# Lacey started nose work class



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Lovely to find something you both enjoy. I will be interested to hear how the class progresses through the stages of learning to alert for scents.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

That's neat  thank you for sharing your experience with us. I hope to be able to do classes soon too schedule wise.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

One thing I will be interested to hear about is if she gets happier about car travel as she gets more enthusiastic about getting to do something fun at the end of the ride. Enjoy your training!


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## Newport (Jul 16, 2014)

What exciting news! I love to see people discovering Nosework. The dogs I know love it so much. It’s lovely to see their confidence grow as they learn how to solve odor puzzles. It has given me a whole new way to see dogs as beings with exquisite noses traveling through a world of swirling scents.


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## Bigbark (Jan 9, 2021)

Thank you so much for your detailed description of the class. I always wondered how nose work classes were structured. After reading your post, I’m putting nose work classes on my “to do” list along with a trick class and agility. Right now we are doing our 2nd session of Rally classes. So much to learn. This is how I ended up training my standard boy continuously for a full four years.

Please keep us updated on your nose work adventure!


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## Starla (Nov 5, 2020)

Awwww I love it. I’ve been playing around with Phoebe and birch. I got little boxes and the birch scent and she has really caught on that she needs to find it. It’s fun! But not anywhere as structured as what you’re doing. Imagine my surprise to find that birch is wintergreen. 🤢 I really can’t stand it. 😂


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## Porkchop (Sep 2, 2019)

I forgot to mention our homework, which is the same for the first 2 weeks and very simple— 2-3 times per week we are to scatter treats around the house and without commanding to our dog, allow them to find the treats on their own. If you have more than 1 dog in your household and they don’t get along around food, I know she has an alternative but I don’t know what exactly that is. I could ask her next week. 

@fjm, @Basil_the_Spoo, @Bigbark I’ll keep updating how the classes go for us and how they’re structured. It’s nice to have something to look forward to every week. The MN tundra winter comes quickly and the walks are about to become much less frequent. Nose work class will definitely be helpful. 

@lily cd re thank you. I was hoping that we’d see improvement there as we continue to do the class. I’ll update on this too as we continue to go. 

@Newport between reading here about nose work class as an option and how much constant sniffing on walks satisfies and tires out Lacey, I thought it would be perfect class for her. What I didn’t know, and the trainer mentioned this too, was how confidence building it is as well. I love that! I can’t imagine there isn’t a breed of dog that wouldn’t love nose work. They get to use their greatest superpower. 

@Starla That’s awesome that you’re doing nose work activities on your own without the class. It shows your dedication to enriching Phoebe’s life. So far I have collected a bunch of small cardboard boxes (at the suggestion of my trainer). I’ll get whatever the trainer says I need, but I’m definitely not working ahead at the moment, haha. Also, I didn’t know birch was a wintergreen either. That’s a strong scent, that must be why it’s what they learn first.


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## DNi (Apr 12, 2020)

Oh this is so cool! I also just started nose work with Loki (spoo who also doesn't enjoy car rides and being confined) two weeks ago. It was so smart to show up early to let Lacey settle...I made the mistake of not getting there early enough to let Loki decompress for the first class and he was a wild child during his first search. Excited to follow your progress!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I teach Scent work at two different dog clubs - one is AKC and the other belongs to other dog sports venues so both are geared to competition although I love having people just taking Scent work for fun. It's a wonderful way to keep your dogs happy and working when the weather outside is miserable, or when they are confined after surgery or an injury.

Pork Chop, I hope you continue to post each week what you're doing - as it's different from the way I teach and the other methods I'm aware of. My Babykins was taught first to search boxes or containers then introduced to Scent (birch (Betula lenta essential oil) is usually first because most organizations use it in novice/level 1). Theo was taught to search for birch and independently to search boxes (Fenzi method). Both work.

Normally I start out teaching dogs to check all the boxes - we spend 4 sessions getting dogs to consistently check each and every box before introducing Birch. I'm curious if Lacey is checking every box or is she being trained to ignore them and run to the box with birch?

It is a huge confidence booster - I've seen huge leaps in some dogs that it's amazing to watch. Dog's love scentwork - lots of treats are involved.

Babykins has competed in agility, rally, formal obedience and as all her trick titles. While you have to be aware of your dog's behavior, reading body language the emphasis is on the dog reading our body language, our verbal cues. In scentwork the script is flipped - dog is reading our body language and verbal cues but we have to be very carefully observing our dog's. It's all team work - and you develop a closer relationship with your dog when you work together.


