Because I've written several diaries about Canine Nose Work (and because I've spent the last week editing and uploading video clips), this diary will be mostly photos and videos. To learn more about the sport, check out the website nacsw.net, or the related site, k9nosework.com.
If you've missed and would like to read some of my diaries about the sport, here are some selections:
The Nose Knows was my first diary about Nose Work, and includes a video of Sasha working odor for the first time.
Classes Start February 28 was about anticipating starting to teach dogs and handlers again.
Night One, Intro to Nose Work, Night Two, Intro to Nose Work, Night Three: Intro to Nose Work Were each about one night of the first classes I taught.
A Game for you and your dog challenged readers to try nose work with their pets, and (if I say so myself) gives pretty good directions for getting started
Sasha Passes 2 ORTs is about the Odor Recognition Test, a Nose Work requirement before a dog can go to a trials
Sheddhead, ANWI is about how I became an Associate Nose Work Instructor, on my way to being Certified (and not just certifiable.)
The rest of this diary has photos and videos from some of my classes. I am still kicking myself because we didn't record the first night of class - we had a couple of dogs that were very nervous about the cartons, who were like new dogs in a few weeks.
In this video, you can see one of those two dogs (Maggie, a Golden Retriever) on about night 4. She is MUCH more enthusiastic about the cartons, and all ready loves the game, but (as you can see) the cartons can still be quite scary. Still, she works that through.
This is one of my favorite Nose Work photos (of mine.) If you could read Maggie's mind, she has GOT to be trying to use ESP to get the 'hide' (treat) to move close to her. It is a beautiful, completely natural alert.
Here's another photo of a student from the first classes. Eva is named after Ms. Gabor (one of her sisters is ZsaZsa.)
But the still image doesn't do Eva justice. She moves... well, like a mastiff moves. I've watched mastiffs in obedience before. They do things on their own schedule. I brought up Eva during my Instructor's seminar, and was told, "If a Mastiff moves, it's interested."
Mauser is a rescue that the owner thinks is part pointer, and I have no reason to question it... there's no breed that stands out particularly in Mauser. She works FAST, and she works with enthusiasm. She jumps over or goes under barriers, and she whines while the other dogs get to work.
This photo shows Nutmeg doing a 'head snap' (or, for this princess, 'dainty head turn') toward a scent. She was moving among the boxes, and she'd just started to pass the carton with the reward in it, and turned her head back into the scent cone as she stopped.
Nutmeg was our only dog that didn't stay in the class (because her owners go on many long weekends over the summer). I picture at home on Monday nights, now... pouting.
So, from our original class, we have 5 dogs repeating (and learning new fundamentals) plus 4 new dogs. Thank goodness we are co-teaching, and able to split up the groups - there's no way I could handle 9 dogs in a class. Here are our new dogs on the first nights of class -
Barkley appears to have a lot of Great Dane in him -
Lady Jane is a Springer:
Luisa is an Italian Spinone (a pointer/gun dog):
Victor belongs to Mauser's owner (she found him abandoned in the woods with another dog that looks very like him) - and he's definitely pointer:
We've started working Interiors and Exteriors with the advanced dogs. Blu is a rescue, thought to be part Catahoula Leopard Dog:
And Chloe is a Coonhound that was also rescued after being abandoned. She shows a LOT of enthusiasm (and we are going to be having a discussion about how to restrain without corrections, to keep dogs and handlers safe...)
I think because I've wanted a Golden so long, while I'm crazy about all my advanced doggies, Maggie is a favorite. Here's her second exterior hide last week. The hide is taped to the garage door, about a foot off the ground on the left of the door - it's hidden in a little blue medicine holder that I'd cut vents in:
I hope you enjoyed meeting my students, and that you find a place to go play the Nose Work game with your own dog.