Nosework is easily the hottest new sport around, and it’s easy to see why! It’s fun for humans, dogs love to participate, and it’s good for building confidence and focus in dogs that have issues like shyness, reactivity, aggression, or a simple lack of confidence. Any dog can participate; from puppies to very old or retired dogs. In a matter of weeks, you’ll see your dog confidently ignoring distractions and focusing on the target scent; and by the end of the course, many of the dogs will be ready to compete for their ORT.
This course is unique in that your dog will NOT learn to search for food; instead, we start with your target odor on DAY ONE! We use the proven training method that produces the nation's top drug and bomb detection dogs! Our backchaining method is effective on almost all dogs, from insecure and unfocused dogs to highly driven and intense workers. The proof is in the pudding; dogs going through only one or two levels of our courses are earning their ORT and NW titles in record time! Even if your dog has failed using other methods, we can help you succeed!
In this class, you will learn about the basic concepts in searching for odor, proper use of equipment, how to handle odor, how to make and place hides, and how to teach your dog the importance of odor obedience. You will also learn how to make the search for scent extremely important to your dog.
Teaching Approach
This class offers extensive written lectures, no verbal lectures, and videos of varying length. Any video lectures that include verbal information/instructions are accompanied with written steps. Lectures are designed to be watched and follow the ideas presented in the lecture. Lecture videos may run from 1 to 4 minutes long, with the average between 1-2 minutes. The lectures are designed to help a student understand the purpose of the exercise and how it might vary by dog. Pre-lectures are available before the class starts so that teams can get a jump start on conditioning odor for optimal skill progression. Since most lectures are sequential, they will be rolled out in 2 batches - the night before each week and a few days into each week. A 1 minute unlimited homework video option is available, along with the standard 6 minutes option per week. This class will work best for students who learn by reading text lectures, watching videos and who like having structured lesson plans.
This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook study group to help the bronze and silver students! Directions for joining that Facebook group will be in the classroom after you register.
Julie Symons (she/her) has been involved in dog sports for over 25 years. Starting with her mix, Dreyfus, in flyball, she went on to train and compete in conformation, agility, obedience, herding and tracking with her first Belgian tervuren, Rival. Rival was the first CH OTCH MACH Belgian...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)
The focus for this class will be to build value/history on odor, introduce and build drive for hunting, and emphasize the importance of staying at source. Many fun games are used to progress the teams at their own pace. Other topics include generalization, aging, equipment/gear, handling, mild proofing games, creative container placement patterns, handler position, and handler analysis - can you tell where hide is from handler cues?
Three (3) large 5 quart colander and/or deep bowl with a wide rim. Small dogs/puppies can use a smaller one. These open top containers will be used for introducing odor before class starts. Two will stay cold and one will be "hot". All should be similar/identical.
Assorted cardboard boxes that you have around the house or shipping boxes. 10-15 of varying shapes and sizes - roughly 10x8x4 - single fold or fold flap. Start saving all your amazon delivery boxes! NOTE: Please do NOT take boxes from the Post Office. That is illegal to use for non-mailing uses. (Used ones are find of course!)
Six (6) "Game Boxes". Any kind of sturdy plastic container - tupperware/sandwich containers with holes drilled in the top or sides works well. You can find many kinds at the Dollar stores. Putting holes on side allows us to teach our dogs to search the seams and not the tops and will be recommended in class.
OPTIONAL/ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT:
Odor kit (or build your own)
Birch oil - “Sweet Birch” aka Betula Lenta (or first odor for your NW organization)
q-tips cut in half (or a little shorter - I cut out a bit in the middle).
small glass jar
metal tins (lip balm tins) with holes or slider you can open a bit.
tweezers
Quake Hold or museum putty
(Optional) small rare earth magnets that can go inside a tin
(Optional) A few cold tins that will never have odor in it. If using a store bought mint tin, make sure to thoroughly wash it out so that there is no mint smell. If you are ordering a kit, you might as well order a few extra tins in different sizes. The kits won't come with an extra metal tin. I really like these slightly larger tins that you can make a few for odor too - drill/nail some holes in a few of them. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FY7OH80/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1
(Optional) Slightly larger tin for a BIGGER target and to hold more odor/qtips - the size of a large altoid rectangle tin (shown below is 2.5x3.5 inches)
(Optional but VERY important to have some - used throughout career) ORT boxes used in NACSW for weeks 5 and 6. A good option is 10 x 8 x 3" OR slightly smaller for better storing using 9 x 6 x 3.
