The Amazing Dog Nose

I had a meeting in the KC today and decided to leave home early to do some training outside the Kennel Club Building. 

I prepared some Nose Work searches for the boys and left it, whilst we went for a short walk. We came back 15 mins later and did the searches.

In Nose Work, dogs learn to search for a specific odor or odors and find the source. In this case the odor was  eucalyptus. We usually work on lavender, as that is the first odor the dogs will meet in competitions, but eucalyptus is the next step and the boys do know it, we just don't practice it as much as lavender. It makes an interesting difference for the boys. 

I have chosen this picture of Biscuit for my blip as it illustrates how amazing the dog's nose is!

The little white swab, which have been enlarged in the corner of the picture, has been kept in the same container as 1 (one!) drop of eucalyptus oil. There is no oil on the swab - it has just been kept close to a drop of oil. That's how little scent the dogs' are working with. 

And yet you can tell from Biscuit's body language, that he knows exactly where the source is even from this distance. He is half a meter or further away from the tiny swab with so little scent on it - but he is looking directly at it. He knows exactly where to go.

From this picture was taken, it took a few seconds for him to go to the source and show me where it was. I have uploaded an extra picture today too, which shows the final find. 

Pretty cool, isn't it?! Dogs are just amazing animals!

The meeting went well and the boys were happy to take a nap whilst we were talking. 

But they were ready for a dark evening walk, when we came home :-)

See you tomorrow
Emmy and the Hazyland Boys