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| Happy searcher, Muriel, in her new MN home. |
If I had all the time in the world, I could use it to do K9 Nose Work searches throughout all the fifty states, Canada, and the rest of the globe. Every new patch of ground, every hotel room, every abandoned tractor trailer, every snow bank, every tin cow makes for a new and different search experience for dog and handler. This game never gets old, and it always stays challenging. There is no better way to spend time with your dog.
Since I do not have all the time in the world - for my road trip I had barely 3 days to travel 2,200 miles - I had to try to fit in K9 Nose Work across nine states starting in CA and ending in MN with barely a chance to stop for gas, food, and rest. Since I don't know when my next cross country road trip will be, I tried to make the best of it with searches for Muriel in seven out of the nine states we drove through.
Following is a little travelogue and some handy info on K9 Nose Work in each state we visited. I highly recommend you hit the road with your pup for some interstate searching fun!
California - this was our nose work home. The place where K9 Nose Work started in 2006, and where Muriel and I started in 2008. Here you'll find a large, dedicated community of instructors and students, competitors and volunteers, as well as the founders and most of the founding instructors. From San Diego up to Sacramento, the golden state has over 50 listed K9 Nose Work instructors with CNWI status or working towards it (ANWI).
As long as I had been doing K9 Nose Work in California, I'd never searched a U-Haul truck. Check that one off the list! It's a real treat to search a vehicle with so many available areas to set hides. Not to mention the practice you can get detailing when you've got 26 feet to search down each side.
The thinking here was just to have fun with a new and different vehicle - I wasn't trying to see if Muriel could alert to a hide under the engine block or something crazy like that. We worked two hide placements on the truck itself and one hide on our SUV up on the trailer. Muriel looked like an odor mechanic working a vehicle on a lift finding that hide on the SUV!
We worked a few more hides on our way out of California. Muriel phoned in the first search (the comedy comes free with the blog), and got double the moving truck fun on the second search - I don't know which moving truck rental company is better, but they're both great for K9 Nose Work!
Keep an eye on California in the coming months: June 1-2 in Rialto is the first ever NACSW National Invitational Trial, and later in the summer there may be some Element Trials, the new competition format being rolled out by the NACSW! Find out more about these events at nacsw.net
Arizona - we found ourselves taking it easy at a gas station off the freeway and could not resist doing nose work on a corner in Winslow, Arizona! It was a blustery afternoon, the winds must have been gusting to 30 or 40mph! Muriel worked a little hardscape area at the gas station - no doubt a prime pee place for canine travelers. Once she got downwind of the odor, she picked up the blowing scent and fought her way to source like a weather reporter walking in a hurricane.
The Arizona K9 Nose Work scene was recently host to a popular seminar by Fred Helfers, CNWI. which took place in Tucson. Keep an eye out on the K9 Nose Work website for future offerings of the seminar, and similar workshops & seminars.
New Mexico - We managed to drive through the high elevation of Flagstaff, AZ and miss a wicked storm complete with what my dad called a "dust devil" tornado threatening to toss our U-Haul truck right off the 15 freeway! Once we made it into New Mexico, we stopped in Gallup for the night. Big shout out to the Badlands Grill, a friendly, surprising little gem of a restaurant on the sleepy west end of Gallup. I had the Big Daddy 1lb burger stuffed with green chiles and goat cheese. Nice.
We bunked at the Red Roof Inn off the freeway and did some searching in the hotel room... from the look of the photos, our professional camera operator must have been on his union break. These two hides were at roughly the same height, separated by a dresser with a TV on it. Muriel got to work right away and sorted out the hide under the microwave first - but her initial interest was in the binder hide nearest the entrance to the room.
This is what happens a lot with multiple hides, the dog notices the first hide, then catches and works the second hide to source. Where it becomes a problem is if the dog does not independently go back to the first hide and source it, or if the handler inadvertently prevents the dog from getting back to the first hide. It's helpful to mix in training where you use the leash to keep your dog in one area until he works out the nearest hide, then let him go to the next one, and so on. Without putting too much control too often, you want your dog to know that it's best to investigate each scent trail and work it to source before moving on. Hopefully, when trial time comes around, he won't leave odor one for odor two and leave you wondering where that first hide is - or if it's an unknown number, you may even think there's only one hide. Just remember, set up your training so your dog can learn what you want him to learn with the least amount of interference from you.
If you want to play K9 Nose Work in New Mexico, then look up Santa Fe's Jaime Fellows, CNWI. She's a great instructor with competition experience, and she's really helping the sport grow in the southwest. For a complete listing of instructors in New Mexico, visit the NACSW instructor listing.
