# DIY Nose work - getting started



## lalabug (Oct 20, 2016)

For those that have utilized nose work with your dogs, can you offer any tips/suggestions/do's and don'ts for getting started? This is something I feel like I would really enjoy spending time doing with her(and hopefully she'd enjoy too!) 
The cardboard box idea seems easy enough, though I feel she'd rather just play in it or chew it up LOL! Also I keep seeing where they say if you don't have the treats enclosed in something ventilated, eventually you will need new boxes as all will carry the treat scent. Do y'all use the box method or some other setup that you and dog enjoy? 
Also, I have YouTube'd a bunch of nose work vids - Leerburg, Ramsey, etc. Any opinions?


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

I have the leerburg nosewrok videos (ramsey)....honestly...I am finding them prety dull. Finding the menu system for starting over a nightmare if you dont watch the whole thing at one sitting. But that might be by dvd player. Plus if you want to do it the way he does it you need two people.

My dog already had a good search for a toy so I am pairing that with the odor...haven't made enough time for it yet and she hasn't made the connection, I don't think.

Are there any classes you can go to?


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

i've used boxes before just for a once in a while fun thing to do. i see what you're saying with the boxes getting chewed and retain previous scents. maybe use paper bathroom size cups that can be thrown out after used. it's a pain in the butt game to set up so i rarely do it but if i did it a lot in my living room boxes would get annoying real quick.


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

The easiest way is to label ONE box as your "hot" box and only put treats in that box. That way you don't risk contaminating your search with residual odor in all the boxes.


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## lalabug (Oct 20, 2016)

@Thecowboysgirl I think there is but about 75 miles from me. Need to look into it more but would actually like to try to do it myself, and can get the kiddos involved-they would love it. I feel it would be more rewarding for me personally than driving 3 hours round trip to spend an hour somewhere with my dog... BUT that is IF I can actually put it together and do it myself lol! That may change after I try


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

This is what I do. I drag a turkey leg bone from Thanksgiving dinner on a string all over the area. At the end of the trail I leave a small amount of meat. I keep this lure in the freezer when not in use. Shes a puppy.


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

I'm doing nose works with Max he really loves it. We take classes. If you go in the forum section down to miscellaneous sports you see nose work threads with much advise from some experts. To start I like the -Parker videos- I thought it to be pretty simple video- short and cut and dry. You can get it on the nacsw website which also sells supplies. As mentioned it is important to have a separate box for food as mentioned- marked food or in open container of some sort so the food is not touching the box. So it's clear and not confusing as the oils of the food can linger on the box even when getting rewarded. I started classes when Max over a year but pups do the classes. I started out when Max was a puppy just hiding food or toy around the house for fun and or the the kids would hide and Max would seek and get flooded with treats as a reward. It kept him busy and very interested in the game. He also loves to hide his ball in the snow and find it another fun game. There are many you tubes videos as well and some are listed in the nose work threads I mentioned.


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## Gabby117 (Jan 13, 2014)

Gabby enjoys bird hunting, she is at her best when it is just her and I. She flushed about ten pheasant today just to do it not hunting, one thing she does better then other dogs is she will smell and then listen for movement. I have worked with her from when she was a pup, she knows when we are hunting or she is downtown on the 16th street mall and she is searching for something I have hidden. One day I was downtown and had my daughter drop a sent ball on the bumper of a DPD patrol SUV and from a half a block away told her to search and she did, planter to planter or the little huts that the venders have, in Denver people just watched her work and it was allot of fun, the cops got a good laugh out of it to when we started to search the outside of there car. What I am saying is its a game no matter were we are at and she loves it as much as I do.


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