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## Porkchop (Sep 2, 2019)

@DNi how cool that you just started nose work at the same time. We are having similar experiences at the same time! I hope Loki has some improvement with riding in the car as the classes go on too.

@Skylar Right now Lacey is being trained to go to an open box with birch. We aren’t doing anything with the other boxes yet. I feel like Lacey almost shows me her appreciation for taking her to class because she becomes uncharacteristically extra cuddly once she wakes up the next day. 
I’m enjoying that nose work is about letting the dog work independently and she’s definitely enjoying all the treats.


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## Porkchop (Sep 2, 2019)

Week 3

This week the set up was 6 cardboard boxes that contained a scent inside, and a tin bowl resting in the box with holes in the bottom to let scent though. They were lined up in a straight row with no other distracting items. 

The dog is to simply locate the bowl that has the treats/scent below the bowl. And also drop additional treats in once they find it and have their head down in the bowl. It’s kind of hard to do this since the treats often just land in her topknot, it’s so big it always covers the bowl or most of the box she’s eating the treats from. 

This week was a little more difficult for Lacey. 

On Lacey’s first turn while we were walking to the boxes, a leashed husky appeared on the other side of a glass double door, barking it’s head off. It was a dog being boarded there. Why the staff brought the dog to the training room doors I have no idea. The human looked sheepish as Lacey immediately began to bark and ran over to the doors. She couldn’t get her focus back to the boxes so we went and sat back down after a while. The next turns she still seemed distracted. 

Also strange, she didn’t want the chicken liver based soft treats this week. They’re special treats that she normally loves. It was strange. I always bring a few options and had something else she worked for just fine. 

The trainer suggested I bring cheese or hot dogs next week. 

Our homework will continue to be hiding treats around the house 2-3x per week for now. Which I’ve been doing, varying the spots and adding some elevation. I put Lacey in a bedroom while I hide the treats and let her out with no commands to search. Lacey really likes that homework!



Week 4

Before going to class this week I tried giving Lacey a piece of the chicken liver soft treats that she’d refused the previous week in class. Surprisingly she spit it back out and wouldn’t eat it. She suddenly is not a fan of those treats. Ok. 

I chopped up string cheese and brought it along with another special treat she successfully has been working for, and her regular training treats. Options are good. 

In the pic below you can see how things were set up. There’s about 14 boxes scattered with chairs, fences, wheelchairs, and other items. Still, we used an open cardboard box with the scent/treat, and were to drop more treats when the dog finds and head is in the box with the scent. We continue to do this on leash. 










I brought a 10 foot leash this week. That worked much better for us. When you have a short dog, a 6 foot leash runs out of room way too easily. 
What happens when she hits the end of a leash, she turns and runs back toward me. Not the behavior we want for nose work. The 10 foot allowed her enough leash to go at her speed and not hit the end of it immediately. I’m used to handling this length too. 

I was amazed with her this week during her turns to find the “hide.” She came out of the crate focused on the search area set up. She immediately went box to box, head down, dutifully sniffing each one. Only momentarily did she lose focus one time during a turn, going across the outside line of the search area. I was surprised she knew to sniff all the boxes, and how long she stayed focused on that task until finding the box with the scent and treats.

On her first turn we used the bits of string cheese. She found them successfully but wanted nothing to do with the cheese. She picked one piece out of the box and immediately spit it out on the floor. She LOVES string cheese and goes nuts for this special treat.
We went back to the crate and I tested the cheese there. I threw a few pieces into the crate and she ran right in and devoured them. I brought this to the trainers attention and showed because it seemed important. The trainer suggested maybe the scent of the birch was too strong or Lacey isn’t a fan of birch scent in general mixing with the treats. Luckily I had another option that she was happy to eat from the birch containing box. Even if she eats the treats she often pulls each piece from the box, drops it in the floor, then eats it. 

A big thing I learned to think of as a handler is to keep “toes to the nose.” My feet always need to be pointing toward the dog’s nose during the search. This is to prevent inadvertently signaling to your dog where the hide is. It’s not something that comes naturally to us. It definitely will take conscious thought each time it’s our turn. 

I continue to look forward to classes and am always excited for Lacey! It’s so different from anything we have done. Not to mention not being in a class since the before pandemic started. That kind of environment is good for her to experience every week.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

This is a great journal! Thank you for sharing! Love the photo of a pooped Lacey post-class.

