NOSE WORK
Im a certified SNWK Nose Work Instructor
and
SNWK Scent test judge
(SNWK stand for Swedish Nose Work Club)
What is Nose Work?
In Nose Work, the dog gets to use its main sense, its sense of smell. The sport involves the dog and handler searching for specific scents in different environments. By placing the scent at different heights and in environments with varying degrees of difficulty, the dog receives both mental and physical stimulation. The sport requires neither advanced nor expensive equipment, instead it is an activity that all dogs and dog owners can engage in. The only thing needed is an interest in nose work.
A sport inspired by professional search crews
Nose Work is inspired by the challenges that professional search dog teams face in their daily work in, for example, customs and the police. Nose Work was founded in the USA by three professional nose work trainers. Their goal was to give companion dogs and their owners a fun and accessible way to get active together through search work. Nose Work uses realistic search environments and can be carried out basically anywhere.
Nose Work in Sweden
Nose Work is inspired by the challenges that special search dogs and their handlers face in their work in the exercise of authority. The goal of Nose Work is to give dogs and their owners a fun and accessible way to get active together through nose work. Nose Work is based on the dog's innate instinct to use its sense of smell. The sport of Nose Work involves the dog searching for predetermined hydrolates in different environments where handler and dog primarily compete against themselves. The scent is placed in changing environments with varying degrees of difficulty, which gives the dog mental and physical stimulation.
The Swedish Nose Work club (SNWK) is part of the SKK organization. SNWK is based on values such as diversity, safety and the dog's mental and physical health. Nose Work is expressly for all dogs as a form of activation but not necessarily as a form of competition. Nose Work assumes that learning and training takes place by reinforcing desirable behaviors in the dog. The overall goal of Nose Work is that it should be safe and fun for everyone involved. The safety perspective is important so that no dog or handler is injured during training, tests or competitions.
Today there are many players in Sweden who offer courses in Nose Work. Interest in the sport is great. The Swedish Nose Work Club (SNWK) has been formed to promote an accessible and cohesive sport with official tests and competitions. The purpose of the club is also to spread knowledge about the dog's sense of smell and how nose work can be used for increased mental and physical health in all our dogs.
The origins of the sport
Nose work was founded in the USA by Ron Gaunt, Amy Herot and Jill-Marie O'Brien. The idea from the beginning was to help dogs in kennels to a more tolerable existence with activation for mental stimulation to finally be placed in homes around the United States.
Ron Gaunt has worked with service dogs and brought the idea of how Nose Work should be trained from his own work with service dogs.
Ron tells us that he feels that there are many dogs who have such drive in them from natural instincts such as hunting and searching, for example, and who do not get an outlet for this and in the eyes of people are considered as not fitting in, through Nose Work is given all dogs a chance to use their natural instincts to the advantage of the people they live with and the result is a tired and satisfied dog.
(This text is orginally from SNWKs home page)
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