often in gum, you know, and if I chew gum and it's got wintergreen, will my dog be able to figure that out?
One of the things I think we've learned over time is that the dog's ability to figure out scent is brilliant. It's so far beyond any thing that we can even imagine.
And I remember at a conference asking Nathan Hall, who is a olfaction canine olfaction researcher about that question of the gum. People talk about, you know, could my dog get mixed up because there's gum around and start, start doing the alert at your face or something.
He said that the chemical difference between gum. Well, it's possible. It's still possible, but it's very unlikely because the chemistry of them are so different. And so I suspect, and I don't know for sure, but I think there are lots of people living in areas with birch trees and people are not reporting that their dogs are mixed up by that.
I think that there are different forms of even the essential birch that we use. We use the sweet birch essence. I believe it is. That's off the top of my head.
I mean, you can test it out. Kristi. I'd love to hear what happens, but I suspect that Archer is so much beyond figuring out being mixed up by something like that that I think it won't be a problem.
Z: Archer looks so relaxed in the background. I think he's thinking, I got this.
K: Don't worry my brain, I can solve that. He's not like a, a sled dog level of needing extra trials. But he also isn't particularly motivated. So it would be fun. He isn't particularly motivated by food compared to dogs that I have worked with.
B: One of my students whose dog was not highly motivated by food and she came with this charcuterie board steak, finest cheeses she had, like it was so amazing. And she'd give it to her dog and, not today. And then she'd give the cheese. Oh, actually that's the one I want today. It's pretty cute.
K: So Soleil who's like 40 pounds. I give her one treat and then I just give Archer and Keithley, his sister, like eight. And I'm like, well, you know, weight wise that way.
Z: So you mentioned that in the beginning you start with flat cardboard, but then you change the arena around so that it becomes kind of a bit different. What kinds of things do the dogs build up to? What are the changes that you make?
B: So in canine nose work, there are four elements that we teach. We want the dogs to be able to search interiors. So could have anything in there. Tables, chairs, could be way up high on the wall, it could be under objects, it could be inaccessible. So there's lots of different challenges we can do inside.
They also search outside, which creates all sorts of possibilities. You can go anywhere.
And we also want to train in different conditions, different weather conditions, because that changes it whether they're searching in the summer or searching in the winter. Searching when it's raining. Odour loves to stick to moisture, so it changes the picture.
Vehicles are a part of it. So as the professional dogs will search vehicles, so can our dogs. So that could be car, tractor, truck, anything, basically with wheels. And it's super fun. We don't allow the dogs to go under the vehicles, so they learn to do the outside of the car.
But they can gather information, of course, with their nose, when they put their nose down under, but not body under. So vehicles are super fun.
And then containers could be anything that contains the odor. And because people love to challenge their dogs, we can add in distractors. So will the dog alert on the pizza crust that's in this box or go to the one that actually has the target odor?
And that's a really good challenge to train towards. And so the containers can be basically any different size box. It could be a glove. It could be anything that contains the odor.
I love asking my students, do you think your dog could find the hide if it was in water? And so we set that up and guess what? They can! Do you think your dog could find it if it was buried in sand? We set it up and they can.
And even if it snows, I'm super excited because I love putting hides in the snow and watching the dogs find them, it's amazing. They absolutely can. And I actually remember years ago when my teacher, Ann Gunderson, set up a hide at the shelter and there just happened to be bins of kitty litter. It was clean kitty litter, and she had them all over and stacked up and. And Lily climbed up on these containers to get to the top where there was a hide in kitty litter.
I didn't think she could do that. I was even. It was surprising.
It's really fun. One time we did one where Ann set it up. We just happened to be a place where there was a lot of horse laundry, horse gear and dirty stuff. And, you know, could the dog find the hide if it was buried in there? They could. They started do the horse smells and they found what they were looking for. It's amazing.
Whenever I think, oh, I think that's kind of the limit to what they can do, then they prove to me wrong. There's always more that they can do. I think if there's one thing that really is fun to watch and really shows the brilliance of the dog's nose.
It's when we do a very high hide, like, suspended from the ceiling or very high up on the wall, and it, you know, the dogs have to be experienced at that point, but to watch them go around the room, and it seems like it takes forever, and they keep going around gathering information, and it goes on and it goes on, and then just suddenly they go forward and they leap up to where the hide is high above their head.
It's amazing. It's very exciting to watch.
