Nosework Training April – November 2026
My friend, Denise, and I usually spend the summer training every weekend at our favorite place, the storage yard at Craftco Metalworks. They are always moving completed work out and bringing in supplies, so the places to hide scents are everywhere. However, in July 2025, Denise had to go to Minnesota to care for her sister.
One of our young club members, Sera, told me at our October trial that she continued to train her dog but was intimidated by the thought of competing. I invited her to come train with me, and I’d help her practice how she would handle her dog in competition and develop a routine that would give her confidence to enter next year’s trials. I took photos of her and her dog working. She takes photos of my dogs with her cell phone.
We set two separate search areas. All the dogs do search 1, then we move to search 2. You can usually tell the end of one search if you see some ball retrieving. The start of the young dogs’ second turn is indicated by practicing an indication on a box as a “warm up,” putting on the harness and/or going through the two plastic cones that in a trial are used to start timing the search. My competition dogs don’t need the warm-up, but often you’ll see a retrieve photo separating their sessions – or me putting their harness on by the start cones for the 2nd search.
We set two separate searches so that each of us gets to run “blind” (not knowing where the hides are). Each search contains all 5 UKC scents and 1 or 2 distractions (balls or treats). You can often see some of the hides in the photos, when they’re in little silver tins or copper-colored “bullets” that reflect the light. The treat distractions are in little bottles. They and the balls are always in plain sight.
All the dogs do both searches.
Names that are enlarged and bolded contain links to photos.
4/11/26: Mercy, Justice and Zeal
Sera took movies of my three with her cell phone. She only retrieved a few photos from the videos, so I put all of them on one page.
I put one hide in a small piece of black rubber pipe. The dogs had to really work to find that one. Unfortunately, Sera got only one photo of that hide.
She did get two GREAT photos of Justice catching the reward treats when he made finds!
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5/2/26: Spirit, Lovely & Mercy
Denise finally returned to Sheridan at the end of April. We got in one training session before she had a knee replacement the first week of May. She had been gone since July, so we celebrated by training all morning. My three oldest dogs got to go, and they were thrilled – thrilled to train but also thrilled to see Denise and her three dogs.
5/16/26: Hopeful, Justice & Zeal
Sera took movies of my three with her cell phone. She only retrieved a few photos of Hopeful & Justice from the videos. She sent a few more of Zeal, but not so many that I couldn’t put all of them on one page.
Zeal IS definitely fun to watch. She might not be graceful, but she’s sure enthusiastic!
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6/6-7/26: Lovely, Hopeful & Justice
My training partner, Denise, had a knee replacement in early May. We rejoiced when her surgeon cleared her to train – at the training arena. Since we mostly use the office, garage and some storage rooms, we’ve just been using our cell phones for photographs.
On the 6th, the weather was too hot for dogs to sit in the car, so I only took Lovely since I knew she would wait quietly on leash in the area while I was photographing Denise’s dogs as they searched.
The day was much cooler on the 7th, so I took Hopeful and Justice.
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6/13/26: Pascha and Zeal
We could only use the arena for a limited time, so I only took the two young ones. Both did really well.
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6/14/26: Lovely, Mercy & Justice
We’re still training at the training arena and continue using our cell phones for photographs, so I don’t have as many photos to share.
Lovely has developed bulging discs in her neck and lower back, so she won’t be able to compete anymore. She LOVES nosework, so we’re doing it for fun and she no longer has to down for a low indication – only if she wants to. To keep her more comfortable, I am no longer having her wear the nosework harness.
It was such a nice day that we did one search outside, being careful to stay on level ground to protect Denise’s knee.
We laughed at Justice, who insisted on indicating on the container on a table in the office where our trainer, Sue, stores her nosework scents. We had to work hard convince him to just look for the hides, not the storage jars which only had a tiny bit of odor.
On the outdoor search, Justice was frustrated that he couldn’t get his mouth on the hide in the metal grate but then had a blast trying to get his mouth over the hide inside the rolled-down metal lip on the wheelbarrow. Denise got some great shots of his signature eye rolls.
It was such a nice day that we did one search outside, being careful to stay on level ground to protect Denise’s knee
6/20/26: Spirit, Hopeful and Pascha
The weather was threatening rain, so we did one exterior search first, being careful to stay on level ground to protect Denise’s knee.
At 11 1/2, Spirit’s arthritis has gotten really bad, so I had to retire her from competition. Since she’s retired, I don’t insist on the usual down or sit indication, nor do I put on the harness, which can stress her joints as it goes on or comes off. She just has fun! And you can see from the photos that she’s thrilled to be working. She works the interior searches “naked” (no collar or leash).
6/21/26: Mercy
It rained early and more rain was forecast, so I just took Mercy rather than chance the dogs getting hot in the car with the windows unable to be rolled down all the way. She was quite happy to hang out in the main part of the arena when we worked Denise’s dogs int he other rooms. My seniors LOVE being the only one to go training!
6/28/26: Spirit, Lovely & Zeal
Denise is cleared to drive AND train at Craftco. And I took my Canon camera and it worked!!!
Lovely got to go do nosework one last time on Sunday, at our favorite training place, and was in heaven – but it was hard watching her crouch as she searched happily. In March she developed bulging discs in her neck and lower back. It wasn’t supposed to be painful, but it soon became obvious that the neck began to hurt as it tried to control her rear. I quit having her wear the nosework harness when it seemed painful to put it on; and she was happy to play tug, but I sure hated to see her go downhill. We do 5 hides per search, and the dogs get treats for each find, and then the ball after the find.
Denise, my training partner, confirmed that by watching her she could tell that Lovely was much more painful than just a couple of weeks ago when we trained. It was obvious to us, as I edited today’s photos, that they were in pain. I made the decision that it was time for me to do the last loving thing I could for them, to release them from their pain. I did that on July 1st.
At least Zeal, being her usual exuberant self, gave us something to laugh about today.
See photos of the Craftco Metalworks storage yard where we train
See An Illustrated Explanation of Nosework for Those Unfamiliar with It