I have so many nose work videos to post, that I wanted to give this it’s own subject. The next post is my “catch up” post with all the other stuff that’s been going on.

9-18-13 to 9-22-13 Montage of the first steps:
Because Dazzle is “scary smart” and because he’s had a bit of nosework practice before, we made amazing progress in just 3 days of training. This is a montage of about 40 sessions (2 min. or less each) over those 3 days (most were under 1 min.). I learned this method (Fenzi/Simek) by watching videos posted by the students of the nosework 101 class at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. I might have gotten some of this out of order but I think I got the gist of it.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/75286387 (3:58)

9-25-13 Search in the yard #1
This was his first search in our yard and first time searching objects other than boxes. He caught the odor very quickly and just as quickly narrowed it down to EXACTLY where the scented Q-tip in a straw was hiding!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/75458035 (:14 sec)

9-25-13 Search in the yard #2
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/75458036 (:20 sec)

9-25-13 Objects in the basement:
Dazzle found the odor quickly, but I wanted to work on his indication.As you’ll see, he gets creative and tries a few different things, but then remembers what worked previously. We had done a few quick rewards on previous searches just before this video, so I wanted him to do a better indication as we had worked on in previous steps (nose hold at source).
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/75458037 (:50 sec)

9-25-13 Higher level hide:
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/75458038 (1:05)

I joined an online nosework class and this was the first week’s homework
10-2-13 Week 1 of NW120 class:
This week the goal was to be sure the dog had no issue with a box search and sticking his head in a box. I think Dazzle shows he has no issue with it 🙂 I realized after I sent him that I didn’t have any rewards on me, so you can hear me walking away from him to go get a toy!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76014915 (:22 sec)

10-2-13 So Quick!
Dazzle is SO fast at finding the odor it makes me wonder if I’m doing something wrong.
** I make sure he’s out of sight when I do each hide,
** I walk all around the area so my scent doesn’t lead him to the hide,
** I touch other boxes at least as much as I touch the target box,
** I move the hide after each find,
** I’m using the swabs that came with the kit so I don’t think they are “over-scented”,
** I make sure my body language doesn’t give it away (usually I just stand still, but did some moving around to add a distraction).
I know he understands the game and knows what he’s looking for, just need to work on the duration of the indication (freeze at the hide).
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76014916 (:18 sec)

10-2-13 Ooops, Retrieve instead of alert
He has no problem finding the scent, but I want him to do the alert (freeze at the source). He’s still having trouble with that and I have been avoiding boxes because I suspected he would do what he did here. I have mostly been trying to pick hiding places where retrieve is not an option. But even though he brought me the box, I still had him do the alert before paying it. 🙂
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76014917 (:29 sec)

10-2-13 Working on alert with boxes
After the alert fail, I wanted to see if he did any better. He didn’t retrieve and he got to the proper alert with help.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76014918 (:30 sec)

10-2-13 First vehicle search
Dazzle has done so well with the finds that I decided to test him a bit (and use a hide he can’t retrieve!). This is the first time I have ever asked him to search any vehicle. It’s also the first time he’s done a search on leash, which I didn’t expect would be an issue and it wasn’t.
I had him inside the van when I put the magnet container inside the hitch. I also bent down in other places around the van and found that my van has almost NO metal easily accessible near nose height! For future hides I’ll have to use a straw and tape. After putting the container in the hitch out of sight, I drove the van out of the garage (about 20′) and got him out for the search so it didn’t “stew” very long at all. Slight breeze from front to back on the van, so as soon as he got to the back he got it.
I was very pleased with his first vehicle search!
Tomorrow I’ll see if I can talk my husband into doing a hide or two for us so *I* don’t know where the scent is. But I suspect it won’t be any harder for Dazzle 🙂
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76014919 (:38 sec)

10-3-13 First hides placed by someone else (2 searches)
These are the first hides he’s ever done that were hidden by someone other than me (without me knowing where the odor was hidden). This is done to ensure that *I’m* not helping him find the odor in any way. I didn’t suspect that was the case and today’s 4 blind hides proves it 🙂
Good news is that my husband is now interested and even offered to do more hides for me! Yea!
And we learned that we need to fan the lingering odor out of the previous hiding places really well 🙂 None of these hides were in place more than 60 seconds or so before I sent him to find them.
These weren’t part of the homework, just something I’m doing to keep Dazzle challenged.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76096535 (2:03)

10-3-13 Two more hides placed by someone else:
More hides done by my husband without me looking. Dazzle found hide #3 in about 3 seconds! Hide #4 was harder. I think he was getting a bit tired and I think he might have gotten a bit of odor pooling from the hide near the plant.
My husband had fun trying to stump Dazzle. 🙂
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76096536 (2:08)

10-6-13 Big Box pile:
Rainy day- good for basement work. I used all the boxes I could find (including some that weren’t empty!) to create a box pile for Dazzle to search. First search, odor tin was accessible. Search 2 it was hidden inside a completely closed box for the first time so odor was faint. This threw him off a bit, but he learned that faint odor pays off! Third search was much better and he did a proper indication too (with help)!!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76284755 (2:41)

