K9 Nose Work®

Maybe. 

Reactive dogs may be better described as “over-reactive” in regular language. A “reactive” dog may lunge, bark at, growl, or otherwise unfavourably respond to the presence of certain triggers (most commonly other dogs or strangers). Some reactive dogs are fearful of their triggers while others are overly excited.

Dogs that are reactive towards other dogs are welcome to attend classes. We recommend that families with dog-reactive dogs are working with a positive reinforcement trainer on ways to address and improve their dog’s reactive behaviour.  Nosework dogs are never in the building at the same time as other dogs as searches are performed by the dogs one-at-time. Dogs may see other dogs in the parking lot from a distance.  

Dogs that are reactive towards (human) strangers are not a good fit for group classes. Other handlers will watch as their classmate teams perform their searches. For the safety and comfort of other families in the class we ask that families with human-reactive dogs reach out to arrange private nosework training sessions.

At the beginning of each class handlers will leave their dogs in their vehicle and enter the facility for a briefing/orientation from the instructor to go over the goals for the class and the first exercise/game of the session.

The instructor will establish a “run order” of teams in class and then the first team’s handler will bring their dog in to play. Other handlers will watch the team’s search and then the dog will be returned to their vehicle. The next dog will be brought in immediately following the first dog’s exit from the building.

Each dog will average 3 turns coming into the building per class (depending on the exercises planned for the day).

Dogs being crated in their vehicles mimics the way professional scent detection dogs are trained. The time that the dog spends resting between their searches is an important part of the training — to rest the dog physically, but to also allow the dog to process what they’ve learned in each search.

It is important to ensure that the dog currently working and the dogs that are resting are not distracted by other dogs.

Class sizes maximum is 1 dog per every 15 minutes. Our K9 Nose Work classes run between 60 – 90 minutes. A 60 minute class will have no more than 4 dogs, while an 80 minute class will be capped at 6 dog teams. 

It’s important to us that your dog gets plenty of search opportunities in return for your investment of time and money. On average every team will have 3 or 4 searches each class (though this can vary on the class’s specific exercises/search areas).

Yes.

Our focus is on fun and enrichment and we welcome teams that play for recreation as well as those interested in trialing in the sport.

Megan has first hand experience trialing and titling in scent detection sport in CKC, SDDA, ABC Games, C-WAGS, CDSA, K9SSG, and NACSW.

While most of our students prefer the low pressure venues like C-WAGS (which we also host here at Extraordinary Canines) we do have students that have gone on to earn high level titles and placements in all organizations.

In Continuing K9 Nose Work classes we often do “Mock” searches to emulate the kinds of searches you may encounter at trial.

We train our dogs on all odors used in sporting detection in the lower mainland.

Scent detection sport utilizes essential oil odors that are infused or applied directly to cotton swabs (preparation methods vary by organization).

The odors we use in class reflect the odors used in the various detection sport organizations across the lower mainland.

We typically introduce the odors in this order: Birch, Cypress, Wintergreen, Clove, Anise, Pine, Thyme.

We use Birch, Cypress, Wintergreen, Clove, and Anise most frequently in classes.