They come in a 50 pack and ship in a small stack unassembled. Split with friends or you will find you'll go through them as they get damanged/used and always nice to have "new" ones to pull out.
(Optional and highly recommended) 6 metal light switch boxes - for use as alternative to game boxes or for dogs that may overly interact with boxes. A great way to avoid box smashing by learning on something heavior.
You can find them at larger brand hardware stores. The bottom and top are sold separately and are in different bins in the store.
(Optional) white drain caps with a top drain grate.The part without the holes is a drain cap. The drain grate should fit inside the drain cap.
To purchase your supplies, you can purchase supplies individually or as a kit in the US from:
At http://k9nwsource.com/product-category/containers/odor-kits/ - the minimum you would need is the "student starter kit". The "plus" kit includes a round and slider tin plus a heat strip sleeve and Centrafuge Tubes (may be used end of class and in NW120). The "deluxe" kit includes 1 dram bottle of oil and more qtip containers. Eventually, you will want to make your own scented qtips so you will want to have the oil also. For existing scented qtips, I may refresh them every 3-4 months if I find they are drying up. Located in the east/PA.
At http://www.paws4fun.net/target-odor-kit - the minimum you would need is the "labeled jar". This kit only comes with 5 scented qtips. The "target odor kit" includes the dram bottle of oil, more scented qtips and a cute case! With this kit you must indicate you want a tin slider with holes. Located in the west/CA.
At http://www.thek9nose.com/ - the minimum you would need is the "starter travel kit". The "Beginner Starter kit" includes a bottle of oil and some additional qtip holders. Located in the mid-west/MN!
At http://www.allgooddogs.biz/products - the "Travel kit starter with Birch" or "Student kit with single odor" are good options. (Specific to NACSW).
For international orders, check with your country organization to confirm the correct target scents. If you're training strictly for fun, you may select any scent that is available to you and safe for your dog! Order early, sometimes the scents are back ordered.
For Poland, you may order supplies directly from Nosework Polska / Nosework Poland: https://noseworkpolska.pl/
The specific scent for the ORT (NACSW), Pre-trial (UKC), or the Novice (AKC) title is: BIRCH: (aka "Sweet Birch" or Betula Lenta). Make sure you buy this specific one! Wyndmere brand is Available at Whole Foods, but is not always in stock. You can also order online at: http://www.wyndmerenaturals.com/
NOTE for Canadians:
Odors required for Sporting Detection Dogs Association (SDDA) are:
Wintergreen (Gaultharia procumbens), Pine (pinus pinaster or sylvestris) and Red Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
It may be quickest and cheapest to put together your own kit. You will need to start with Wintergreen unless you are planning to train all 3 odors together. You can get these Essential Oils at your local health food store.
Tins can be purchased on Amazon. Get empty lip balm slide tins and poke 6 holes in the top with a nail.
You will also need a small jar to "cook" Qtips. Something the size of a sterilized baby food jar works great!
We want to test our dogs “discrimination” to odor using a few colanders (or other containers) where one is HOT with odor and the other is cold/empty. There is also another game called “It’s Your Choice” where the dog discriminates between food and odor. Both are outlined below.
You may find your dog needs more conditioning to odor before you progress to these steps. Let the dog tell you after a few reps. It's always best to go back to the first foundation steps before proceeding if you feel there is not clear understanding.
When using multiple containers, ideally they should all smell the same except the odor. By smell I mean, if you use duct tape, a tin, or a straw, you should have the same material in the cold ones also. I don't always do this step, but its cleaner when the only difference is ODOR. Dogs will smell the tape and the tin and pair that with the reward also. It's why we don't want to use a magic marker/ink pen to label containers unless you put an ink mark on all of them! You have to make sure that the tape and the tin that go into cold boxes do not have any trace of oil so you have to handle those properly to not contaminate.
Dogs may also visually see the one tin in the container as you'll notice in Moxie's video with the clear plastic boxes. I do think she was hunting odor, but she never checked any other container so likely her eyes helped too! You could even put a large coin in the cold ones or a small tuna can so they all visually have something in them.
Food particles and drool are another component which we'll add later to the cold ones. For now, I know we are not fooling ourselves that the hot one will have treat smell and our dog's drool there also. It's ok these first few weeks as it will help. Having generalized with other containers, you can switch out to different hot boxes so at least there will be a new one void of treats and slobber for one repetition.