Texas - We stopped for lunch next to a Happy State Bank and it just looked like a fun place for a search. One of Happy State Bank's credos is: I will not allow external factors to affect my business performance. Well, Muriel decided that the pesky wind that pushed us through Arizona and New Mexico and right on into Texas would not affect her search performance! She sourced the hide on the Happy State Bank sign like a real professional. Good thing everything isn't literally bigger in Texas, or my stubby-legged searcher would have had a hard time!
Texas has a great nose work community. Julie Eskoff has worked hard to bring the activity and sport to the Lone Star state, and a host of other great instructors, handlers, and dogs have added to the growing K9 Nose Work community. Jason Heng, in Austin, teaches classes and handles his own dog, Atlas, a Shiba Inu. Atlas recently won the "Red Bandana" award at the 2013 GA K9 Nose Work Camp for biggest improvement in a reactive dog over the course of camp or since the last camp. Great job Atlas!
Oklahoma & Kansas - We drove about sixty miles across the panhandle of Oklahoma and we just didn't time our gas/rest stop very well. Our apologies to the state that was home to Will Rogers, Garth Brooks, and the World Championship Cow Chip Throw!
We really wanted to do a search in Kansas, but we ran into a bit of demoralizing news. We arrived in Wichita late on Sunday night only to find out that every - all of them - bbq house in town is closed on Sunday. Some are open until ??? on Saturday, but all of them are closed on Sunday. Real bummer, we settled for Applebee's and then cried ourselves to sleep. No nose work. Sometimes, the humans need motivating treats to play the game of nose work just like the dogs. The next morning we were on a mission to get to Minnesota, and before we knew it, we were in Kansas City, then across the border into Missouri.
While we didn't get to do nose work in these two states, Kansas and Oklahoma do have K9 Nose Work! In Oklahoma, you can look up Khara Criswell, a wonderful person and fantastic K9 Nose Work instructor.
In Kansas, I know we have lots of people playing the game, but I don't know who is teaching out there. Comment on the blog to let us know.
Missouri - The wind was back in full force in Missouruh! We found a few derelict big rig trailers in a field and set to searching them. It was no surprise that Muriel wanted to disappear under the trailers with the way the wind was whipping through that field. I held steady with the leash and Muriel decided if she couldn't go under the trailers, she better just search where she can go, and - BAM! She worked the hide out and we high-tailed it back to the car.
* If anyone happens by these trailers in who-knows-where Missouri, we found odor during that search, but we also lost my keys. If anyone with a tracking dog finds keys to a Subaru, post a comment to the blog and we'll send you and your dog a special prize!
Missouri is a great place to get a K9 Nose Work fix. There are some dedicated and talented certified trainers, and the state has already hosted competitions in the sport. Keep on truckin' Missouri! Look up Virginia Huxley, she's also a PhD at the University of Missouri!
Iowa - Home to the most recent NACSW instructor training program, Iowa is working hard to churn out K9 Nose Work enthusiasts! Urbandale is Iowa's K9 Nose Work epicenter, so if you're in the area, that's your source for K9 Nose Work. Check out Ryan Anderson & Renee Jetter at Canine Craze.
We hit snow in Iowa, and before it started to get really chilly, we stopped at a welcome center and set out odor. Nothing says K9 Nose Work in the midwest like a search on some dairy cows! Luckily, Muriel's herding instinct isn't too sharp, so she happily sourced the hide on the cow's leg!... it also helped that the cows were made of metal and not alive.
Minnesota - We arrived in our new home state to find mountains of snow! Perfect for a first search.
K9 Nose Work is still in it's early stages in Minnesota. Amy Allwine and Sharon Middendorf held the state's first ORT in February 2013, and hope to hold its first trial in 2014. Down in Rochester, Sara Reusche is bringing the Nose Work fun; last summer she held an Intro to Nose Work Workshop with co-founder Jill Marie O'Brien. Look for Minnesota and the other midwestern states to really grow the K9 Nose Work community in the coming years!
We come to the end of our K9 Nose Work road trip. It was brief, but we covered a lot of ground. Not the easiest way to work new environments, but certainly one of the most fun! East of Minnesota there is a lot happening in the nose work world. Leah Ganglehoff is in Alabama using her considerable talents to teach some wonderful nose work teams; she's also hosting trials and giving area competitors opportunities to earn titles. Jacy Kelley is in Virginia, but he shares his talents wherever students are hungry for nose work. A long-time professional bomb dog handler, Jacy is a talented instructor and his great sense of humor keeps nose work as fun for the humans as it is for the dogs! Gail McCarthy hails from Harvard, Mass and with 20+ years as a SAR dog handler and trainer, she a source you'll want to find for all things scent related. Look for Gail's scent musings to appear on the K9 Nose Work blog in the near future.
