It is K9 Kamp time again! This K9Kamp session is focused on backyard fitness fun. Our backyard is always fun and with all our racing and chasing on an average day, it is a place for our fitness for sure! Hopefully you won’t mind too much, but some of my fitness took place in the driveway. I figure a yard is a yard!
Of course, I am going to use nose work for my fitness tip. First off, I was doing a vehicle search of a wheelbarrow. This particular wheelbarrow had lots of good smells on it, so it was a good challenge.
Bailie had her hide on a shop vac. This is another tricky one as it is on wheels,,has moving parts, as well as lots of smells. She could smell the Anise, but the hose was in the way.
She sniffed her way around the hose, and over to the container with the hide.
Bailie is calling alert, she has located the hide.
We are also doing some exterior container searches. It kind of looks like a luggage explosion, and I’m sure our neighbors think Mom has lost her mind, but it is tricky and we need to practice this. Not only do we have the outside issues like wind, terrain, grass, dirt, etc, but the containers each play with an odor in their own way. This is for sure K9 Kamp in the backyard.
First of I was checking out the cooler. I walked past it, but the wind stopped me in my tracks.
I stuck my head in and located the hide right away. You have to remember, though, that Mom often has food in the cooler, so there are old lingering odors in here that sometimes throw me off.
Now I have to give Mom my alert look. In an ORT or in competition, Mom has to call out “alert” when I find the hide, so we practice this all the time.
Next off I was checking out this backpack. I haven’t located the hide yet, but my nose is working hard to follow the odor trail.
Yay! I found it! The tricky part is finding a system to make sure I check out all the containers one by one because in a competition, we may not know how many hides there are and we don’t know where they are located.
Our current class is called Nose Work Distractions. Things are starting to get real tricky with tasty smelling food hidden in our search area, or other big distractions. We need to learn to ignore these distractions and only look for Birch, Anise, or Clove. Other distractions are people, dogs, noise, weather, just about anything. To work on this our class is held in various locations with lots of different distractions. This week, we were at a super busy park with lots of baseball games, a puppet show, picnickers, a skate board park, walkers, bikers, and lots of wind. Our first search was in a pavillion with three hides. Below is a video of Bailie looking for one of the three which was located on the grill. Think of all the odors on a grill! All the food that was grilled, the smoke, the charcoal, the lingering greases, it is real tough to find one of our three odors there. See how Bailie works it. In the end, the hide was under the table on the right front corner.
Bailie is in the video and not me as we don’t have anyone to video us, so Mom had to choose one of my classmates moms that didn’t have her dog at the moment to shoot a video. We really need someone along just to film and take photos, but we don’t know of anyone right now. Look at how excited she is to get going…I am even more excited, so hopefully one week I can get a video of me for you all to watch.
One key to nose work is using a high value reward when we find a hide. Jones Natural Chews Lamb Lungs are healthy, all natural, made in the USA, high value treats that can be broken into small pieces. They can make finding a hide very rewarding. You can still enter to win Lamb Lung Puffs or Beef Trachea Rings here!
I’m joining the FitDog Friday Blog Hop hosted by SlimDoggy, Peggy’s Pet Place and To Dog With Love! Share your story with others and find fun, new fitness ideas too!
Good job Bailie. I think the brown dawgs would have a hard time with that. The smell of food might do them in. 🙂
We did real well with distractions until…there was canned ham salad. It made almost every dog nuts, but we have to learn to work through it and ignore it.
Great fun and fitness you girls do such a great job sniffing things out. Have a great weekend.
Thank you. It is an awesome sport for dogs, but especially scent hounds. Happy Friday!
Wow! That grill did look like a hard one! I’m impressed! Our noseworks video isn’t as pretty as yours, but we have one for today, too 🙂
It is hard to get a “pretty one” but then again, nose work isn’t always pretty!
Hi Y’all!
That’s way more complicated than finding a bumper! I have help with that from my Human! Way to go y’all!
Y’all come back now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
In nose work it is all about us dogs and finding the scent. Our humans can only read us, and help us find a good plan of attack for an area.
