Has anyone been involved in this? What do you think?

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Gwen
belongs to Amber (LiquidAmber II) June 1995-August 2010
Maddie (Essex Mountain Madrone) CGC Born April 17th, 2012

K9 Nose Work is something we do with our dogs. We are hoping to earn an NW1 with our one dog in March (who has only been in class since October/November 2012), and hoping to earn our NW2 with our other dog in May (who has been in classes since April 2012). Most of the people we train with have either older dogs (who have retired from rally/obedience/agility) or reactive dogs (as K9 Nose Work is one of few dog sports that openly welcomes reactive dogs, as it is supposed to help the dog build confidence). Many people with younger dogs drop out of classes due to the fact that it CAN interfere with obedience/rally work (handlers are not supposed to ask their dogs to sit or walk nicely or come or basically do anything "manners" related in Nose Work, and people say that can hinder heeling and focus work in other areas). Personally, this hasn't been the case for my dogs. I will say that it HAS helped our one dog come out of his shell and be more confident, so it has it's place.

I've completed Level I and II classes and had to postpone Level III as Tayla had surgery right before class and I just couldn't pay for class after that expense, but hope to start back in next month. We practice several times a week a home and out on walks. I love it and I know she does also, because as soon as I give her the "Find It" command she really changes her attitude and is all about the search. It's not as popular in Florida so once we finish Level II I'll have to wait for an ORT test before I can go on for a NWI title, but that's okay. It's a great bonding experience with her.

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Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

I am currently taking classes in Nosework. There are 3 levels of NoseWork, NW1, NW2 and NW3. Mercy is having a good time in finding treats in boxes so far. Eventually, the classes are to get harder and the dogs start searching for odor instead of for food. Since my budget is tight, I will not be continuing onto NW2 class. I am trying to improve my relationship with my dog. I will be taking intermediate obedience classes starting in March. Mercy needs more work obeying commands and minding her manners.

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Birthdate: February 5th 2012

Gotcha Day: March 30th 2012

I here you there. Where I take classes for NW they just raised the price to $155 for 6 weeks. Yikees that it high as it was $139, but as I plan to compete with Tayla in this I will have to find the $$ someplace. I'm training in obedience myself and will probably skip the basic at some point and go into the Novice class. As she has bad hips my competition is limited to NW and obedience.

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Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

I do nosework with my dog. She earned her NW1 last month and now we are working towards our NW2. I find it interesting and Kayla seems to really enjoy it.

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I'm seriously thinking of starting Jess in a tracking class this spring. My only question is, will it make a dog who is a serious scavenger worse ?

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[SIGPIC]

Good question, Roxy has an amazing nose and can stay focused on task but I too was wondering if I should encourage her scavenging.

Tayla and I just finished our K9 Nose Work III class and we have the nice little certificate to prove it. It was a fun class and our first of the series that focused on the scent birch. Our last class we did our first car search. It was fun. At home I'm trying to practice with her 3 - 4 times a week and we go outside and do a couple on the car and inside we do a couple in different rooms and then outside we do a few. She really loves it and I have so much fun watching her. Hopefully we will have an ORT (order recognition test) coming up sometime in the summer so we can be certified in birch and move on to a trial, but it is not very popular in Florida yet so we will just practice, practice and practice until we get our chance.

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Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

We just got back from a week camping at Disney and I took along our nose work stuff to practice with Tayla. I did nothing for the first 3 days as I wanted her to get used to being in a new place with some different and every changing smells. Our instructor said to always set them up for success. Then we did some hides in the RV and outside we did vehicle hides and around the campsite hides. After a couple days we would hide the scent article in various places on her walks. It was great that there were so many distractions to deal with, including one hide at a bus stop at the campgrounds. People and kids waiting for a bus and watching her. She found it every time.

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Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.