logo

  • Log In
  • Lectures
  • About Us
  • Calendar
  • Faculty & Staff
  • instagram-icon
  • facebook-icon
  • twitter-icon
  • Courses
    • Schedule
    • By Discipline
    • By Instructor
    • Prerequisites
    • Self-Study
    • Scholarships
    • Gift Certificates
  • Webinars
    • Schedule
    • FAQ
  • Workshops
    • Schedule
    • FAQ
    • Gift Certificates
  • On Demand
    • Pet Dog Presentations
    • Pet Professionals Presentations
    • Self-Study Courses
  • Special Links
    • Podcast
    • Blog
    • Fenzi TEAM Titles
    • Trainer Certificates
    • Private Lessons
    • Other Free Stuff!
    • Swag
  • Events
    • Puppies!!! - Online Conference May 13
    • Training Camp
    • Bootcamps
  • Contact
    • Course FAQ
    • Webinar FAQ
    • Workshop FAQ
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Help
  • Courses
    • Schedule
    • By Discipline
    • By Instructor
    • Prerequisites
    • Self-Study
    • Scholarships
    • Gift Certificates
  • Webinars
    • Schedule
    • FAQ
  • Workshops
    • Schedule
    • FAQ
    • Gift Certificates
  • On Demand
    • Pet Dog Presentations
    • Pet Professionals Presentations
    • Self-Study Courses
  • Special Links
    • Podcast
    • Blog
    • Fenzi TEAM Titles
    • Trainer Certificates
    • Private Lessons
    • Other Free Stuff!
    • Swag
  • Events
    • Puppies!!! - Online Conference May 13
    • Training Camp
    • Bootcamps
  • Contact
    • Course FAQ
    • Webinar FAQ
    • Workshop FAQ
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Help

NW170: Building Blocks of Nosework - Before Odor

  • Overview
  • Syllabus
  • Prerequisites & Supplies
  • Sample Lecture
  • Testimonials & Reviews
    • Registration
      Apply for a scholarship

  • See Also
  • All Classes
  • All Workshops

NW170: Building Blocks of Nosework - Before Odor

 

Course Details

You, your dog, an inquiring mind and the start of a whole new world of opportunity. In this course you will learn the foundations of nosework even before you ever introduce odor. This course has been designed to perfectly position your dog to be able to leapfrog into the scenting world by providing skills, desire, confidence and motivation…. To the handler, this course provides the keys and knowledge to jumpstart into one of the fastest growing canine sports. This course requires little to no equipment, just a fascinated mind and the desire to do something fun with your best friend.

Did you know that your dog’s olfactory lobe is 1/8th of it’s brain? This course will let your canine partner USE his brain in ways that will stimulate, invigorate and enrich your dog’s life and ultimately your relationship with him.

At the same time you will learn how to prepare your dog or puppy so that when he DOES get on odor, everything will be easy…. He will already be ok working in new places. He will already be in the right arousal state. He will already know this his “special” routine. When you do introduce odor, after this course, the introduction will be seamless and easy… because you will have all the right FOUNDATIONS and CONCEPTS.

This course isn’t just about the dog…. It’s also about developing a strong and competent nosework handler. Handling in Nosework is a PARTNERSHIP. To be a good partner, you need to understand your dog’s nose and his scenting skills. You also need to have a good foundation in the science of scent. You need the basics of “reading your dog” and the basics of good handling. You will build all of these skills!

Whether your goal is to have an amazing competitive nosework dog, to build confidence or to just have some sniffing fun, this course is for you!

This course is WAY more than just searching for food.  You will learn about scent theory, olfcation, handling, reading your dog, and more!   This is the PERFECT class to take before NW101 that I teach in February.

This course is suitable for all dogs and puppies of all ages. No prior scenting experience is necessary. Dogs who have been introduced to odor, but who need a little extra confidence may also benefit from this course. Quite simply, this course is not to be missed!

Building Blocks small

Teaching Approach

Each week a series of lectures will be released (usually 3 to 5). The lectures will be a combination of supporting theory and setup examples. This class is a combination of concept lectures and action oriented lectures.  The concept lectures will not have homework associated and are there for supporting information.  The homework for this class is prescriptive to a point...  however the student will be required to adapt the material to set up their own search areas. 

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.

Stacy BarnettInstructor: Stacy Barnett

Stacy Barnett is a top nosework competitor and trainer, being the first handler to title multiple dogs with multiple Summit Level titles in the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW),  (Judd SMTx3, Brava SMTx2). Stacy has been a faculty member at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy since 2015 (Click here for full bio and to view Stacy's upcoming courses)

Syllabus

View Full Syllabus

Each week we are going to focus on 4 main things:

Basic Concepts - these lectures will be background information that will give you foundational knowledge about the sport. Some lectures will have written homework and some will have video homework.

