Nosework

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    Ups and Downs of Nosework 2 Event (NW2)

    In September 2023, Clover attended her fifth NW2 competition. We did not earn a title that day, again. The challenge of nosework, unlike other dog sports, is that the first couple of titles require perfection all in a single day. You don’t get the build toward titles until later. For NW1, it’s 4 searches (with 1 hide each) in a single day. Clover did that on her first try. And, she *nearly did it on her first try at NW2. But, here we find ourselves, without that elusive 5 perfect searches in a single day … yet … because the searches are harder and can feature multiple hides. Here’s how things went. Don’t miss the video of us searching at the bottom of the page!

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    Mr Stix NACSW NW1 Searches

    On June 23 2023, our youngest canine hero (Mr Stix) earned his NACSW NW1 title on his second try. He also earned a 2nd place and pronounced honors for his speedy exterior search at the event held at Rambler Ranch in Elizabeth, Colorado. He is SO cute when he is working with his nose. Don’t miss these 4 videos! It also happened to be the 10th anniversary of my Mom’s death (even though I say 20th in the final video), so I asked her for a little help.

  • Canine Nosework Competition News

    Well, drat, friends. Clover finished the nosework competition last Friday, March 3, 2023, in Loveland, Colorado, with finding 6 of the 8 hides (in 5 searches), but you have to be PERFECT and all in ONE DAY to earn the NW2 title, so we’ll try again March 31 at a trial MUCH closer to home … and, in fact, the same location where Clover earned her NW1 on her first try at that level of nosework competition. Thanks to an expedited video process. We already have our videos to share. Here’s how it went.

  • Nosework Success Story, So Far

    About a year ago, I retired Clover from agility classes for both her physical and emotional health. That decision itself probably deserves a whole post at some point, but suffice it to say that the pandemic (among other things) helped me find clarity about Clover’s happiness and my own. Rather than the end of something, it marked a beginning. Clover and I started taking online nosework classes in December 2020. Each class lasted about 6 weeks. We did all our training as homework, just the 2 of us at home. We never took an in-person class. Then, this summer, we took the opportunity to test our progress at 4 events, and things went SO well. Amazing videos ahead, if I do say so myself.