K9 Nose Work

Mention dog sports, and most people think of agility, flyball or dock diving; all focusing on a dog’s athleticism. The fastest growing dog sport, however, is one based on what dogs do naturally – sniff and hunt.

K9 Nose Work has its roots in the basic training employed for drug and explosives detection dogs used by law enforcement and the military. Pair food with an odor and teach the dog if they locate that odor they are rewarded. Usually that reward is in the form of treats, or the chance to play with their favorite toy.

It was a trio of Southern California trainers – Amy Herot, Ron Gaunt, and Jill Marie O’Brein – who came up with the idea of tailoring that working dog training regimen into a K9 sport for companion dogs. They crafted a training curriculum not only for dogs but for trainers, and established the only sanctioning body for K9 Nose Work trials – the National Association of Canine Scent Work.

In 2009 NACSW held four trials; all of them in California. The same number were held in 2010. That number skyrocketed to 43 trials in 2011, and in 2012 it nearly doubled with 80 scent work competitions. And in that short amount of time nose work trials had been held in 11 states.

In 2015 there were 119 NACSW trials in 29 states.

The training starts simply enough with having your dog search empty boxes until they find the one with food in it. Eventually you pair that food with cotton swabs scented with sweet birch oil. Gradually, dogs learn if they find the birch odor, they’ll get rewarded.

In addition to sweet birch, NACSW uses anise and clove. The odors, or combinations there of, are used based on the level a dog is competing. Dogs working at the Nose Work 1 level are just looking for birch. At NW2 anise is introduced and then clove comes into the picture at NW3 trials. The degree of difficulty at each level is also increased with the number of hides, along with larger and more complex search areas. And, just to add a twist in NW3, there may be no odor at all, forcing the handler to determine if it’s a clear room.

The trials consist of four search elements; 1) containers, 2) interior, 3) exterior, and 4) vehicles. If you and your dog successfully finds the hide or hides in all four search elements within the time limit (usually 3 minutes) you earn a Nose Work Title.

Although sight hounds, BoomBoom and Logan have taken to scent work and enjoy the weekly classes. On Jan. 1, 2012, BoomBoom became the first Greyhound to earn a Nose Work title. He went on to earn his NW2 title in September 2012 and is now working on his NW3.

Scent work training gradually gave Logan more confidence, and has helped him overcome some of his anxiety issues. He earned a NW1 title in October 2012 and his NW2 title in September 2013. In October 2015 Logan became the first Greyhound to earn a NW3 title. He followed that up with another NW3 title in November 2015. He needs one more to earn his NW3 Elite title and graduate to the NACSW Elite Division.