I hate mud and dirt. But I will always promote a dog’s need to be a dog.

Explosives detection dog handler. Business Owner at Zuri Dog K9.

These working dogs spend their days amongst the public and searching venues. While they have their moments of mischief, they are often really focused on their job. Their little noses never really switch off even if it looks like they’re doing nothing they’re still breathing in molecules of scent and odour that are in the air around them, and their brains are processing what it is they’ve smelt and decide what they need to do with that information. At first, a smell is just a smell but based on what the dog has previously learnt, the smell can be deemed aversive (the dog is reminded of something unpleasant that happened when they smelt it before) or it can remind them of something positive. Detection dogs are trained to have a positive conditioned response to a target odour, and because of the level of their previous training, they don’t care if something bad happens when they smell their target odour – they are so well trained that the positive overrides the negative. Their training makes them resilient. Nosework activities look at things from the dog’s perspective – that it has a powerful sense of smell. Nosework can be woven into any training and behaviour programme with great success. The benefits of nosework:

🌟Considers the dog’s need to sniff.

🌟Helps to tire a dog and so calm them down.

🌟 Builds resilience in our dogs.

🌟 Provides a focus for otherwise undesirable behaviour.

🌟 Develops and strengthens relationships between dog and owner.

Nosework is suitable for any dog with a nose, but is particularly useful for those who are:

✅Fearful

✅Reactive

✅Hyper

✅Bored

✅Depressed

✅Have undesirable behaviour.