Sniff and Go - Nosework

April 14, 2013.  Today we did a Sniff and Go, which is a practice run of the Nosework sport. The dogs are trained to find an odor, in our case we are on the level 1 odor of birch.  This was Sawyer's second Sniff and Go and Daisy's first.  Sawyer is entered in a Nosework trial at the end of May so we're trying to see what we need to work on to prepare for the trial.  I'm happy to report both dogs did terrific!  This event was hosted by Kerber Dog Training in Nazareth, PA.  The searches included Interior, Container, Vehicle and Exterior, just like a trial will.  We were lucky enough to get people to help with the video taping so I could capture these practice runs and watch them later.

First up was Sawyer.  He was the very first dog to run and did a terrific job.  He found each odor and gave me a great alert each time.

Here is Sawyer's Interior search.  He found the odor but I made him show me again so I was sure exactly where it was.  In a trial situation you need to identify where the odor is.

Here is Sawyer's Container search.  I really wish he would be methodical and go up and down the rows but all that matters is he finds the box with the odor.  

Here is Sawyer's vehicle search.  The odor is hidden on one of the 3 vehicles.

The last search is Exterior.  Sawyer seemed a bit slower by the last search but found it just before time ran out.


Daisy was last to go.  This is a sport that she really enjoys and she's really good at it.  She had some of the fastest times!  Her first search is the Interior search.


Her second search is containers.  She found the odor is just over 6 seconds!!


The disadvantage of running two dogs is that I knew where the hides were when I ran Daisy.  She found the odor but I waited her out because I knew it was a few inches over.


The last run was Exterior.  Daisy found this one much faster than her dad, Sawyer.  There's no sign of her slowing down.