K: So I know you've sort of mentioned this a couple times, but about your dogs. But what have you learned that sort of has surprised you about your dogs from watching them do scent work, or what have your clients learned about, you know, and your students learned that surprised them about their dogs?
B: Well, one last week, somebody said, it works, which is brilliant for me. You know, I always come away saying, if I love my dog before, if I loved you, Hamish, before, I love you even more, I can't believe how brilliant you are.
Um, when he figures out these really complex puzzles. So I'm always telling him, I love it more. And when we go into a search, if it's blind, I say to him, you've got this, Hamish.
Because the thing about scent work is it is dog driven. We do not have the noses. We do not know for the dogs. Every search is blind to them. They don't know where it is. And so just following the dog.
And I think that's really different from many other dog sports, which are very human led. Scent work is dog led. It's very much tapping into that natural instinct that dogs have.
And, well, there's, you know, some training where they might say, look here, look here, look here. I really like to just let the dog lead because they do know what they're doing.
And not to say that we don't have to, you know, suggest you check this area, suggest you check that area. But in the end, it is the dog that is leading it.
And I think that's what makes it so, so special. People get to see the true dog as they're doing the thing that they were born to do. And that's really fun.
Z: I love that. And it sounds like you got hooked from your very first class, and you've been teaching this for many years now. So what would be your advice to someone who's listening to this and thinking, oh, I might like to give this a try?
B: Well, definitely. Just do it, you won't be disappointed. I think so. Some of my students have been with me for eight years. It's a really long time. And the dogs are getting older.
I think, you know, nose work is more than just a class. I've taken other classes, but the thing that makes it special is that it is a community.
And because you're sitting with other people and watching their dogs, you build a bond with their dogs. So I feel like they're all mine. And so the community of people is very strong and supportive, and learning more about each of the dogs is really helpful to all of us.
So I would say to people, please try it if. I think Zazie I sent you something so people can look for nose work instructors [see links above].
If you live in a place where there are none, maybe Kristi, there aren't any. There are some online nose work classes you can do. And then, you know, really, our dogs are always living in a world of scent.
They're always figuring out the picture. You can really do it yourself by just, you know, as. Maybe it's just as little as tossing your treats, you know, on a grassy surface and letting them sniff and find.
It's super fun for them. Any opportunity to sniff is really helpful, and it builds a happiness in your dog, and it gives us a chance to watch.
Sometimes I think people have seen it, but they're not sure what that is. Where they go for a walk with their dog, and the dog suddenly changes direction, and we see this kind of back and forth movement. And then they find where the source is, and they press their nose hard and they gather all the information.
And that's a really good example of what odour does it. It starts from a source, and then depending on the wind conditions and the objects in this space, it will come off on tendrils or plumes, and the dog will catch one piece of that tendril of plume, and they will work it back to find where source is.
And you can see the joy they have in doing how important it is to gather that information.
But that's the part. I mean, you can see that when you go for walks with your dog, you can set it up so you can watch it. But the dogs, besides the fact that they are incredibly gifted when it comes to scent, both sides of their noses work separately, so they can tell where odour is stronger on this side or weaker on this side. And it's helping them to guide and figure out where these tendrils of odour are going and coming to.
They really are like time travelers, because they know what was there before, they know what's there now, and they can, because of the wind, they can tell what's coming towards them. So it's super amazing. It's far beyond anything humans can do.
And I'm excited and passionate about watching them because they keep teaching me something new every single day.
K: I think that the whole component of they know what happened in the past just from smelling is, you know, I think the first time I heard that I was just like, oh, mind blown. Like it makes sense with how dogs, you know, process and understand they, the chemicals in their environment. But yeah, it was just a cool thing to be like, you know, we have a sense of that.
I think a little bit like if I could see tracks or something, you know, oh, there's fresh tracks in the snow. Like I know that it's snowing actively. There's fresh tracks in the snow. My dog was here recently. But as far as like the detail that they can get from sanding, it's very, very cool.
B: It's really interesting. And once you see it and watch your dog, you can't unsee it and you start to notice things. For example, if a adolescent intact male dog happens to lift his leg in the training center and we can put all the cleaning and we can put the enzymes on, we can do things, make that scent go away and there will be months later where a dog will go in and sniff that spot and go and walk away past. Those teenage boys!