I think the crate part sounds very challenging. I’m impressed with how quickly Lacey settled.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Really enjoying this series - and picking up hints. I agree that it is interesting that the birch scent puts her off treats that have been near it or are now associated with it - definitely something to bear in mind. I am also remembering Sophy's decidedly ho hum attitude to nose work, when she indicated the target box with a tilt of her head from 20 feet away and went off to blag treats from the instructor!


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## The Popster (Feb 23, 2021)

Yes, interesting.
Especially as I have some notion to get Poppy truffle hunting.
Well, why not give it a try.
Got my truffle oil and a cork.
Searching for hidden treats indoors is already a game.
Sadly as she has to lose some weight - ( Post season, water retention, lack of serious excersice whilst confined to the lead ), hidden treats is out for the moment.
Anyway this has been interesting reading.
And great you are enjoying!


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## Porkchop (Sep 2, 2019)

PeggyTheParti said:


> I think the crate part sounds very challenging. I’m impressed with how quickly Lacey settled.


Lacey, like Peggy, is very comfortable being in her crate and closed up in it at home. I figured she’d do fine with that aspect of class, but I was wrong. But.. It’s very different to be crated in a new place where there’s other dogs and humans walking around with lots of hubbub. She’s not used to that at all. Plus being amped from a car ride. She the most vocal in the class. Thankfully there’s improvement every week!


For anyone considering trying nose work activities at home, be aware there is a very specific way you must prepare and store scents to prevent it from ending up on unintended surfaces in the home and muddying up their drive to search for the scent.
Here’s a good article I recently read about this:









Preparing and Storing Nose Work Odors - Palo Alto Dog Traning


Nose Work odors are Essential Oils. The NACSW uses Birch, Anise, and Clove. Here's what you need to know about preparing and storing Nose Work odors.




paloaltodogtraining.com


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## kuriooo (Feb 17, 2010)

This is a neat thread! I reached out to a local trainer to see if scent might be an option for Kali! She loves to sniff!


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## Minie (Oct 4, 2021)

What is the recommended age for starting nosework. It sounds like good fun and serious mental work?


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## Porkchop (Sep 2, 2019)

As far as I know you could technically start doing nose work at 8 weeks at home.
But in my mind I wouldn’t take my dog to an actual in person nose work class until the dog is trained and comfortable to be closed in their crate. Since that is where they spend most of the class. If you live in a warmer area you might find that your class would crate from a temperature controlled car. So as long as they tolerate their crate or car would be a good age!

maybe other more experienced in nose work or trainers could chime in.


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## Minie (Oct 4, 2021)

Porkchop said:


> As far as I know you could technically start doing nose work at 8 weeks at home.
> But in my mind I wouldn’t take my dog to an actual in person nose work class until the dog is trained and comfortable to be closed in their crate. Since that is where they spend most of the class. If you live in a warmer area you might find that your class would crate from a temperature controlled car. So as long as they tolerate their crate or car would be a good age!
> 
> maybe other more experienced in nose work or trainers could chime in.


Thanks so much. I think I will look into what there is in Copenhagen.


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## Poodles for Life (Dec 2, 2021)

This journal has been so interesting and it’s exciting hearing her progress. Can you keep sharing the homework too. I look forward to more updates.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Glad to see you are doing so well and keeping up with this post.



Porkchop said:


> A big thing I learned to think of as a handler is to keep “toes to the nose.” My feet always need to be pointing toward the dog’s nose during the search. This is to prevent inadvertently signaling to your dog where the hide is. It’s not something that comes naturally to us. It definitely will take conscious thought each time it’s our turn.


I’m not sure why your teacher has your feet pointing towards where the dog’s nose is headed. As you advance and the search area becomes more complicated and larger, you will be want to face where you and your dog needs to go next while treating for a find. 



Porkchop said:


> The dog is to simply locate the bowl that has the treats/scent below the bowl. And also drop additional treats in once they find it and have their head down in the bowl. It’s kind of hard to do this since the treats often just land in her topknot, it’s so big it always covers the bowl or most of the box she’s eating the treats from.


I have the same problem, soft foods like chicken stick to the top knot and ears. Haha. The burden of being a beautiful poodle. Kibble type dry treats don’t stick.

