The Nose Knows

Now that we're retired from the obedience ring, we're getting into nose work - and really having a lot of fun with it. I was reading Laurie Luck's article, introduction to nose work, and thought it looked like a fun thing to do. I went out and bought some cardboard boxes to get started. Unfortunately they were too big. The dogs didn't want to put their heads in the boxes to get the treats, so we improvised by laying the boxes on their sides. I think I may need to start over with some properly sized boxes. Anyway, this was our first attempt.

In addition to working with the boxes, I've started playing 'find it' games with Jackson at the club where we train. He has really taken to these games and is getting really good at finding treats I've hidden around the training building. What's really been interesting is how it's carrying over into his motivation for tracking. We went tracking yesterday and I had to run to keep up with him - he was so motivated to 'find' the glove. I'm starting a new method to teach tracking that seems to be more motivating to find the glove than using the traditional food drops. I'll post more about that as we get into it.