Hunting and Seeking Skills and Games - these lectures will be focused on the actual aspects of searching. Remember that searching is one of the skills necessary in nosework! Initially these games can be played in your own Living Room!

Acclimation and Setting the Stage - these lectures will be focused on making sure that your dog is in the right state of mind to be able to work. Homework in these lectures will involve getting out and about to new places. Doing this homework now will result a confident Nosework dog later!

Scent and the Scenting Dog - these lectures will information / concept based. There may be written assignment and the stray video assignment. The purpose of these lectures are to give you the scientific background you need to really start to understand and the sport and to be an effective handler.

TOPICS COVERED:

Core Concept:
- Four Cornerstones Pyramid and the Benefits of Scent Work
- The Three Types of Focus
- Understanding Arousal
- Understanding the Handler
- Reading the Dog
- Learning Concepts (Operant vs. Classical, Timing of Rewards, Position of Rewards)

Hunting and Seeking Skills and Games
- Primary Reinforcers and…. Bowl Food and Finger Food
- Simple Searches
- Looking for Multiple Finds
- Looking High and Low
- Searching on Different Surfaces

Acclimation and Setting the Stage
- Knowing your dog
- Crating
- Routine
- Acclimation
- Play

Understanding Scent and the Scenting Dog
- The Dog’s Nose
- Biology and Emotions
- What scent “looks like”
- Viewing the world by air currents
- Impact of weather
- Indoor air flow
- Understanding Nosework Scents, Competition and Where this can all go

 

Prerequisites & Supplies

View all Prerequisites & Supplies

There are absolutely NO pre-requisites for this class!  Equipment is limited. You will need a small plastic bowl to hold your treats and that's about it!  So bring your inquiring mind and your dog and let's get started!!

Sample Lecture

More

So in our Core Lecture on the Benefits of Nosework, we learned how sniffing and searching activates the Seeking System in our dogs and releases dopamine, the feel good neurotransmitter! Now we are going to get a little practical and will start to stimulate some dopamine releases in our own dogs!

We are going to do this with simple things that we have around the house. You shouldn’t need to buy anything expensive. In my pantry I had a set of plastic microwave dishes…. These are perfect for hunting bowls! Some methods for doing nosework use cardboard boxes. That’s fine too. The reason why I prefer bowls is that I try very hard not to encourage too much interaction with cardboard boxes from the very beginning. Why? Well, if a dog is destined to compete in Nosework, you want to avoid box smashing as much as possible. In NW101, we will give you alternatives to boxes and small Tupperware dishes. I actually don’t introduce boxes to my dogs until they understand how to indicate odor properly. Of course that is down the road so now instead I like to use plastic bowls.

IMG 6305

In this case we will start with a bunch of bowls…. They don’t need to be all the same! Whatever you have will work. Just spread them out on the kitchen floor and put cookies in one. Your dog will very quickly start to hunt for the cookies! Congratulations!! You have just triggered a dopamine release!

In this video I am working alone. You can either put your dog in a Sit-Stay (if they have one) or you can crate your dog or puppy. This search forms the very basic beginning of the exercise, Make sure you don’t skip this part!

In the lecture about the 4 D’s of Dog Training, remember we talked about Duration, Distance, Distraction and Diversity? These exercises will help to provide the foundational aspects for all of these!

We can start to work on DURATION by making this even MORE exciting for dogs! Once your dog has found the bowl with the treats in it, throw MORE treats in the bowl, one by one. Later, this foundation will encourage your dog to “stay at source”. Although we probably won’t want to throw rewards to our dogs when they are searching for essential oil down the line, this will help them to understand that there is value is not moving from the location where the “hide” was found. Plus, it’s really fun for the dogs!

Notice in this video, after Brava gets the idea that food is going to keep coming, I’m actually waiting for her to put her nose back in the bowl. When she does, that triggers me tossing in another cookie. Now imagine what this will look like when there is actual odor! That’s easy-peasy stay at source behavior! This skill will readily transfer later on.

We can start to work on DISTANCE by slowly starting your dog farther and farther back from the food bowls. Later, this will translate to drive for odor. In your trained Nosework dog, you will want the dog to search for source that might be quite some distance away, latch on to that scent and follow it back to the hide.

For Distance, it’s helpful if your dog has a Platform behavior. Platforms are a super way to start to introduce Stays. I just bought a Klimb so I thought it would be a cool application! You can use a mat, dog cot, or if your dog or puppy doesn’t have a platform behavior yet, you can use a crate and simply start your dog farther back!

IMG 6315

Once your dog is excitedly searching for the correct bowl at a distance, we can take the next step and add DISTRACTION. Down the road, your nosework dog will need to pass up all kinds of distracting smells and goodies in pursuit of the target odor (we call the essential oil that we are looking for “target odor”. This is the scent that dog has been trained to find). In this video, Judd found 3 target odor boxes in 37.95 seconds ignoring 12 distractions consisting of food and toys!

