Jill Marie O Brien

Recently I was at a training field in which folks train dogs for schutzhund and other working dog sports.  I am fascinated by many activities folks get involved in with their pets.  Some are simple like hikiing and ball playing others require immense dedication and skill, both on the dog's part and the handler's. 

However, something struck me while I was there watching some folks work the "protection" portion of their training. That is the bite work element of the sport for those that are not familiar with many of the protection sports.  There was an amazing young dog on the field with so much drive you could power a porsche. 

Today I was at a moving sale for a fellow dog trainer and a couple of things popped into my head. One was that I was incredibly lazy and why do I expect more from my clients then I am often willing to do myself. Too many irons in the fire, but a lot of grand plans none the less and 2) keeping access to training simple, along with the exercises we give to our students and clients can go a long way to compliance.

The lazy thing is a completely different blog and I need to come to some self realization before writing more on that. However, the keeping it simple part I can write about since it is so fresh in my brain.

While at my colleague's house I see this silver contraption folded up on the floor of her dining room as I was rifling through her for sale items and I asked her what it was. She proceeded to inform me that it was an exercise contraption for which I have already forgotten its name.

It has been a while since I chimed in about nose work hoping that people would spend some time allowing their dogs to build their natural desire to hunt and search, while being brave enough to put the formal obedience aside.

Often in the beginning phases of training, students ask about the end results of the process and about teaching their dog a "final response" or “how do I get my dog sit when they’ve found their hidden treasure”. Since the ultimate goal for many of our students is to try their hand at K9 Nose Work competition they become focused on the end of the journey and not the journey itself.

The goal in developing K9 Nose Work as an activity (based in part on the concept of detection style training), was to offer dog enthusiasts and casual pet owners an opportunity to allow their dogs to explore their natural ability in a safe environment while offering their people the chance to truly learn their dog’s individual communication style.

I have written about K9 Nose Work and folks have been asking me about what is needed to get started and the best way to introduce their dogs to a more formal nose work routine. The greatest thing about doing K9 Nose Work is how easy it is and portable it can be. Your dog’s nose goes everywhere and the world is an adventure.

My training partners and I generally start all dogs in class using cardboard boxes for searching. You can use any type of container such as shoe boxes, Tupperware with holes punched in the top, flower pots, etc. You’ll want to contain the odor, yet leave enough ventilation for it to be accessible to the dog. The greener the dog the more accessible the odor should be. We have found card board boxes to be the easiest and most cost effective. We start with 5 or 6 and the number and difficulty grows with time and experience.