It wasn't part of our road trip, and Muriel didn't get to join me, but I had the honor of teaching at this year's K9 Nose Work Camp in Georgia. I learned more from the campers & their dogs, and the other instructors than I have ever learned at any other venue, and I had a great time. I highly recommend you go to a K9 Nose Work Camp, with or without your dog. Check out Dogs of Course for details on the K9 Nose Work Camps in your region.
I enjoy coincidences in life, they make it seem like life is giving us little affirmations that we're on the right path. Well, Muriel discovered a little coincidence in our new neighborhood. We live on Wintergreen Street - wintergreen is otherwise known as birch (although not synonymous for the purposes of the activity & sport of K9 Nose Work as the two are slightly different)!
We're looking forward to finding more signs that our nose work journey will continue to be as fun & exciting in the midwest as it's been in California.
Please share what you know about K9 Nose Work in any of the nine states we mentioned here by commenting on the blog. We didn't have the time or resources to research the K9 Nose Work communities extensively in each state, but we'd love to hear about and promote K9 Nose Work wherever it's flourishing!
Happy Sniffing!
California - this was our nose work home. The place where K9 Nose Work started in 2006, and where Muriel and I started in 2008. Here you'll find a large, dedicated community of instructors and students, competitors and volunteers, as well as the founders and most of the founding instructors. From San Diego up to Sacramento, the golden state has over 50 listed K9 Nose Work instructors with CNWI status or working towards it (ANWI).
As long as I had been doing K9 Nose Work in California, I'd never searched a U-Haul truck. Check that one off the list! It's a real treat to search a vehicle with so many available areas to set hides. Not to mention the practice you can get detailing when you've got 26 feet to search down each side.
The thinking here was just to have fun with a new and different vehicle - I wasn't trying to see if Muriel could alert to a hide under the engine block or something crazy like that. We worked two hide placements on the truck itself and one hide on our SUV up on the trailer. Muriel looked like an odor mechanic working a vehicle on a lift finding that hide on the SUV!
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| something about a start gate that gets my little odor pony ready to race to source |
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| Sourcing a hide on the underside of of the step |
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| Too quick for the camera guy (my dad) Muriel sourced the hide on the door handle and sat waiting for reward to come from source |
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| The trailer made for easy access to the hide just behind the wheel of the SUV |
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| Camera guy missed Muriel sourcing the hide on this pay phone, and handler was already late to reward |
Keep an eye on California in the coming months: June 1-2 in Rialto is the first ever NACSW National Invitational Trial, and later in the summer there may be some Element Trials, the new competition format being rolled out by the NACSW! Find out more about these events at nacsw.net
Arizona - we found ourselves taking it easy at a gas station off the freeway and could not resist doing nose work on a corner in Winslow, Arizona! It was a blustery afternoon, the winds must have been gusting to 30 or 40mph! Muriel worked a little hardscape area at the gas station - no doubt a prime pee place for canine travelers. Once she got downwind of the odor, she picked up the blowing scent and fought her way to source like a weather reporter walking in a hurricane.
The Arizona K9 Nose Work scene was recently host to a popular seminar by Fred Helfers, CNWI. which took place in Tucson. Keep an eye out on the K9 Nose Work website for future offerings of the seminar, and similar workshops & seminars.
New Mexico - We managed to drive through the high elevation of Flagstaff, AZ and miss a wicked storm complete with what my dad called a "dust devil" tornado threatening to toss our U-Haul truck right off the 15 freeway! Once we made it into New Mexico, we stopped in Gallup for the night. Big shout out to the Badlands Grill, a friendly, surprising little gem of a restaurant on the sleepy west end of Gallup. I had the Big Daddy 1lb burger stuffed with green chiles and goat cheese. Nice.
We bunked at the Red Roof Inn off the freeway and did some searching in the hotel room... from the look of the photos, our professional camera operator must have been on his union break. These two hides were at roughly the same height, separated by a dresser with a TV on it. Muriel got to work right away and sorted out the hide under the microwave first - but her initial interest was in the binder hide nearest the entrance to the room.
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| Hurry up & pay me already! |
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| Working from microwave hide to binder hide |
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| Sourcing the binder hide |
If you want to play K9 Nose Work in New Mexico, then look up Santa Fe's Jaime Fellows, CNWI. She's a great instructor with competition experience, and she's really helping the sport grow in the southwest. For a complete listing of instructors in New Mexico, visit the NACSW instructor listing.
