Nose Work training day

We started with a morning walk in the Academy Garden and then continued to Ringsted, where Gollum and I were entered at a Nose Work* Training Day.

We had an amazing day. There were so many interesting and challenging searches to choose between. 

My picture today is from the woods, where a 'hunter' were sat between dead birds and hides were placed on his wellie (just under Gollum's nose) and next to the birds on the ground. In one of the extra pictures, you can see Gollum indicate for the scent right next to the bird. For him it was challenging not to roll in the dead bird. For the hunting breeds, it was challenging not to try to fetch them :-)

There was a search, where the hides were placed in a stable full of straw and cow dung on the ground. Some dogs were spending more time eating the dung than searching - Gollum was a star though. He just went in and did his job. In the extra, you can see him sitting next to a sheep in the stable. 

He found the hide in bags of cat food (see extra) and on top of a table, so he had to find a way up onto the table before he could indicate. 

We had so much fun and Gollum was so clever! 

Hero and Biscuit had a good day too going for walks, doing some Freestyle training (when Gollum needed a break) and just hanging out. It was fabulous. 

We stopped in the Academy garden again on the way home for another little walk. I don't think it was needed though - the boys were exhausted. But it made me feel good ;-)

See you tomorrow
Emmy and the Hazyland Boys

*) Nose Work is a dog sport created to mimic professional detection dog tasks. The dogs must find a hidden target odor and alert the handler. In Denmark Lavender is the first odor, that you teach the dog to find.