›› That old saying about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks is, well, a load of Fido’s finest. Sure, the lousy habits your hound developed as a pup might be tough to break when the muzzle goes gray, but that doesn’t mean he can’t sniff out a new hobby.
And to do that, your dog just needs to follow his nose. Seriously.
K9 Nose Work started about a decade ago as a way for dogs and their owners to have a little fun with the pooch’s strongest asset. The hide-and-seek game is pretty simple: Stash a particular scent in a box or under a pillow and let the dog sniff it out. When they find it, they get a treat. More advanced practitioners of Nose Work will hide their scents in tough-to-reach places, but the gist remains the same — let the dog do what comes naturally, and reward them when they succeed.
In Aurora, the city has been hosting Nose Work classes at area recreation centers for a few years. The classes have become some of the most popular the city offers. Sheri-Jo Stowell, a spokesperson for the city’s recreation department, said the monthly Nose Work classes consistently fill up quickly, especially in recent months.
The courses attract a wide pack of dog owners. Some come because their dogs have reached an age where other activities, like the über-popular dog agility, aren’t really an option for their aging pet. There are also dog owners who want some kind of constructive activity for a younger dog that has energy to burn. Others simply want another way to play with their dog.
“There are so many people who do high-drive athletics like agility with their dogs and when they get older they can no longer do that,” said Ruth Stricker, a certified Nose Work instructor.
Those dogs have spent years going with their owners to events and knowing that sprinting through the obstacles correctly makes their owners happy. When they can’t do that anymore, and they have to spend more time at home, the dogs can get depressed. Nose Work is an easy way to get some of that happy-to-please behavior back. Susan Denning started taking her dogs to the courses a couple years ago and goes regularly with her two Brittany spaniels, Joey and Remi.
In the case of Joey, Denning said she started the activity because the pooch was battling confidence issues. It wasn’t that he was mean to people or terrified of them, he just clearly got uncomfortable when new people came over or when he was in a new environment. When visitors stopped by, he would stay upstairs until they left. At dog agility events, he slouched down around other dogs and people. It might sound funny, Denning admits, but the otherwise friendly dog acted like a pre-teen boy at a school dance.
“He just kind of shut down in social situations,” Denning said.
A friend she knew from the Denver Dumb Friends League encouraged her to try Nose Work and said the activity could help with Joey’s confidence issues. So she started practicing and taking him to the city’s classes.
First, she hid treats in boxes and praised Joey when he found them. Then she paired the treats with a little metal container about the size of a pocket watch. Inside, the instructors stuffed a few Q-tips that had been dipped in a particular scent, usually birch or anise. After a few tries, Joey associated the scent with a treat. From there, she just hid the scent container and when Joey finds it, he gets a treat.
As Joey mastered Nose Work, his confidence steadily improved. Now, he’s thrilled to see visitors, and at dog agility, he’s spunky and ready run with the other dogs.
“It has made a world of difference, he is a completely different dog,” she said.