Nosework, Where to start?

[Spearmint]

I've been thinking on doing nosework with Oreo as a mental stimulation factor, but unsure how or where to start. Looking to do simple things at home, but what training does it include? How can I start? What do i buy?

 

[Elysian]

You don't really have to buy anything except treats!

Start with food even if you eventually want to move on to other scents. Something smelly - and maybe a little soft/sticky so you can stick it to objects/walls.

You can start with just junk cardboard boxes. Get 3+ boxes and label them. "Hot" boxes will have the food, "cold" boxes should NEVER have food.
Take him out of the room and put the boxes around on the floor, with food in the hot one. Let him in room and tell him to find it, and praise and treat him when he does (let him eat the food he finds too obviously).

You can take him out of the room again to reset or you can try to be sneaky and move the boxes around and drop food in the hot box while he is distracted sniffing the cold ones.

When he starts to get the hang of that you just introduce more challenge and variety. Different kinds of containers. Different levels of elevation. Obstacles they have to go around or look under. No containers (stuck to wall, under chair, etc). Different rooms. Outside vs inside. Fan on vs fan off. Etc.

If he gets stuck or frustrated don't show him the location of the food, but you can try to move it to an easier location without him seeing. Always end on a "win".

If you do want to move on to other odors then you eventually buy or make a little container with scent holes in it. Make sure the dog can't open it or eat it. You put the odor (usually like a cotton pad with scent on it) in the container. Hide the container along WITH food and do all the exercises and challenges all over again.

Eventually after that you can remove the food and have them just find the odor.
Make sure at this point that you give them reward treats near the odor to continue enforcing that finding the odor is what they are doing right. Like hold the treat by the odor and then move it in a line toward their mouth to let them have it.

 

[Elysian]

IF you think you ever want to move on from fun at home and do trials or something, make sure to establish some kind of "time to work" and "all done" signal. Because if they stop and pee on stuff during a hunt they fail

 

[Spearmint]

You don't really have to buy anything except treats!

Start with food even if you eventually want to move on to other scents. Something smelly - and maybe a little soft/sticky so you can stick it to objects/walls.

You can start with just junk cardboard boxes. Get 3+ boxes and label them. "Hot" boxes will have the food, "cold" boxes should NEVER have food.
Take him out of the room and put the boxes around on the floor, with food in the hot one. Let him in room and tell him to find it, and praise and treat him when he does (let him eat the food he finds too obviously).

You can take him out of the room again to reset or you can try to be sneaky and move the boxes around and drop food in the hot box while he is distracted sniffing the cold ones.

When he starts to get the hang of that you just introduce more challenge and variety. Different kinds of containers. Different levels of elevation. Obstacles they have to go around or look under. No containers (stuck to wall, under chair, etc). Different rooms. Outside vs inside. Fan on vs fan off. Etc.

If he gets stuck or frustrated don't show him the location of the food, but you can try to move it to an easier location without him seeing. Always end on a "win".

If you do want to move on to other odors then you eventually buy or make a little container with scent holes in it. Make sure the dog can't open it or eat it. You put the odor (usually like a cotton pad with scent on it) in the container. Hide the container along WITH food and do all the exercises and challenges all over again.

Eventually after that you can remove the food and have them just find the odor.
Make sure at this point that you give them reward treats near the odor to continue enforcing that finding the odor is what they are doing right. Like hold the treat by the odor and then move it in a line toward their mouth to let them have it.

Thank you so much!
Should all the boxes look the same? Or should the hot and cold ones look different from eachother?

 

[Elysian]

Thank you so much!
Should all the boxes look the same? Or should the hot and cold ones look different from eachother?

They can look different, but you don't specifically want the cold ones to be obvious to the dog. You want them to learn to use their nose and not their eyes!

If you start with completely random cardboard boxes you have at your house and it goes well, then you can buy an identical set of baskets or tupperware to make sure they are not using the shape of the box as a trigger.
The labeling is just to make sure you don't get them mixed up and 'contaminate' the cold boxes.

Oh and if you happen to have a dog who is shy about even going for the boxes at first, you can do a remedial introduction to a 'find it' cue by tossing/scattering a few treats out on the floor with them watching. Just say the cue immediately after tossing them and before the dog actually goes for them.
Then when you try boxes again you'll have a cue that they know means 'oh there is food for me here somewhere'

 

[Spearmint]

They can look different, but you don't specifically want the cold ones to be obvious to the dog. You want them to learn to use their nose and not their eyes!

If you start with completely random cardboard boxes you have at your house and it goes well, then you can buy an identical set of baskets or tupperware to make sure they are not using the shape of the box as a trigger.
The labeling is just to make sure you don't get them mixed up and 'contaminate' the cold boxes.

Oh and if you happen to have a dog who is shy about even going for the boxes at first, you can do a remedial introduction to a 'find it' cue by tossing/scattering a few treats out on the floor with them watching. Just say the cue immediately after tossing them and before the dog actually goes for them.
Then when you try boxes again you'll have a cue that they know means 'oh there is food for me here somewhere'

Thank you! I'll give it a go on the weekend

 

[Elysian]

It's really cool to see their behavior and approach change when they start to learn the game!

Argus used to kind of blindly stumble upon his food rewards, and never thought to look at the underside of a chair. He got pretty frustrated with that.

Now when I give him the cue I can SEE his nose start working, and he moves his way around a room actually seeking to catch a whiff.
Sometimes I can tell when he picks it up too. You'll notice their body posture change.

We're still on primary (food) odor ourselves, but he knows how to look under and behind stuff now, and can do a successful hunt outside in the yard.
Blowing fans still throw him off pretty bad though.