Screen Shot 2018 11 10 at 11.26.22 AM

To add DISTRACTION, we can set up our food bowls near some other interesting smells. You can use your own shoes (the stinkier the better!), a dog bed, anything you can think of! When you work this exercise initially, don’t worry about distance. Remember, when we work the 4 D’s, we need to make things simpler each time we try a new D.

Next, we will work on DIVERSITY. Remember that Diversity is all about generalization. This means that you might have to get out of your kitchen and train somewhere else! You can get creative here. Go ahead and start in other rooms of your house. If you have an especially brave pup, you can even do the search in the bathtub! (Don’t try the bathtub search if your dog shows any trepidation…. Remember that Confidence is Key!)

In this search, you can see that my bathroom is very small and tight! This is an essential skill for your future Nosework dog. Lots of dogs dislike working in tight spaces. Building that ability NOW will pay off in spades later!

Here’s Brava trying the bathtub! Before this search I got her comfortable with jumping in the bathtub by playing a little fetch with her favorite ball. Although your Nosework dog will NOT have to be climbing into bathtubs, it can simulate the requirement to work different surfaces. Remember to only try this if your dog is COMFORTABLE jumping into the bathtub. This might be a little harder for very small dogs or older dogs, so make sure you use common sense in your training decisions.

So now we’ve introduced some hunting skills and we’ve started to add DURATION, DISTANCE, DISTRACTION and DIVERSITY.

HOMEWORK:

Work on the 4 D’s and submit a video showing your progress! Make sure you don’t rush through the steps… take your time!

Testimonials & Reviews

Read All Testimonials

A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...

There are several methodologies of learning Nosework, and, as its benefits become better known, more dog owners will want to learn it. But you may as well learn Nosework from the best: Stacy Barnett! This was a magnificent, thorough course I can't recommend more highly!         


I can't even describe how much I enjoyed this class! I've been wanting to start nosework for a while but didn't really know how to go about it...this class provided the perfect foundation and introduced both me and my dog to the basics in a really fun and relaxed way. Stacy was an awesome instructor and gave lots of encouragement and advice to me and the other students. My dog had the best time and her reactivity has really improved since we started! Can't wait to continue on to NW101.     


Thank you Stacy for this amazing class! I've learned so much! My dog was as excited about the exercises as I was!   


Stacy’s passion for nosework comes through in every lecture! That fascination is infectious and just makes the course so enjoyable.        


Stacy's scientific diagrams, explanations and videos of odor plumes and all that affect how it moves were awesome! I really loved that physics lesson. All the videos were helpful to visualize the written descriptions. Thank you for a great foundation! Marsha Susag Fargo, ND       


This class is a great first step if you're just beginning in scent work whether you decide to compete or you just want something fun to do with your dog. It's also a great class to take if you've done Nosework classes or competition and your dog has lost motivation and confidence.           


This was an excellent class to take with my two puppies, who haven't begun their nosework careers yet. I feel like Stacy gave us the crucial groundwork to leap into nosework and odor itself with complete success.        

Registration

There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please subscribe to our mailing list for notifications.

Registration opens at 12:00noon Pacific Time.

NW170 Subscriptions


Gold

Silver

Bronze
Tuition $ 260.00 $ 130.00 $ 65.00
Enrollment Limits 12 25 Unlimited
Access all course lectures and materials ✔ ✔ ✔
Access to discussion and homework forums ✔ ✔ ✔
Read all posted questions and answers ✔ ✔ ✔
Watch all posted videos ✔ ✔ ✔
Post general questions to Discussion forum ✔ ✔ ✖
Submit written assignments ✔ ✖ ✖
Post dog specific questions ✔ With video only ✖
Post videos ✔ Up to 2 ✖
Receive instructor feedback on
  • Questions
  • All videos
  • Questions
  • All videos
✖

Find more details, refund policies and answers to common questions in the Help center.

  • Prev
  • Next
  • FDSA
    • About Us
    • What Do We Teach?
    • Faculty & Staff
    • Testimonials
    • Privacy Policy
  • Student Resources
    • Calendar
    • Scholarships
    • Gift Certificates
    • Swag
    • Trainer Certificates
  • Courses
    • Class Schedules
    • By Instructor
    • By Discipline
    • Prerequisites
    • Self Study
  • Webinars
    • Schedule
    • Webinar Courses
    • Register
  • More Learning
    • Podcast
    • Blog
    • Puppy Book
    • Private Lessons
    • Team
  • Help!
    • Getting Started
    • Enrolled Students
    • Video & Images
    • Webinars

Copyright © Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and individual instructors.

Technical support - send email to help@fenziacademy.com

Connect with us! facebook-icon email-icon instagram-icon