Spike Sniffs his way to his NW1

On Friday, March 7, 2014, Spike attended his first every Nosework Trial sponsored by Paws Plus Training in Goochland, VA.  The first level of Nosework requires that the dog detect hides of Birch across 4 elements, Interiors (basically a room search), Exteriors (an outdoor search confined to a particular area), Vehicle Search (1 hide, 3 cars, find it), and a Container Search (boxes 12+ on the floor, I think we had 18 or so). 

We had terrible weather to deal with but we were patient and Spike worked hard to stay focused for the whole day while we waited our turns.  In the end, he finished with full points (100, 25/element) and no faults for his NW1 title with a time of ~2:50 for all elements.  In Nosework you get feedback from the judges on each element.  Our comments were, “great job letting the dog work to the source”, “nice fluid search”, “nice pattern and response”, and “very good teamwork.”  So, proud of our little Niblet! Although, who knew you could get so dirty doing nose work.