Both at home and when I teach, I have large containers with scent. It’s a separate exercise where we spent extra time treating the dog but only when their nose is touching the opening where scent is coming out. The timing is important and anyone who has done this knows it’s much harder than it looks. So many people treat as their dog lifts their head thinking they are treating the dog for it’s head being down (well the head was down but they were to slow getting treats down). The treats have to fall from the sky, you don’t want the dog seeing your hand feeding them. I have this exercise in many early classes for beginners and intermediate. I’ll pull it out for advanced dogs as a refresher. I teach it as a series of exercises using this container as well as using metal scent vessels. Trying to do this in boxes is hard unless you have large boxes. The final goal is a dog who is driven to stick their nose on scent and hold their nose on it until you the handler call alert. You as the handler should be able to walk away with your dog continuing to hold their nose to the scent. It’s a way for handlers to know their dog is alerting to the hide and not a hidden distraction. This is my favorite container for this exercise. https://www.dollartree.com/drivers-choice-automotive-oil-drain-pans-7qt-capacity/196345. Large enough for even large sized dog heads and large enough to avoid getting too much food stuck in poodle top knots.


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## Porkchop (Sep 2, 2019)

Oops, I forgot to update about the class for week 5-7! The beginner level class was 7 weeks long and we successfully completed it. We’ll be starting up the intermediate level class in January. I bought all the supplies I need to put together an AKC nose work kit. the instructor said we should have it when we start up the next class. Although the pre made deluxe kit on thek9nose.com is fairly priced too and saves a lot of shopping time if you’re like me and spend many hours searching for the best prices on individual items. I found no pre made kit that had every thing I wanted and felt should be a part of a complete kit. I know it will also evolve as I get more experience. 

@Poodles for Life As far as homework for the beginner level class, it was the same thing every week. Just hiding treats around the house 2-3 times per week. I will definitely share what kind of homework we do once I start the next class.

Back to the update on the rest of the beginner class. For weeks 5 and 6 the area with all the “obstacles” expanded. I believe week 6 was just a huge circle of folding chairs facing outward, and started adding elevation for the hides by putting the scent tin on the seat of the chair. The teacher at first was only doing elevation for the big dogs and not for Lacey or the min pin. Since I’ve added some elevation when hiding treats around the house I asked if the teacher would try for Lacey. She agreed to, and Lacey didn’t have any trouble finding the scent. But due to the way she took the treats off the chair seat— she took them off the chair but didn’t eat it until she was down on all 4 paws, the instructor said it’s better at this point not to do elevation for her. She also is a bit strange in how she eats her treats if they are delivered down into a bowl or box that contains the scent. She’ll sometimes pull the treat out of the box and eat it with her head up. 

For the final week 7, it was THE BEST because the dogs got to search off leash and the set up was much more chaotic! I’ll share a pic. The search area was completely fenced off. What you see is big cardboard boxes stacked at the entrance to create a tighter entry way in. The instructor said this puts a little more pressure on the dogs. In her more advanced classes she makes the entrance even tighter. None of the dogs had any issues with it this week.










All of the stuff scattered around included “cleanish garbage” that were old food packages, as well as some other scent distracting things. There was a big pile of garbage in the middle.

Lacey ran in, ready to search. So many things to sniff but she never stopped. In fact, she _might_ be the second fastest at finding besides the Brittany! She did an amazing job and it makes my heart soar to see her enjoying it.

At one point during one of her searches the instructor said “oh, she caught the scent” before she actually found it. Me, watching her intently, could not see that sign. It was too subtle to my untrained eyes. So now, I’ve realized that a HUGE part of this training and possibly the most difficult part as a beginner will be to learn my dog’s signs. Both when she catches a scent, and when she finds it and alerts it. At this point us humans still know where it’s hidden. I know that will change in the next level.
For each dogs’ final search, the teacher hid the scent right in the middle of the big pile of garbage. The only way to get to it was to climb onto the pile to get to it. Lacey realized this quickly, and went around the pile about 3-4 times hoping to find a way to get to the scent without having to climb onto the pile. Finally she went for it and was rewarded grandly. What a nice way to end the class!

The final week she vocalized 95% less time than she did in the beginning of the class. She barked and whined here and there about 10 minutes into the class. Then she completely was quiet for the rest. She needs continued treats for being quiet, and commands to help her focus on me when I see she’s about to bark. She needed much less of that this week and was SO much quieter. that’s another success. Since we have a month between classes I expect a bit of a backslide the first week. We’ll see.

@Skylar Regarding the “toes to the nose” that my instructor wants us to do— I know part of the reasoning behind it is that the teacher doesn’t want us to inadvertently signal to the dog with our body where the hide is. She wants the dog to lead us 100%, essentially. There’s probably more to it. I feel like I might be forgetting something at the moment. I like the technique so far. I can see that it’s helped encourage the dogs in class not to look to their owners. I have a feeling we’ll continue this technique because both instructors do this during their trials. I like to hear how instructors do things differently in their classes.

