The other day I was practicing fun nose work in my garden with Dune and Hugo. It was Dune’s turn and I’d hidden a single cotton swab infused with just a hint of birch oil along a fence line, near some tall grasses and Mexican sage plants.
I released Dune to search and he scanned the environment with his nose before even taking a step into the area. The wind was blowing and he didn’t catch the scent right away, I could tell because he didn’t turn immediately to the left, where the odor was hidden a mere five feet away, but instead veered slightly right to begin his perimeter search along the top rock wall. Halfway through his perimeter search he abandoned this strategy and made a beeline across the garden, heading straight for the source. He found it in less than 30 seconds. Good boy!
However, when he located the source, he pawed at it instead of just holding his nose there and waiting for me to come over and reward him as he usually does. I celebrated his find by rewarding him at source and then led him away from the odor so I could pick it up and move it for our next run. But no, the cotton swab was missing, he must of flung it somewhere with his paw when he alerted.
I put Dune in a “down” a fair way away from the hide and plopped myself down on the ground to search for it. I looked and looked but simply could not find it anywhere. How far could it possibly have gone? It was right here a second ago! I have to find it so I can hide it again! Then I paused, feeling foolish. It was ALREADY hidden. What was wrong with this picture?
After what must have been over a minute of searching I realized that I am not well suited to finding scented cotton swabs and perhaps I should bring the expert back in to locate the errant odor once again. Duh!
I released Dune from his “down” and cued him to find it. He casually walked over to me stuck his nose down to the ground about 4 inches from the original hiding place and held it there. Needless to say he found the missing cotton swab in mere seconds. This just goes to show that one should never send a human in to do a dog’s job! A dog’s nose knows.
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I'm always amazed when a
I'm always amazed when a ball is lost in tall grass or the bushes and when I ask my dog to retrieve it (after I've looked for it for 15 min.) she goes right to the spot (snickering, of course).
I also play "hide the treat" when I'm out on hiking trails. I'll put my dogs in a stay and then take bits of treats and go off-trail and hide them in notches of trees, under roots, in logs, etc. It's a great way for them to work their brains and noses and they love the game.
Find it! soooo much fun and cute to watch
I love it! What a funny story :)
"Find it" nosework games actually helped my littest beagle George, become interested in retrieving games. He really didn't see the point of retrieving but loved to sniff, so I think the term is that I used backward chaining and now he love to retrieve as well as "find stuff".
Thanks for sharing!
cheers, kate
happy-houndz.blogspot.com
Honoring Your Nose
Nice post, Kelly. I have been working for several years with hunting retrievers for several years, and even though these breeds have excellent noses, I am still taken aback occasionally by their scenting ability. As a judge, I am also watching closely for a dog’s ability to use his nose when called for.
A couple of weeks ago I was training my Chessie on a very challenging double marked retrieve. The first mark was through about 125 yards of dense, waist high grass. My dog ran a laser line to the area of the fall, and then quickly used his nose to locate the bird. There was no way to see the bird unless you were practically standing on it.
But, the second mark, run from memory, was the most surprising. It was about 90 yards through knee high pasture grass. My dog took off on a laser line to the memory mark, and then after about 40 yards took a hard left turn at a dead run. Just as I was saying ‘What the heck?!!!?’ he ran 30 yards straight left and picked up a training bumper somebody had left at the last training session a month before.
‘Good Dog!!!!’.
Then I sent him out again to pick up the real ‘mark’. You gotta love when a dog honors his nose.
Another time my training colleague lost her cell phone in a 5 acre field of deep grass. We tried calling the number to see if we could hear the phone ring without success. So, we lined up 4 dogs abreast and began to quarter the field. In no time at all, one of the Labs showed interest in a particular spot. I called the cell phone number, and the dog sat down and cocked his head to the side like the old RCA phonograph label. Phone found – six square inches in a 5 acre field.
Love those noses!
Chuck
"Train the dog you have in front of you...not the one you wished you had."
A lovely story.
What a lovely story!
I had my scent work college exam 3 weeks ago and one thing that came back in my results was to trust my dog and his nose afterall he is the expert! This post has reminded me again of this thank you !
Thank you for posting it.
Carmel O'Dwyer
It made me chuckle out loud
You said "never send a human in to do a dog’s job"...it made me lol
I have a super relevant post on how dogs sense our mood (fear, anger, happiness) using their nose, hearing (not only do they hear better but they also hear wider) and posture. http://dogandogs.com/dogs-can-sense-your-fear-but-how for anyone who's interested.
Great post Kelly...we do get so involved in training dogs that we forget to let them apply their skills in "real life". This was a great reminder.