Sporting Detection Dogs?

[blackshep]

Does anyone here compete in this?

I just went to a workshop on the weekend and had a blast! My puppy LOVED it!

Apparently it is a new sport in Canada, but has been in the US a bit longer?

Here's my puppy's and my first try at the workshop. She was a little excited. lol

Berlin Scent Detection Workshop - YouTube

[TaraM1285]

We're not competing yet, but Tara is training in K9 Nose Work. We just recently started on Odor. It is a lot of fun and Tara just loves it.

Looks like your pup loved it too!

[Cassidy's Mom]

She's so cute, i love her enthusiasm!

I took classes for awhile, but flyball started getting in the way, so I stopped. It was fun, but it got expensive to have two sports at the same time.

[Quinnsmom]

Quinn and I have done two sets of classes but are not yet ready to compete. We are both really enjoying ourselves. The trainer is a little north of Newmarket Ontario.

[I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO]

We've been training in Nosework for a few months and Mikko just passed his odor recognition test (test that they have to pass before they can trial) for level one-birch. Our first trial is in March!

It's a lot of fun as you and your puppy have found out-she seems to love it!

[carmspack]

one of my dogs is "
16 December Fador and I are going to compete for our second trial in
the NW2 nose work he's doing well he's an amazing searcher."

[jocoyn]

I just got a flyer about a Ramsey seminar in Durham NC in January. I have thought of going to audit, but even the audit is expensive (Beau is already certified in cadaver)-- I understand he trains more like police and has some good insights. But for someone interested in nosework, I have heard real life detection folks saying "he is the best".

[Cassidy's Mom]

Andrew is great! But yeah, it was expensive for the classes and I don't even know what he charges for the seminars.

I was going to cut back and only bring Halo because Keefer thought it was fun, but honestly, he was just happy to come along for the ride, he wasn't into it as much as she was. But Andrew said if I didn't mind bringing both of them he was happy to do a search or two with Keefer each week too, for no extra charge, because it was good for him to work with less motivated pet dogs, to learn ways to make nosework fun and interesting for them.

[blackshep]

We're doing another workshop in late January!

My puppy though, at home she's sometimes trying to cheat. She's now sometimes laying beside the wrong bins and looking for a treat. Any suggestions on what I should do? Do I tell her no, or just wait it out?

I can tell she knows it's not the right one because of her body language, I think she's trying to fool me into giving her some treats. LOL

[jocoyn]

I just ingore it, then make the reward even stronger when she makes the decision to move to find the right location. Even if she is confused and does not offer you a perfect alert if she has made the choice to find the 'right one' reward that. If you can get ahold of a copy of K9 Cop magazine for Nov/Dec there is a whole article dedicated to false alerts in explosive detection dogs. It is a common problem to have to fix with real world detection dogs.

One issue with containers ( I dont know what all they teach in nosework) is that scent can absorb into the container leaving a residual odor so make sure that you only use "dirty" containers for your training aids and store the clean containers separately from the dirty ones.

I have some plastic ammo boxes I use to transport cadaver and after a spill in one I washed and bleached the box out and sat in the sun for a week and I could still smell the odor with my inferior nose. I assume the oils they use for nosework might absorb in plastic as well.