Pet Talk: Dogs have picked up the scent of a new sport: K9 Nose ...

On a recent Monday evening, there was something akin to a canine Easter egg hunt going on at the Waluga Masonic Lodge in Lake Oswego.

But instead of colored eggs, the hidden "treasures" were small tins containing Q-tips scented with birch oil, stashed under bricks, crannies and vehicles just outside the lodge.

And rather than excited children, the seekers included a German shepherd, a blind standard schnauzer, and a bull mastiff.

The dogs are "pupils" learning how to play a relatively new sport, K9 Nose Work. But from the dogs' reactions, it seems like a lot more fun than work.

You can tell by watching dogs like Stella. A black standard schnauzer that lost her sight to illness, she determinedly sticks her snout to the ground and trots directly to the scent's source, then looks at her owner proudly as she waits for her reward.

What is it?

K9 Nose Work was developed in Long Beach, Calif., in 2006 by professional detection dog trainers and handlers Amy Herot, Ron Gaunt and Jill Marie O'Brien.

They discovered that the same principles of detection work ? problem solving and using the nose to hunt ? could be integrated into a sport. The object is for a dog to use its olfactory powers to find a hidden target scent and then alert its owner to the source.

"You're almost playing with your dog on their level, in their natural arena, and then allowing them to communicate with you," says Shelley Smith, a certified nose work instructor. "That doesn't happen very often."

Smith, a dog trainer and founder of K-9 Enterprises, was one of the first people to attend a Nose Work workshop with Herot and Gaunt in California. She brought the sport to Oregon after moving here in 2008, although instructors now teach around the state as the sport gains popularity.

"In a couple of years, the sport has grown tremendously in the Pacific Northwest," says Smith, in part because it's an offshoot of truffle hunting.

Smith organized a mock trial in November and the first trial sanctioned by the National Association of Canine Scent Work in the region this past March. She hopes to put on another trial this fall.

How it works

To start, owners hide treats or toys (depending on what motivates the dog), in boxes around a room. The dog will search for it without direction from the owner.

K9 Nose Work

Classes: National Association of Canine Scent Work (nacsw.net)

What you'll need:

High-value treats or high-value toys

Leash or harness

Crate (dogs can also remain in the car during the brief increments between turns)

The search "gets them in touch with their hunting desire," Smith says of the dogs. "They get rewarded as soon as they find the treat or the toy, so they're self-rewarding at that point, just like in the wild if they were hunting for food."

The dogs each have their own hunting style: herding breeds may try to herd the scent, while a retriever may try to flush the hide out.

As they understand the concept of hunting for the box, the owner makes the "hide" more difficult by placing it on a chair or expanding it into other rooms.

Then they can advance their hunting and searching skills by pairing the object with an odor. As soon as the dog locates the scent, the handler immediately offers the dog a reward. After spending weeks developing the hunt drive, they can move on to searches in other areas. Dogs that move on to competitions focus on searches in four elements: interior, exterior, containers and vehicles.

An equal-opportunity sport

Handlers don't need to have any special skills to do the sport. And any dog can do Nose Work, regardless of age, breed or handicap.

It's a game that owner and handler can both enjoy, participants say.

"It's a really neat connection with you and your dog," says Debbie Dunne, Stella's owner. "You have to read them and trust what they're doing."

Dunne says the sport has given Stella more confidence as she increasingly relies on her sense of smell to get around.

Dogs work individually and don't interact with each other in the classes. Whether the dog is shy, dog-aggressive or has a handicap, it can work at its own pace.

Owners who want more of a challenge can participate in trials, provided their dogs pass an odor recognition test, requiring the dogs to identify specific "target odors" of sweet birch, aniseed and clove bud. Handlers must be members of the National Association of Canine Scent Work.

The sport provides a new focus for aggressive dogs, while shy dogs can build confidence by being successful each time.

That's been the case for Nina, a shy 4-year-old German shepherd who gets "barky" around other dogs, says owner Kristina Leipzig. But because she focuses on the Nose Work, she forgets to worry about the other dogs in the class.

Leipzig also enjoys the fact that Nose Work can occasionally replace a walk on a rainy Oregon day.

Because it doesn't require much in the way of equipment, Nose Work can be done at home. The sport is mentally and physically challenging enough to wear out a dog within 15 minutes, Smith says.

"They love doing it," class member Jill Roman says. She knows because whenever it's time for her bull mastiff, Pippa, to seek the scent in class, "she never stops wagging her tail."

-- Monique Balas

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index.ssf/2011/06/pet_talk_dogs_have_picked_up_t.html

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