Tonight was our last Intro to Nosework class. As I drove down the hill in the direction of the dog training school, I said to Pongo, "Wanna go to class?" He tilted his head, then started whining.
There has been a lot of research on dogs and their vocabulary knowledge. Most of it shows that the smartest dogs (often border collies) have a receptive vocabulary of 180-200 words, which equals that of a normally developing two-year-old (human). As a speech language pathologist, this fascinates me. Pongo understands a lot of words and phrases such as: hike, walk, swimming (which he hates), bath (which he also hates), go, eat, drink, go to bed, and home, to name a few. Of course, he also knows all the obedience vocabulary and a few tricks, like: give me five, another five, roll over, and patty-cake. But "class" is a new one. I keep meaning to make a list some day, but I don't think we are quite at 180.
We were the first to arrive and only one other dog showed up today, probably because of the holiday. The first trial was a blind trial set up like an Odor Recognition Test (ORT) and is done on-leash. If you want your dog to compete in nosework competition trials with the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW), they first have to pass an ORT (which I'll discuss in a later post). There are two rows of closed identical cardboard boxes. The dog has to sniff the boxes and then signal his owner that he has found it. It is a "blind" trial because the owner doesn't know where the odor is hidden and has to be able to read the dog's signals. The owner says "alert" to tell the judge when the dog has found it.
When I told Pongo to "search," he immediately started on the first box in the row on the right, sniffed all the boxes, then started down the left row of boxes. He started pawing the third to the last box in the row. "Alert," I replied to our instructor. He had found it in less than fifteen seconds! He amazes me! I should note, that in this first class, the dogs aren't introduced to the official odors necessary to pass an ORT. In the Intro to Nosework class, the dogs are taught to sniff out their own treats, which the handler provides to the instructor.
Nosework classes are different from obedience or agility and other types of dog classes. The dogs don't stay with their owners in the classroom, but are kept in the car and brought in one at a time to "work." After the dog goes through several trials, you take them outside, let them potty, give them water, and then they wait in the car until their next turn. Pongo didn't like this at first. During the first few classes, I could hear his bark from inside the building while he waited for is turn. He has always had separation anxiety, though it has improved tremendously over the years. The last couple classes, though, I haven't heard him barking. Maybe he has finally gotten used to the pattern and knows I'll be back out for him and he'll get to do more sniffing.
After a couple sets of trials with the boxes, we moved to the other side of the building to practice an area search. Today, the area search was in the director's office and was done off-leash. Pongo easily found the treats that were hidden at his nose height or lower, but he had difficulty finding the ones that were hidden on the counter. Pongo has been taught in all of his obedience training that he is not supposed to climb up on furniture or take food off of a surface unless it is offered him. I can have a party at my house and put food on the coffee table and Pongo won't touch it. Now I have to untrain him for nosework!!
At the end of class, we said our goodbyes. Now we have a decision to make. The next class, Intro to Odor starts in two weeks and runs until late July. Do we continue or sit out a session? The classes are expensive, and we always travel around 4th of July, so we would miss a class. But I hate to take a break from it, when Pongo loves it so much. I am starting to think that I would like to see if Pongo could pass an ORT and do some official nosework trials. $$$$ but then how can you put a price on your dog's happiness?
When we came home, Pongo pulled out his stuffed hedgehog from his toy box and started throwing it around. He rarely plays with toys anymore. He was one happy dog.
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