The Games
Adopt a Position
Dog will be worked off lead. You will have to search items placed in a square shape around you and will have to adopt different positions or do different actions as directed by the scorer. Can your dog work independently of you and indicate when you are not in your usual position?
All Clear
Dogs will be worked on or off lead. The team will have to search an area and call it all clear. Being able to decide that your dog has searched and cleared an area is really the icing on the cake for a team. the decision to call it all clear will need the dog to search effectively, the handler to recognise when the dog is and isn’t searching, the handler to have good planning and to know how to deal with interest and the team to have great trust in each other.
Boom
Dog will be on or off lead. You will be given a route or perimeter to search. You won’t know how many hides there are. if you go more than a set distance past a hide. You will be told boom and that hide has now effectively exploded and is no longer available to find for points. Can you and your dog work together effectively as a team. Have you built confidence in your dog that it will stick with odour or tell you when an areas clear? this is all about trust and efficiently working. Good luck – no bombs are used in this game!
Distance
Dog will be off lead. You will have to send your dog forward to search whilst you stay behind a start line. Can you move in a way that supports the search? Will your dog keep searching or find other things to amuse itself with? How much influence do you apply to your dogs indication. This game will soon show if your dogs really understands the odour as a cue to indicate.
Ado
Distractions & Blanks
Dog will be worked on or off lead. A type of odour recognition test, this game is one that we should be frequently playing with our dogs. It is very difficult for us to know exactly what odour is cueing the dogs indication. Is it your shells or soaks? Is it any new or novel odour? This game will help you to keep asking your dog that question and testing the response..
Go To Source
This can be worked on or off lead. In Go to Source your dog will be able to get its nose on the odour source but how accurately can it do that? Groups of items will be close together and numbered. You will have to call the correct number. Often handlers will call the find too early in this game. Will you panic or be a cool dude?
Hidden Treasure
This can be worked on or off lead. The odours will be hidden in different substrates such as water, wood shavings or gravel. Can your dog still indicate if the odour is presented in a slightly different way. Can the dog work out its target odour from the background scents.
Line Ups
Dog will be on lead. As the name suggests you will search lines of items. The scorer will be looking for you to be searching each item in tandem with your dog. No long lines needed here just a methodical search from the start and quick, confident decision making from the dog. Do you know the right speed for your dog to do a focused search? Can your dog respond to your tasking?
Needle in a Haystack
Dog will be on or off lead. The search area will be cluttered and may have hanging and/or dangling items that the dog needs to push or work through. The search should make the handler go “where do I start”? If you don’t work methodically this can be a real handler frightener. You will need a dog that responds to your tasking and is happy to indicate in different positions such as facing away from you completely or with its head in a small space.
No Going Back
In No Going Back you will search areas, most likely a perimeter of some sort. The area will be divided into sections. Some sections may be blank. You can work each section as much as you like but once you decided to leave it and move onto the next section you will not be able to go back to it. When you leave an area it won’t be confirmed until the end of the game whether it was clear or not. Can you recognise your dog’s negative behaviour? Are you happy that you know an area has been fully covered before you move on?
Snake
Dog will be on lead. You won’t need your long line for this as you and the dog should be progressing along the snake together. The snake is made up of a long curving line of items. You will need to know how best to do a focused search with your dog. Do you need to task or is your dog the sort that locks on to a line of items and searches it? Snake requires team work, both sides of the team to be responsive to each other and trust that if you ask your dog to sniff it does but when it has you trust the dog and can move on.
Vehicles
Dog will be on or off lead. Vehicles can present the team with a lot of problems to solve such as air flow, funny shaped spaces, weird smells to name a few. You might be searching a quad bike or an artic lorry. Both you and the dog need great skills and confidence here especially when you start to search vehicle interiors. How adaptable are you both?
Joker
In Levels 1 to level 3 you can choose a game to play a joker on. If you get all the finds within the time and no wrong alerts you will get a bonus 5 points for that game.
Training Mode
In Nosework Games you can go into training mode at any time. You will retain the points for the finds you have, up to that point but your time will be recorded as the full time allocated for the game. Once you choose training mode the scorer will tell you where the hides are and you can use the rest of your allocated time to train your dog. It’s a great choice if your dog has got a bit confused or if you are a bit flustered.