Nosework and Scentwork Courses

6 Week Nosework/Scent Work Foundation Course

Nosework is a game/sport you and your dog can do pretty much anywhere at any time with very little equipment.

Nose Works is a fast growing dog sport, it’s a lot of fun for the dogs and their humans.

It’s great to watch the dogs gain independence and confidence.

No obedience is required and it is suitable for reactive dogs as the dogs are not together during the class.

Classes are held in our indoor training facility in Pakenham.

Your instructor is a qualified dog trainer certified through the National Dog Trainers Federation (NDTF),

She is also a certified Noseworks instructor (CNWI). Certified through the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW USA)

And is also an ACSW Nosework Judge.

So you and your dog are in safe capable hands

The Foundation Course introduces your dog to searching and hunting, it’s surprising how many dogs can’t go off and search independently, they rely so much on their human to help them out. In this course will learn how to “read” your dog, this means you will notice how they change their behaviour when they are getting close to the hide, initially we will be using food or your dogs favourite toy.  One reason for this is so you can stand back and watch your dog search and learn what to look for when your dog is getting close to odour, initially the food or the odour from their favourite toy. This is called “reading” your dog. Some dogs will pick up speed, some will slow down, some will prick their ears, some will wag their tail, there’s many different changes in behaviour your dog might do as they approach the odour or find themselves in the scent cone.

We also want to make sure your dog is confident in the different situations before we introduce a target odour, the main reason for this is if your dog is searching for a target odour and gets a fright or is scared of say a slippery floor, then they might associate this with the target odour and it is very difficult to change the dogs mindset once it is convinced the odour had something to do with what frightened it isn the first place .

Over the duration of the course we will cover, container searches, this is where we start, interior and vehicle searches. Weather permitting we will start on exterior searches too.

In the last two weeks of this course, providing your dog is searching independently and with confidence, we will introduce your do to a target odour, usually Birch, we will also be working on improving your dogs searching and hunting skills by introducing some height in your dogs searches and also increasing the puzzle your dog has to work out to find their treats.

Once you have completed the Foundation course the next step will be to complete our 4 week Building Odour course, this is the course where we will work on building your dogs odour obedience, what this means is your dog will find odour no matter what is around, ie: food, toys, other dog smells, other animal smells etc. The Building Odour course will only go ahead if there is sufficient numbers.

We have 3 levels of support for each course.

As you can see from the chart the Standard and Premium levels give you more support during the course so we can address any issues or potential issues that might occur before they become a problem.

These two levels are ideal if you want to go on and compete as the extra support will enhance both your dogs and your progress in this great game with your dog.

Feel free ask any questions at any time and I will endeavour to answer them for you.

First and foremost, have fun with your dog.