So Levi and I went to our first K9 Nose Work class. It was fun! Levi was a dork. He thinks that barking at people gets him the most treats, so that’s what he spend most of his time doing. LOL. So I might modify the technique just a bit for him. 😉 Set him up for a bit more success so he understands the value of the boxes. Basically in the first class the teacher scattered a bunch of empty boxes around. And the dogs are supposed to find the value of the boxes themselves… well I like to give the dogs a bit more information at first. So I just used three boxes at home. And all of my dogs picked up that there are treats in a box pretty fast. Levi just needs to learn the value of the boxes, and he’ll do that pretty fast. Once he understands the idea.
I even did it with Lucy at home, our megaesophagus dog. She can eat treats once in a while as long as we feed her afterward and put her in her chair so the treats go down. She was the best at it. LOL but she is a treat maniac and any time she can find food, she will.
Chase was silly. He tried picking up a box in his mouth, like it was a dumbbell. 🙂 Yup he’s too trained. LOL. So I had to jiggle the boxes more for him. He was finding the treats quickly though, so he’ll understand you just have to find the treats in the box. That’s it for now. He has a problem in Rally-Obedience too. He thinks he should interact with the signs. =P
Jet and Tatum also did good. Tatum wasn’t quite sure the boxes had any value at all. But she caught on. Jet was good from the get go, checking out those silly boxes on the floor.
I’ll work with them all more. Why not. Good thing to do in the winter and who knows who’ll be able to pass the test? Maybe even Lucy can! I should keep track of their progress in my Samsung phone to see how they are doing. But I usually get too lazy, and just have fun with it. 🙂
My career changed guide dog, Stetson is doing k9 nose work too. He loves it and runs around like wild looking for the treats. He’s not too focused yet, but they said that will come with time. Stetson just started his first odor, birch. I can’t wait to see how he progresses.
I have a jack russell that is an ex Police K9, and boy he’s not lost any of his skills, we often, hide toys for him out on walks, and the next day he will pick up the track and go find his ball stuffed with treats.
Oh cool! So fun to see how each dog does it with their own individual spin on things.