Point Cook Dog Training & Day Care offers Nose Work® workshops that embrace the sniffing ability of your dog, run over a few weeks allowing you time to learn in classes and practice at home.
We run Introduction to K9 Nose Work®, K9 Nose Works® Intermediate and Introduction to K9 Odour.
Dogs naturally sniff out scent but with our busy lives, congested suburbs and time poor lifestyles, our dogs just don’t get the opportunity to use their natural tool, their nose!
There are no special training requirements necessary. Your dog will not be instructed to do anything other than its natural job and the handler is there to offer encouragement when needed and reinforcement when the scent has been found.
To start dogs off, we use their favourite food and place them in boxes so they catch on fast. We then start to hide the food inside boxes, strategically placing them to throw them off the scent, and we let their noses take over. After a few practice runs, the amount of food hidden is decreased and the level of difficulty increases and we eventually get down to a speck of food.
The dogs learn to follow their instincts as they search the floor and over time, we move from boxes to novel items and even to cars. We also raise the targets so they learn not everything is on floor level. This builds confidence and encourages an enormous amount of concentration and watching the dogs work is absolutely fascinating.
Despite being a rather passive exercise, involving only slow walking and sniffing, the concentration alone is very exhausting and handlers often comment that their dogs go straight to sleep as soon as they get in the car. Sniffing requires a lot of focus and energy therefore the dogs go home feeling very tired and very satisfied!
All dogs work as individuals with their handler so this is an ideal course for dogs that are not great around other dogs, are anxious dogs or have handlers that are not comfortable being around other dogs. At no point do the dogs ever see each other! So for stressed dogs, this is an ideal sport.
After Introduction to K9 Nose Works, we also offer K9 Nose Works Intermediate to polish up and fine tune the skills. And progressing from there, you have the option to them move onto Introduction to Odour, where essential oils are introduced and food is phased out. Once you reach this level and complete it, opportunities to compete in K9 Nose Works opens up for you and your dog.
For more information on each course, please click on the courses below.
Please note you cannot book into K9 Nose Works Intermediate or Introduction to Odour unless you have completed the previous courses.
