Nose Work Games
We are going to start with some Nosework foundations.
So the first step is playing some cooperative games getting your dog using their noses to solve problems that they need your help to finish so we can start building a communication system. We start with just using food before we bring in special target scents. I will be showing you some games you can play on your own and we will be looking at reading dogs. If you get really into the game you will reach a point where you really have to have another person to help you as you need to have blind problems so you have to rely on your dog and trust their language. But we can start some foundations.
These are a couple foundation games I play with my dogs when I begin. The key is that the dog needs your help to access the food they find otherwise this can be confused with food puzzles where your dog is not bringing you into the game. So you need to think about how you set up a problem they need your help with.
I start with little containers and canning jars I can poke holes in the lids, then I place them in a box or tray that makes it more challenging for the dog to grab the container. I also like to work on pinpointing target scents from the beginning so I work smaller puzzles before moving to big areas.
Stage one you are just watching and as soon as you see your dog has isolated the container with the food, before they try to trash the tray like it’s a food puzzle you immediately help them open the container to get the food. Be sure they have actually found the food and are not just grazing by it, you should see them shove their nose onto the container, they might lick it, raise a paw like they are going to dig at it, start wagging their tails, look at you, etc. Only do 2-3 repetitions during one session as you can get a lot of excitement or arousal building up that can make the dogs start just mashing the tray like it’s a food puzzle. So just a couple tries at a time and then put it away. If your dog stops don’t try to help them, don’t point out the food, don’t do anything, just let them lead the game, if they don’t just stop and put it away. Next time use smellier better food and maybe poke more holes in the lids to make the problem easier but never help a dog find it or you will be sunk as your dog always expects you to find it for them.
So go find a dozen or so small containers you can poke holes in the lid of that your dog needs your help to open. Find a box or tray that will hold them all so they don’t easily fall over or spill out. Carefully add treats to a few of the containers, and by carefully I mean try not to get food smell all over all of the containers. So I get the tray all ready and then I only touch the food with my left hand and then only handle the other empty containers with my right hand. It’s ok if you are not perfect as we are not using other target scents and your dog will learn to isolate the most powerful source of the scent even if you are a little sloppy with getting other food smell on the containers, but it can affect their confidence at first if you are making it harder for them to find the source of the food scent.
Here is another example of how to start some Nosework training at home.
Here is another set up I use for Nosework foundation practice, this one is great for dogs who are very rough and think they need to solve this as a food puzzle as the box makes it so they can’t get the jars out so you can wait for them to give you solid scent work before you open the jar for them.
At this stage we are still only using food and not target odors so we can work out all the kinks before we bring scent we will really care about into the mix.
Starting your search routine
Once I see my dog is using their noses in my scent indication games and no longer approaching it like a food puzzle where they are using their paws or other problem solving attempts rather than just sniffing It out on their own I then will start my search routine.
I like to use building cement blocks because they are super sturdy so it’s hard for dogs to dislodge them, they have a great hole for you to place the food down into that helps collect a lovely little scent pool and they are cheap to buy. You don’t have to buy them right now if you can’t get out or down have the space. I will be sharing more ideas of how you can do this without blocks as well as we move further into this sport. But this is exactly how I start a dog searching and how I work with our search and rescue dogs to teach a search routine.
So start with your dog sitting in front of your search row (you can tether them if they don’t have a stay)
Let them see you have their rewards
Stay engaging as you let them watch you pretend to hide the reward in each hole, as you do, place the reward in one of them
When you get back to your dog, release them saying whatever your search command is as you pretend to toss treats towards the blocks
For the most part stay out of your dog’s way and let them sort it out. Try not to direct them straight to the food, let them find it on their own. When they find the food, praise them and be happy as they eat the treats
If they stall out and don’t look you might have to move down to just one block so they immediately are successful. Do not use more than two when you first start, you want very quick success
Bringing a target odor into your search work
Ok so here’s the thing, currently most of you won’t be able to run out and get what you need for this game, but we can get creative at home. You need to be careful about how you use essential oils as they can be dangerous for dogs, so you are making very weak swabs and they need to be in a container your dog cannot directly contact the swab.
The odors used for Nosework are generally: Clove, Birch & Anise
If you don’t have these at home, just keep working with your food containers and our search routines and that will only improve your dog’s searching skills for when you do move to using target odor.
In addition to not being able to access scent oils right now, you might also have trouble getting gloves, if you have scent but not gloves, you could use an inside out plastic bag to handle the scent tubes, but it is essential you don’t touch the tubes with your hands as you will then be teaching your dog to find your scent as it’s a more predictable successful odor to our dogs.
But I’ll share this now so you understand how the process moves forward. I will also be sharing some more ways to move your work forward at home without having these tools at your disposal and I certainly don’t want anyone going out to get things right now. But some of you might these things laying around your property.
If you don’t have blocks you can use: boxes (try to have as many similar sizes as possible) you can use pieces of firewood (I’ll show you this in a video). You want multiple things of the same type.