K9 Nose Work for German Shepherds

The Sport of K9 Nose Work

K9 Nose Work uses boxes but is designed to mimic real life scent detection situations.

German Shepherds are used all around the world as scent detection dogs for Police, Military, and civilian use. You could say it's one of the breeds most popular uses.

K9 nose work is a sport that is based on scent detection work and is done entirely for fun. K9 nose work helps develop your German Shepherds ability to use their nose, increase their "hunt drive" and fullfil the canine desire to use their sniffer.

We all know physical exercise is important but what a lot of of us overlook is the mental exercise. Allowing your GSD to use their mind will not only help burn off energy it will help burn off frustration, stress, and this results in a better behaved companion.

Advantages of K9 Nose Work over other Sports

Ease of participation. You do not have to have a club or training center nearby to get started. You can buy approved target odor kits and get started right away.

Scent detection is scent detection is scent detection. In other words the same training principles used to teach dogs how to find other odors apply to teaching your dog to smell the target odors used in K9 nose work.

The one disadvantage is finding an approved instructor for the sport of K9 nose work can be a pain in the butt. The exception to this is if you live in southern California. There are quite a few classes available to you. However this really isn't that big of a deal because you can do scent detection training on your own.

If you are having trouble finding a class near you you can get started in nose work by reading the following article The Nose Knows: An Introduction to Scent Detection by Jason Mann CPDT-KA.

Another advantage of the sport is you do not have to have a registered German Shepherd to participate. Any dog of any breed, mixed or purebred is allowed to compete in the sport. This opens it up to you if you adopted from a shelter or rescued your dog from a purebred rescue.

K9 Nose Work Target Odors

Instead of drugs or explosive odors K9 nose work uses scented oils for target odors. The scents used are:

Birch ("Sweet Birch" aka Betula Lenta)

Anise ("Aniseseed" aka Pimpinella anisum variety, NOT Star Anise,Illicium verum)

Clove ("Clove Bud" aka Eugenia Caryophylatta or Syzgium Aromaticum)

The odors are placed on cotton balls and put into tins that are then placed in various places including boxes. As your dog starts to become more proficent at scent detection the difficulty levels are raised.

K9 Nose Work Resources

National Association of Canine Scent Work

K9 Nose Work

Target Odors and Kits

Basic Scent Detection Training

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