Texas - We stopped for lunch next to a Happy State Bank and it just looked like a fun place for a search. One of Happy State Bank's credos is: I will not allow external factors to affect my business performance. Well, Muriel decided that the pesky wind that pushed us through Arizona and New Mexico and right on into Texas would not affect her search performance! She sourced the hide on the Happy State Bank sign like a real professional. Good thing everything isn't literally bigger in Texas, or my stubby-legged searcher would have had a hard time!
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| The hide is at the top left corner of the white part of the ATM sign, probably about 5.5 feet above the ground. Muriel got rewarded for going up under the ATM sign, not necessarily for being right under the hide. We don't know where the scent is moving as it leaves source, so we have to reward the dog for the behavior we want not necessarily the exact place they're in when they display that desired behavior. |
Oklahoma & Kansas - We drove about sixty miles across the panhandle of Oklahoma and we just didn't time our gas/rest stop very well. Our apologies to the state that was home to Will Rogers, Garth Brooks, and the World Championship Cow Chip Throw!
We really wanted to do a search in Kansas, but we ran into a bit of demoralizing news. We arrived in Wichita late on Sunday night only to find out that every - all of them - bbq house in town is closed on Sunday. Some are open until ??? on Saturday, but all of them are closed on Sunday. Real bummer, we settled for Applebee's and then cried ourselves to sleep. No nose work. Sometimes, the humans need motivating treats to play the game of nose work just like the dogs. The next morning we were on a mission to get to Minnesota, and before we knew it, we were in Kansas City, then across the border into Missouri.
While we didn't get to do nose work in these two states, Kansas and Oklahoma do have K9 Nose Work! In Oklahoma, you can look up Khara Criswell, a wonderful person and fantastic K9 Nose Work instructor.
In Kansas, I know we have lots of people playing the game, but I don't know who is teaching out there. Comment on the blog to let us know.
Missouri - The wind was back in full force in Missouruh! We found a few derelict big rig trailers in a field and set to searching them. It was no surprise that Muriel wanted to disappear under the trailers with the way the wind was whipping through that field. I held steady with the leash and Muriel decided if she couldn't go under the trailers, she better just search where she can go, and - BAM! She worked the hide out and we high-tailed it back to the car.
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| Muriel's working to my left in the shadowy area near the wheels |
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| Getting rewarded for a find just above her head on the underside of the trailer |
* If anyone happens by these trailers in who-knows-where Missouri, we found odor during that search, but we also lost my keys. If anyone with a tracking dog finds keys to a Subaru, post a comment to the blog and we'll send you and your dog a special prize!
 |
| We picked up our odor off the trailers, but we left my keys behind somewhere in the field |
Missouri is a great place to get a K9 Nose Work fix. There are some dedicated and talented certified trainers, and the state has already hosted competitions in the sport. Keep on truckin' Missouri! Look up Virginia Huxley, she's also a PhD at the University of Missouri!
Iowa - Home to the most recent NACSW instructor training program, Iowa is working hard to churn out K9 Nose Work enthusiasts! Urbandale is Iowa's K9 Nose Work epicenter, so if you're in the area, that's your source for K9 Nose Work. Check out Ryan Anderson & Renee Jetter at Canine Craze.
We hit snow in Iowa, and before it started to get really chilly, we stopped at a welcome center and set out odor. Nothing says K9 Nose Work in the midwest like a search on some dairy cows! Luckily, Muriel's herding instinct isn't too sharp, so she happily sourced the hide on the cow's leg!... it also helped that the cows were made of metal and not alive.
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| Holy cow! There's odor on this heifer! |
Minnesota - We arrived in our new home state to find mountains of snow! Perfect for a first search.
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| Muriel finds the hide at the top of the snow mound |
We come to the end of our K9 Nose Work road trip. It was brief, but we covered a lot of ground. Not the easiest way to work new environments, but certainly one of the most fun! East of Minnesota there is a lot happening in the nose work world. Leah Ganglehoff is in Alabama using her considerable talents to teach some wonderful nose work teams; she's also hosting trials and giving area competitors opportunities to earn titles. Jacy Kelley is in Virginia, but he shares his talents wherever students are hungry for nose work. A long-time professional bomb dog handler, Jacy is a talented instructor and his great sense of humor keeps nose work as fun for the humans as it is for the dogs! Gail McCarthy hails from Harvard, Mass and with 20+ years as a SAR dog handler and trainer, she a source you'll want to find for all things scent related. Look for Gail's scent musings to appear on the K9 Nose Work blog in the near future.