As far as treats landing in the topknot when tossing it down to the scent tin, thankfully we have one she loves that won’t stick in that pretty poof. I think my aim is getting a little better. It’s also easier to aim it right when the scent tin isn’t in a tiny bowl or small box with walls surrounding it. I also am getting good with my timing of delivery and letting the treat “rain down” rather than seeing it come from my hand. You’re right, it is not so easy to time it right so they’re getting the reward before they begin to lift their head up. The instructor gives good feedback on our timing. But really, it takes practice.

At this point we aren’t doing any separate exercises that encourage the dog to stay on the scent. I’ll plan to do the exercises at home as you described. Soon I will have my scents and supplies delivered for my kit. Thanks for suggesting that oil drain pan, I will pick one up. Or do I need more than 1?


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Porkchop said:


> now, I’ve realized that a HUGE part of this training and possibly the most difficult part as a beginner will be to learn my dog’s signs.


My focus in the first session is to a) train dogs to search every container and b) to get their owners to watch them, pay attention to tiny changes in their behavior when they are hunting scent once we introduce birch. Compare the behavior to when your dog is sniffing to go potty - very different. (Caveat - driven odor obedient dogs don't always search every container because they are so well trained to hunt scent, but novice dogs do.)

Your teacher should point out what she noticed - it was probably a head turn or bracketing behavior. The dog is moving, then all of a sudden realizes that the scent was stronger a step or two where they just were so they swing their head back. Bracketing is moving back and forth figuring out the scent puzzle as they narrow down the location of scent. Listen to your dog - you can hear them searching - when they find odor they stop loud breathing and stand still for a second (or longer depending on training). Lots of clues. Usually the dog has given a couple of cues before the handler finally notices it when the dog paws at the box or swings their head back to them looking for a treat. Ask your trainer to point out all the steps Lacey is doing so you know what you're looking for.

I see your trainer's logic having the dog in front of you finding scent - many people stand where the scent it hidden cuing their dog. When they get to trial, they don't know where to stand and the dog is lost because it wasn't learning to search independently. Standing behind your dog, far enough back that you can watch them hunt and indicate avoids cuing your dog.

I'm glad to hear you're making your own kit. While those pre-made little kits are nice, they are very expensive and are limited. Where did you find your supplies? I'm also looking for places to suggest to my students.

Lacey is awesome - she's doing great and it's nice you're doing your homework encouraging her.


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## Porkchop (Sep 2, 2019)

That info about cues is SO helpful. I’d have never thought to listen to the sniffing/breathing as a cue. I’ll ask the instructor if she’d point out what she notices specifically too.

For the supply kit, the only concern I’d have about students making their own is the oils. Firstly because it’s too easy not to realize that anise seed oil and star anise are completely different from each other. Second is, how important is the quality of the oils? From my research it seems a lot of companies, especially on amazon, purport their essential oils as 100% pure, natural, etc, but they actually contain synthetic fragrance. I don’t think that synthetic scent would work the same as the actual chemical compounds of true essential oil and therefore could cause issues in training. I could be wrong, that’s just a hunch.
I got my oils from the brands Eden’s garden, plant therapy, and aura cacia base on what they offered and prices. Anise seed oil is expensive and was actually hard to find. Birch is also less commonly found. Clove bud and cypress was available from every legitimate brand for a consistent price. There are other brands that sell a legit product. I can’t remember the others right now. I’ll have to get back to you on that with some sources I found. 

I did the most research into the oils. But I wasn’t able to find any info regarding how synthetic oils affect nose work. I know for humans the chemical compounds of real essential oils are necessary to get the desired physical or mental therapeutic benefits.
You definitely get wayyyy more oil than with the pre made kits. I’m not sure if I’ll even use up the 10ml bottles before they get too old.

I based my kit on recommendations from this thread. But I had to do a LOT of searching on amazon, target, Etsy, nose work online sellers, and other online sellers to find the items in a correct size and at a reasonable price. Read a lot of reviews. 









Making a Nosework kit


I’m just finishing the beginning set of classes in Nosework and I’m very sure that Boon and I will definitely continue in this FUN sport! After I sliced my finger on the sharp metal edge of a nail-punched hole in the Altoid tin I was using for practice (had not yet bought any "official" Nosework...




www.dobermantalk.com





Since I’m still so new to this I don’t want to make specific product recommendations until I’ve personally tried them. Once I do I’ll put together a list of what I bought specifically and the prices.

Thank you for the compliment on Lacey, that made me smile.


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