UPDATE: When I start discrimination training, I prefer to sit on the ground and move the containers around in a shell like fashion to get more repetitions in during a short amount of time (high Rate of Reinforcement (ROR)). A good tip on this is to move just a hot and cold one at a time, less shuffling, just move the hot on and have your dog see you put the cold one down last. You can do a treat reset between reps, and in that case you want to get the hot one moved before they come back. Try both - resetting and just moving around. See what works best for your dog. and REMEMBER, pick up the hot one before you reset so you are not encouraging your dog to leave source. With our nice release word, we should all be getting into that habit to release them and pick up at same time.
Hot and Cold Container Discrimination
Here are examples using your bowls and colanders. This is a very exciting and telling stage if they really understand there is something about that oil odor. If you don’t have other colanders you can use other containers. However, having some “like” ones will create a better test as your dog will already be drawn to the colander or same plastic container.
Initially you will mark quickly for checking out the hot one - if even by accident. When you feel your dog is actively hunting and sniffing, you can delay just a bit (1/2-1sec) to see a Change Of Behavior (COB). You'll hear that term a lot in Nosework. It means there are "tells" or signs your dog will give off when being at odor - they stop, they stay a bit longer, they snap back, their foot fall cadence changes, their tail may wag, etc. Observer your dog. BE NEUTRAL and do not lean in early or reach for food before marking when at odor. At this stage our dogs will still come off odor when we mark. Depending on your ultimate decision on criteria - it may be ok that your dog lifts up when you mark - they found the hide, had a COB you could notice and you marked it.
Once you generalize to a plastic container (or to metal or cardboard) – then you can have more options for your cold ones - keeping a mix out there if you want - some metal, some cardboard, some plastic. You can also rotate out to different hot ones so that it's not always the same one you are asking them to discriminate.
Here’s an example using plastic containers once you have generalized first in a plastic container.
*NOTE1: Remember, once a container has been “hot”, it’s always not.
*NOTE2: If you are doing some treat tosses to reset between reps, it's good practice to pick up the hot container after you give your last treat for that rep so we don't encourage them to leave source. After you pick up the hot one, THEN toss your reset treat. Now you can place it down in a new spot before your dog returns.
Progress up to 4-5 containers if your dog is doing well. Usually with more choices the better they do as it stimulates their hunt drive.
It's your choice
This is the approach shown in the sample lecture and how I initially started introducing odor to my dogs. Just like the multiple bowls/containers - your dog will choose between the odor tin in one hand and the food in the other.
1. Prepare your tin with 3-5 qtips inside. Use a lower number if your dog is sensitive to smells or seeming to not want to go near the odor tin.
2. Have treats available on you or in nearby dish.
3. Pick up tin with one hand, and grab a handful of food in the other.
4. Sit on floor or in chair.
5. Place your hands 12-18” apart at dogs nose level. Keep hot tin hand open with palm up and your food hand closed.
Your dog will likely spend some time trying to get the food out of your food hand. Wait dog out.
When your dog investigates the other hand with the tin, IMMEDIATELY mark their behavior ("good", “yes”, “click”) and THEN give treat by bringing hand with food to tin and feed at source. Rapidly feed many treats before they leave the tin, then pull tin away and offer them again.
If dog stays at source/tin, keep feeding at source.
Make sure to anchor your tin/source hand. Hold that hand still and bring the TREAT hand to source. FEED AT SOURCE - not inches or a foot away.
6. Switch hands, repeat.
When you are done with a training session, you can either keep the qtips in the tin and store in an air tight container (glass jar works well) or put the qtips back into the qtip jar.
Note: There is risk of contamination to the jar of qtips if your tin gets really grimy with treats and saliva that drop through the vented holes - so make your best judgment about returning them to the qtip jar. They are fine to reuse - so maybe get another jar (cleaned out baby food jar) to store "used" ones and keep your original jar of qtips pure.
Here's Lyra demonstrating her first nosework lesson:
Here's Drac at 4 months old on his first 2 days of learning nosework:
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Here's a variation to using a tin and food discrimination. Just use 2 tins, 1 hot and 1 cold. It's similar to using the bowls as they are just smaller vessels. For some the mechanics are hard to hold treats and tin and feed well at the tin. Or your dog is too distracted by the treats and getting frustrated. It can be easier to just put them on the ground and remove the food choice.
Use a cold tin that has NEVER had odor in it or been stored with odor. You can get creative and find something that is similar size to your tin around the house. Make sure your dog will not try to pick it up and eat it! Place the tins 1-2 feet apart and reward for checking out or staying at the hot tin.
