What is nosework for dogs?

 

Dogs have an amazing sense of smell.  They have about 300 million receptors in their noses, compared to about 6 million in a human nose.  A dog can smell even very dilute odours literally miles away.  Humans have been taking advantage of this in many ways – Search and Rescue, Drug detection, airport security, disease detection, water leak detection and many others.

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Some professional detection dog handlers in the US decided to create a game that all dogs could play that would give dogs the opportunity to use their noses.  There are a number of organizations in Canada that offer trials/competition with opportunities to earn titles – C-Wags, ABC Games, CKC, SDDA, K9SSG

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How it works

Dogs are taught that finding and indicating a target odour (specific essential oil on a cotton swab) is rewarding (they get a food or toy reward when they tell us they have found it).  The cotton swabs are placed in a protective vessel (such as a small tin or other holder) so they can’t touch the actual swab.  The vessel is then hidden – in a container, in the interior environment (i.e. on a chair, the wall, or cabinet), in the exterior environment (i.e. in some rocks, under a ledge, on a railing) and even on vehicles.

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Benefits of playing nosework with your dog

• Any dog can play (young, old, deaf, blind, lame). Same with handlers – so great for people with mobility issues that can’t play the more active sports

• It uses their natural ability to problem solve – using their brain helps to tire them out

• It gives dogs control of the game which builds confidence (we can’t smell the odour so we need to rely on our dogs to tell us they have found it)

• It is a calming activity, so can be helpful for shy or fearful dogs

• It is a one-on-one activity with dog and handler as a team, which builds a great relationship, and is less stressful than some of the other dog sports where there is a lot of noise and activity to distract dogs

• It is easy to do at home or almost anywhere (doesn’t require a lot of expensive or large equipment)
   

There are many ways to teach nosework to dogs, and you can teach your dog to find almost anything.  At Dog’O’Pogo we use a method of learning that is based on the principles taught through the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, where we teach the dog from day one to find the target odour (we currently use the odours specified by C-Wags).  Other methods may teach the dog hunting skills first (search for food) and then pair that with odour.  Both ways work – but we feel that starting with odour immediately really helps the dog understand the game, and avoids problems when you get to advanced levels where there are deliberate distractors like food or toys in the ring.

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Our Intro to Nosework class is a great way to start.  You can purchase an inexpensive starter kit from us with everything you need to get started to practice at home.   No experience, equipment or material is needed to enjoy one of our classes.

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