Nosework!

[TuMicks]

I met with the instructor (just the 3 of us) and she evaluated Rocket Dog. The issue was, would we be able to join a more advanced class rather than starting on the ground floor. (The next "ground floor" class would be in February and we will be back in field work by then.) Well... RD is a champ at this! If food is involved, what lab wouldn't be? The only issue is the handler. The instructor gave us some homework to do and a list of just a few equipment items to buy. Again, it was very nice to have a person in another dog sport be welcoming but at the same time sensitive to not proposing things that will confuse RD when she has to concentrate on her day job. They were very nice.

So now we have weekly classes to work on relaxation and control and another weekly class where the dog rules and is there to do what dogs (labs!) do best (i.e., sniff and eat!)

[barry581]

Something tells me Rocket Dog is in for a lot of fun this winter!!!

[Anna Scott]

RD deserves to have a fun activity. Nose work sounds like a lot of fun and a good nose can always come in handy at a test.

[POPTOP]

What a wonderful way to keep RD busy and happy during the winter.

[TuMicks]

I have a friend who has a VERY high intensity field bred dog and she's doing nose work as well.

It is amusing. When you get into field trials or hunt test training, you can't help but look at landscape wherever you're driving and think... "hmmm, I could set up a double blind angling up that hillside" and so on and so on. When I started nose work, I look at every piece of junk in my house and think... "hmmm. I could use that for a hide." My instructor includes little plastic cones in her "box game". I started cutting the tops off two liter pop bottles for a similar purpose. My husband thinks I'm nuts. I am. But there it is.