10-10-13 Odor inside a closed paint can!
This was the first search that I had my doubts about. I even had a box ready to toss in the pile if he was struggling too long 🙂 But he NAILED THIS! No hesitation! I’m blown away by his scenting ability. I had no idea paint cans let the odor escape!
Set up: I put 4 Q-tips in the vented tin inside the mini paint can and sealed it, then let it sit in place for 3 hours.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76651829 (:42 sec)

10-10-13 Paint can in new spot:
After the success of the first search, I re-hid the can, making it easier for the camera to see, and didn’t let it age in place at all. He found it right away, but struggled with knowing if it was the strongest scent until after he searched the rest of the pile. I think there was still a bit of lingering odor in the first hiding spot, but he ignored that.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76651830 (1:23)

Switched to nosework 140 class for more challenges
10-10-13 Week 1 homework: Food distractions
I held off on this because I couldn’t think of a container that would ensure that he couldn’t access the food! When I thought of the PVC tube with holes in it, I knew that would work. He was definitely interested in getting the beef jerky in the tube. This is one of his favorite treats. I have never paired a hide with food, so I didn’t expect him to have too much trouble with this. He’s much more toy motivated than food motivated, but he still wanted me to open the container for him. 🙂 Once he realized that the food wasn’t going to pay off, he ignored it and went back to work. We did 2 more sessions with the food tube today but he ignored it both times. He’s a very fast learner!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76651833 (1:18)

10-10-13 2nd Food distraction
Food was right next to the odor and he ignored it!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76651834 (:20 sec)

10-10-13 3rd food distraction
I put the food tube in an open container right next to the box with the odor. He gave the food tube a short inspection, but then moved on right away. He was going straight for the odor, so I also tossed in an intentional verbal/pointing misdirection near the start.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76651835 (:36)

10-10-13 First TOY distractions
I got all the toys he usually ignores and dumped them on the search area! We have done LOTS of practice of many skills like this (with toys everywhere) so I only did this because I was confident that he would ignore these. I’m less confident that he would ignore stuffed toys, tennis balls or ultra balls but I’m looking forward to seeing if he will prove me wrong 🙂 I think I’ll try those in an area search first.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76653166 (:55 sec)

Week 2 homework- inaccessible hides
10-13-13 Inside Drawer
This one was a single Q-tip in the tin inside a drawer aged about 4 min. Around the office I scattered several high value toys and 2 high value food distractions. He was drawn to the toys right away, but was able to go to work pretty quickly. He found both food distractions too, but didn’t stay on them long. In spite of the distractions, he still found the odor in less than 60 sec. Not sure why I kept saying “search” today instead of the usual cue “birch” but Dazzle didn’t seem to care. 🙂 I’m sure the eye covering is a bigger cue than the verbal.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76822991 (1:17)

10-13-13 Bathroom search
More distractions and not an easy hide (or so I thought). I taped a Q-tip in a straw behind the toilet lid. Aged about 5 min. He did a much better job of ignoring the distractions and got into odor very quickly. Didn’t take him long to narrow down the exact hiding place.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76823212 (1:14)

10-13-13 Second hide in office
He did much better and totally ignored the distractions this time. I wasn’t sure how the A/C vent blowing under the window would affect the odor of the tin hidden on the window sill. It was only in place about 30 sec. before I sent him to search. He didn’t have any problem with it.
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/76823213 (:30 sec)

10-16-13 Difficult- high hide with lots of distractions
There was about half a school’s worth of kids in the area I wanted to use, but I didn’t think that would really be too much of a distraction for him and I was right. The much harder part of this search was the fact that, because of the kids, I didn’t let the odor tin sit in place for more than a few minutes before starting the search.
The kids noticed me hiding it and I overheard comments that made me think they would come investigate if I left it too long. So I went directly to get Dazzle and brought him back. And once he was there he didn’t want to wait!! He will need to learn that lesson too (to wait), but I didn’t want him completely frustrated for this difficult hiding spot. I think if the tin had been able to sit there a few minutes longer, he would have found it much faster. But I’m still impressed with how well he did with it only in place for about 5 minutes!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/77093862 (3:44)

10-16-13 Very quick find!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/77093862 (:28 sec)

10-16-13 Park tables- low hide
VIDEO https://vimeo.com/77095777 (:51 sec)

10-16-13 Q-tip in a hole in the ground
We also did a search in the cemetery and I found that dazzle was TOTALLY distracted by the presents that the deer and bunnies had left all over the place! He did, at one point, find the odor in a straw, picked it up briefly as he continued his search for the little prizes. I pulled him off the first search because he wasn’t searching for birch 🙂 I moved to another area of the cemetery (still lots of presents) but I pulled out a very high value reward! The Jolly ball ended up being almost TOO high a value reward because he had a hard time concentrating on the task at hand (kept picking his head up to check on the ball!) He was also distracted by the ornate headpiece on a grave marker/statue. But once he put his nose down and started sniffing, he found the odor quickly. I LOVE his reaction at 1:32- “SERIOUSLY?!”
I used a little metal post I found to make a small hole in the ground that I could drop a Q-tip into. I did this because I wanted it hidden and I didn’t want him to be able to retrieve it. Worked like a charm!
VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/77098471 (1:36)