It wasn't part of our road trip, and Muriel didn't get to join me, but I had the honor of teaching at this year's K9 Nose Work Camp in Georgia. I learned more from the campers & their dogs, and the other instructors than I have ever learned at any other venue, and I had a great time. I highly recommend you go to a K9 Nose Work Camp, with or without your dog. Check out Dogs of Course for details on the K9 Nose Work Camps in your region.
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| GA K9NW Camp |
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| Exterior Training Session at GA K9NW Camp |
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| Container Training Session at GA K9NW Camp |
I enjoy coincidences in life, they make it seem like life is giving us little affirmations that we're on the right path. Well, Muriel discovered a little coincidence in our new neighborhood. We live on Wintergreen Street - wintergreen is otherwise known as birch (although not synonymous for the purposes of the activity & sport of K9 Nose Work as the two are slightly different)!
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| Muriel extending up to find a tin of birch halfway up the street sign for Wintergreen St, the street we now live on! |
Please share what you know about K9 Nose Work in any of the nine states we mentioned here by commenting on the blog. We didn't have the time or resources to research the K9 Nose Work communities extensively in each state, but we'd love to hear about and promote K9 Nose Work wherever it's flourishing!
Happy Sniffing!
Always more great ideas from you -- I should have done the state-by-state hides on my way down to camp in GA...oh, well, next year...Best wishes back in Minnesota! Judy
ReplyDeleteThanks, Judy! Definitely plan on nose work in every state you drive through next year and share your experience with us!
DeleteI know that the founders, some of the NACSW faculty, and some of the more well-traveled competitors in the sport have searched many a rest stop all across the country! It would be great to hear from others which locations they've searched throughout their travels.
Happy Sniffing!
I loved this article, Jeff! Thanks for sharing your road trip with us. We miss you in class.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim! We're missing all of you, too. See you in June!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeff - we will keep an eye out for your keys! What route were you driving? Yes, wind is a feature we know & love in these here parts. Have to come South & visit with your best NW dog. My guys think NW during pit stops = road trip.
ReplyDeleteWe were on 35W heading north... wish I could remember where we pulled off the freeway. Probably somewhere close to Iowa... My poor keys have probably seen their last turn in the ignition :(
DeleteWe look forward to another nose work road trip, we'll certainly sniff your way if and when it happens!
Happy Sniffing!
Jeff, thank you kindly for the mention of my working and playing in Texas.Sharing K9 Nose Work is still an emotional and proud moment when I get to witness the endless amount of dogs I touch and see in my classes. I a moved when I see the dog's break through and enjoy the hunt with confidence and zeal. K9 NW has a momentum like no other activity and I revel in being able to explore and pursue with my darling NW1 Pearl E. Girl and share the mad science of odor with my students while enticing all to be 14 and get out and about chasing our illusive friend called odor. I am beside myself to read that Atlas has once again out done himself as I know Jason is too. That fine pup started with me and I knew those adoring blonde eye lashes would settle one day and be at peace through K9 Nose Work. I am proud for you Jason and of you. Beautiful story Jeff - I am moved to do a search in all 50 of our great states and revel in seeing this beautiful nation through my dogs nose.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Julie.
DeleteI have a new appreciation for the hard work that goes into bringing K9 Nose Work to a new region. In Southern California we had high awareness and interest in this great activity. In Minnesota, K9 Nose Work is not as well known or understood and it's been slowly gathering momentum, not exploding as I had expected after so many years spent in SoCal aka K9 Nose Work country. This is why it's important for all of us in the K9 Nose Work community to work together to raise general awareness for the activity and sport. As soon as people know it and their dogs experience it, they are hooked.
It would be fun to do a nose work pilgrimage like Saturn owners used to do - get all of us together in a big sniffing caravan!
Great job getting Texas fired up about K9 Nose Work, Julie! If you ever get to searching all of the states, sniff us out in Minneapolis!
Happy Sniffing!
Will do Jeff and my darling Pearl got her NW1 in Alabama in March over Easter this year with my teacher Amy Herot as C.O. hosted by another teacher the ever precious Leah G. and many of my classmates from Georgia school, it was a long drive for a proud and heart felt moment. Yes, one day there will be an NACSW trial in Texas as we now have also besides Jason and myself - we have Mickey S. in Plano, Emily P. in Houston (first dog in Texas to get an NW1 - a darling 10 year old Dachshund name Henrietta. Pearl and I are working on our NW2 techniques, which will take us some time as those long drives sure do kind of insist you get it right. Thank you for all that you do, would love to see some cool weather, so keep the light on for us!
ReplyDeleteWe did this a couple of weeks ago on our Christmas trip from California to Santa Fe and back. Wish we had thought to take photos.
ReplyDelete