Note: If you are doing some treat tosses to reset between reps, it's good practice to pick up the hot tin after you give your last treat for that rep so we don't encourage them to leave source. After you pick up the hot tin, THEN toss your reset treat. Now you have the hot tin in your hand and you can place it down in a new spot before your dog returns.
Here's a video of Drac choosing between 2 tins for the first time. My mechanics weren't as good as they are now :). After feeding for each "find" you should pick up the hot tin and move it. I like the flow to be search, find, mark, rapid feed, pick up hot tin, repeat. We don't want to encourage them to lift up or leave odor so we feedfeedfeed, then pick up the hot tin/container.
Once that goes well, get up to 3, 4 and 5 tin/small objects. Getting to more items often makes it easier - more work and more fun for the dog!
Troubleshooting:
1. If after giving it some time and your dog is too distracted by your food hand, you can just put out the tin hand for a few times with your treat hand at your side or behind your back and mark then feed immediately for checking it out. The objective is to have your dog "find" odor and get reinforced at source. Once you have had some success with this, you can try having your food hand out to give your dog a choice. You can also use the bowl method outlined in Week 1-3 Conditioning your dog to odor.
2. If your dog gets stuck and doesn’t offer any behavior. You can use your FOOD hand to lure them back in or out of a stuck position. Or shift your position and praise them for a good job as Denise does in her clip to get them to move. NEVER lure them with the tin.
3. If your dog is a little put off by the odor and won't eat near the tin reduce the amount of odor.
4. Engage some play drive by taking off and trying to get away from your dog in a fun game of chase and then hold out your hands with food and hot tin.
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course...
This course was recommended to us as part of a rehab program for my dog who had surgery and needed a lot of crate rest and quiet time. Best thing we could have done ! We found a new sport that we love and will continue to take other nosework classes here. Outstanding individual attention from the instructor and an incredibly dynamic group of students, with lots of positive energy. Great way to strengthen your relationship with your dog and tap into their natural skills ! Loved it ! Ana C.
This was my first gold at Fenzi and I haven't regretted a second. :) We (me and my dog) had so much fun on the course and we got so much helpful feedback and positive encouragement from the instructor. Super course.
I had hesitated to try Nosework because it didn't seem as exciting as other sports, but as a novice handler with an independent, reactive dog, I wanted to find an activity that might come more naturally to us as a team...we are hooked! It is a special kind of thrill to see my dog starting to understand and search for odor, all in just 6 weeks.
One of the best online courses I have taken. The material provided was helpful, but best of all was looked after by the teacher. She provided feedback really fast and comprehensive. Thanks a lot, looking forward to the next course, you got me and my dog hooked on Nosework!
My dogs have developed good, independent hunting skills as well as value to stay at source. They are confidently completing container and interior searches. Now we are working on transitioning to ORT boxes. I look forward to the next level of nosework classes!
The progression was logical and systematic, but with the flexibility to tailor to the strengths and preferences of each dog. Feedback was timely and very supportive. It was educational to see the variety of breeds of dogs in the class mature in their skills during the course. As someone who has a non-traditional work schedule, finding a quality on-line class is the perfect fit! Thanks FDSA! Kyla S
This was a great course. The written material was excellent as were the videos. Shortly after the course began, I found myself unable to continue due to illness in the family. However, knowing that the material would be available after the course finished, allowed me to relax & focus on the crisis at hand, without stressing about missing out on the course. During this time, I read the lectures & viewed the videos & am confident that I will be able to pick up where I left off, as the lectures & videos were so well done. Having access to the lecture material for a full year, strongly influenced me to sign up for the course when I did, as I knew this would give me time to work through it with my 3 dogs. I also knew that even if I was unable to give a constant 6 weeks to it, I would be able to do it as time was available. I look forward to finishing this course & progressing onto the next level with my dogs. If your other courses are as well done as this one, I will be taking many more. Thanks, for making it possible for us to have top-notch instruction online. Karen H.
This has been a great class. The lectures were easy to follow, and even though I was only at the bronze level, I still have great confidence that with a little more proofing in distracting environments, my dog will have no problems completing an odor recognition test. All of the exercises were straightforward, nicely demoed, and something I could easily do. The feedback given to the gold students was invaluable, even to me who wasn't one of those students! I really enjoyed this class, and cannot wait to take the next level! Brittany L.
Registration
Next session starts: December 1, 2021Registration starts: November 22, 2021Registration ends: December 15, 2021
Instructor: Julie Symons