K: I have this funny thought, because we have Soleil who's little for us. Like a 40 pound dog and then Archer who's like about 140ish. And if I'm walking them together and if I threw treats, Soleil would get every single one.
She'd zoom in there so fast and Archer would be like, what? What happened? Where?
B: That reminds me of a Chow that was in class and he was a very special boy. He was, he had the gold medal as far as temperament, loves people, loves dogs, love life. But physically, a lot of orthopedic problems and many surgeries. So walking was hard for him. Kind of like for Archer it's an expensive behavior. I'm big.
But for the Chow, it was because, you know, I've got issues with my joint. Kodiak would come into the search area and he'd do nothing. And at the beginning I was like, we gotta get him moving like Gotta get him moving. And he would just be there and very still and not doing anything.
And if you waited him out, he'd go, chug, chug, chug, chug. And then he goes straight to the hide. And in his ability to conserve energy, he must have in his mind created the entire scent picture of the room and he would just go, chug, chug, chug.
And it was so amazing to watch. So I wouldn't be surprised if Archer is searching that style to conserve energy.
K: It would be very cute.
So I did have a question. Our last question is about scent work classes. Like fun nose work type stuff. Compared to the work that professional teams do, is it really different? Can you move between them or does it, is it also built on the same principles? What's going on there?
B: So training for the professional dogs is similar, but it's different. And the one big difference is that the professional dogs have a trained formal alert.
And in some places they would, you know, the handler would have to go to speak before a judge to say, my dog did exactly this. And that is the response that tells us, you know, that there were drugs there.
Our dogs don't have to do that. You know, nobody's going to die, nothing's going to happen if they miss a hide. So the professional dogs have a trained alert, so they teach it differently to get that. But there are many things that are similar.
The other difference of course is that professional dogs are often purpose bred. They are very high drive, they're, you know, brilliant and hard. Maybe harder to live with. Our pet dogs, you know, they lie on the couch. Archer is a perfect example.
You know, he's not go, go, go all day long. And they're our pet dogs, they live with us, they know us so well. It's very different.
So, so it is very separate. There are lots of, you know, similarities.
But I think starting with the basic dog. I did have one dog who, a very talented German shorthaired pointer, came to nose right classes. He was brilliant. His dad happened to be a firefighter. He did take his dog on who was trained and certified in fire detection. So he became a professional dog. But those, those times are rare.
But so, yeah, so similar but not exact, you know, different dogs, different purpose.
K: Right. Archer would like to suggest that he is also a working dog. He doesn't look like he would move very fast. But holy cow, when he's like ready to chase a raven off, I actually get a little bit scared because I'm like, that is a very fast, powerful dog.
And he keeps it hidden away until he just explodes with this energy and speed. And you're like, oh, wow, okay, you are athletic.
B: Well, you might be careful then when you start nose work because one of the things that happens is the dogs are super excited to search and they run into the search area.
We call it a manners free zone. When we're doing nose work, we really want them to be excited and have that drive. So unless there's, you know, we're afraid that somebody's going to get hurt, we'll let them do that. And once they're in, you know, paws can go up on counters and things. We want them to chase outer. So it's kind of a manners free zone.
But for those really excited dogs, they can get really drivey to come into the search area. So sometimes we do have to actually ask them to sit before they start.
So I would watch out for Archer.
K: Archer's like, I don't need to jump up onto the counter. My head is on the counter as I stand.
B: I want to tell you about another dog that was really fascinating to me. So this is Rayne. He's a mixed breed dog. He was very good at nose work. He did it for a long time, but he was a dog living with diabetes. And so as his diabetes was ebbing and flowing, sometimes he couldn't have treats.
And his dog mom asked, could we do it for clapping and petting. He loves people. I wonder if he'll search for that. I wasn't sure that it would work or I thought it would might work for a while, but it wouldn't carry on.
He proved me wrong. He would do complex searches. When he was done, all the students would clap. He'd come running over, get some pets from somebody, and then he would carry on and continue to search.
And that suggests to me that there's more than just the food reward that we're giving the dog, that the actual act of searching with their nose is actually super rewarding for them.
So he went on to do that, you know, for quite a bit of time and showed me, you know, how much fun it is to do nose work. So find what motivates your dog.
Whether he would have been able to do that if he hadn't had that strong foundation, I'm not sure. But it was really fun to see, to see him search and hard, complex searches, long searches and still do it for just the clapping, which is very cool.
This transcript has been lightly edited for content and style.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