Fantastic nose work! You and Bailie are soooooo good at finding the scents. That grill looked like a difficult find. Happy Friday. XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
Thank you. It is starting to get real difficult, but we just keep practicing.
You guys are becoming better detectives by the day. I’m cracking up at the idea of a neighbor looking out the window and being so confused. Like pups, neighbors can be quite nosey once they get a sniff of something.
We just hope no one calls the guys in the white coats to hall Mom off. At least she only puts stuff out when we are training. It would be bad if it was always left out there!
I’m not allowed to sniff our grill what’s with that? You guys look like you had a blast your mom really rocks! Love Dolly
We can only do that when it is cold and no one is grilling. This was a great exercise because of all the lingering grill odors to confuse out noses.
Nice letter from Kamp Emma. You guys are working hard at that nose work…it looks like a lot of fun!
It is tons of fun, but starting to get quite difficult which is a good challenge. Bailie and I were both snoring like crazy that night after class. It wears us out!
That nose work is great exercise for your body and mind, Emma! What a fun idea for K9 Kamp! Hey, have a great weekend!
You should see how exhausted we are after class. Mom says I snore so loud it keeps her awake! Have a fun weekend!
wow Bailie that was great! Imagine a grill, with the smell of burgers&tubesteaks and other good things and you really found the hide! BRAVO! I hope the dogs of the custom will not read your blog, otherwise my mom has to ponder about new hides lol
The grill was tough, but we both did find the hide. There are so many hiding spots we never think about…possibilities are endless! Happy Friday!
Y’all always seem to have the best time no matter what fun is up next!
We are a fun happy breed to begin with, so that helps!
Sounds like loads of fun and work! Fun-work! ha!
Have a great weekend guys! loved the video too!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
It is fun work, but then they say when your passion is your work, it is not work 😉
Love the video! Sounds like you guys had a great time 🙂
Thanks. It was a really tough class, even Mom was tired out. The hides are getting real tricky and then all the distractions, not easy.
That is so impressive girls!! Proof positive that our dogs can distinguish every single scent in a hodge-podge of smells!
As long as we are trained to know what to look for, we will find it.
What a great way to have fun and stay fit!
It really is, and it is exhausting too.
Ha ha, I couldn’t help but wonder what your neighbors might think too! I thought it was pretty subtle when Bailie alerted in the video so I can see why it might be hard for your Mom to pick up on it sometimes. So how does it work….are you given a sniff of the scent you’re looking for before you go out, so you know which one to find over all the other smells out there?
Nope, we know we get rewards for birch, anise, and clove, nothing else. We just know what to sniff for. Actually, my body language was pretty good there and I even sat down, but trusting me is the hard part! In tracking Bailie will be given the scent to find, but not in nose work.
Great job! Looks like she was having fun.
We both just love it, but we get mad when our turn is over and we have to wait.
Excellent nose work! Love getting to see you in action. Have a pawsome weekend!
Thanks, we really love it!
It looks like you really have a lot of fun! You and Bailie look like you’re getting pretty good at it!
Bunny
It’s starting to be real challenging, but we enjoy working through it…like a giant puzzle.
Bailie’s tail wagged the entire time! Does your tail wag like that too? I bet you are exhausted after. Great post! Your doodle friend, Dash
Bailie is an “extreme” tail wagger. Mine wags but slow and methodically and usually stops when I find the odor.
Way ta GO, Bailie! That looks kinda HARD!
It is starting to get real tricky and difficult, but we are learning to work it all out like a puzzle.
I am truly impressed with how well you and Bailie are doing with Nose Work! It’s a lot of fun although I only sniff out treats right now. I like the idea of doing it in the back yard. I wonder what would happen if a SQ ran through? I know I’d have a big time with that distraction!
We have done quite a few outdoor searches, but so far no wabbits or squirrels. I think I might be able to stay on task, but Bailie would be a goner! She still is working on learning to just hang back and not go wild when she spots a critter.
That sure looks tricky!!!