Getting A Colorado Mountain High At Nose Work Nationals

A few years ago when Holly and I were on vacation in California we took the opportunity to sit in on a class taught by K9 Nose Work co-founder Amy Herot. In introducing us to her class, Amy said, “You know you’re a nose work geek if you’re a attending classes while on vacation.”

This year we crafted our vacation around a nose work event. But not just any event — the National Association of Canine Scent Work National Invitational. If this cements our place as nose work geeks, so be it. It’s tag we wear proudly, and not alone.

We spent three great days in nose work bliss, volunteering and watching the top teams in the country at the fairground in Loveland, Colo. We were proud to see such a great showing from the New England teams. These were handlers and dogs we’ve trailed with, and in some cases trained with. They included Cheryn Breeling with Cook; Sandy McCleary with Hope; Maria Corrigan with Kirby, Evy Allowy with Snoopy; Kathe Baxter with Karita; Michele Ellertson with Hemi; and Andy Sperber with Maho. They all did New England proud, with most of them making the cut to compete in the finals.

There are many other highlights from those three days, including the strong performance from the New England contingency. I was impressed with how confident handlers called alert. There was not “alert?” It was all “Alert!”

As confident and driven as each of these dogs were, it was a moment in the large “North 40” exterior search on Sunday that impressed me the most. Steve DeTata with his dog Juliet were searching this vast area, when you could see Juliet slowing down. As much as we train our dogs to work independently, it was interesting to see a handler at Nationals see his teammate needed some support, and he stepped in to pump up Juliet. He began jogging to other portions of the search area and Juliet responded by picking up the pace and finding a couple of more hides before time was up. Steve and Juliet finished second in the “North 40” search, and came in 6th overall in the trial.

Speaking of the “North 40,” another highlight for me was standing next to CNWI Gail McCarthy while watching the searches. Two of the six hides were pretty close, and definitely resulting in converging odor. As Austrian Cattle Dog Crook charged into the area and was trying to figure out which source to go to first, Gail says, “He’s caught in an odor vortex.” If the NACSW National Invitational were to be televised, Gail would be a natural as the sniff-by-sniff announcer.

There were such great teams at Nationals that it would seem impossible to pick a favorite. But there was one team that always put a smile on my face when watching them work, and that was Laurel Scarioni and Myrtle Mae. First of all, how can you not smile at just the name Myrtle Mae. Beyond that it was the lighthearted, positive encouragement Laurel gave Myrtle throughout each search. It was a great reminder of K9 Nose Work’s top priority — HAVE FUN!!!