K9 Nose Work in Olympia
Give your dog the opportunity to do what they were built to do.
K9 Nose Work taps into a dog's natural desire to hunt and search. As their skills develop, dogs learn to navigate increasingly complex scent problems while their human learns to step back, observe, and understand the search unfolding in front of them.
What Is K9 Nose Work?
K9 Nose Work® is an activity inspired by the work of professional detection dogs and developed by the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW). It gives companion dogs an opportunity to engage their natural hunting and scenting abilities through searching.
Dogs learn to locate a scent source across a variety of environments, from containers and interior spaces to outdoor areas and vehicles. Searches become increasingly complex as dogs gain experience following scent and working out where the source is located.
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Handlers develop skills alongside their dogs, learning how scent moves through an environment and how changes in their dog's behavior can provide information about the search.
The Dog Gets to Lead the Search.
K9 Nose Work gives dogs something we do not always give them enough of: the opportunity to make decisions for themselves.
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During a search, the dog is gathering information through scent, deciding where to go, working through challenges, and determining where the source is located. The human learns to give the dog space to work without directing the search.
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With experience, dogs can become more confident in their own abilities and more willing to persist when a search becomes difficult. They learn through the experience of working things out for themselves.
Every successful search is more than a dog finding odor.
It’s a dog learning to trust themselves and the world they live in.
Your Nose Work Journey
Nose Work skills build over time. Each level builds on the one before it, giving dogs a strong foundation for searching before progressing to target odor and increasingly complex search problems.
Introduction to K9 Nose Work Level 1
The beginning of the journey. Dogs are introduced to searching using food, with an emphasis on developing enthusiasm for the hunt and learning that searching itself is rewarding. Handlers begin learning to recognize the behaviors their dog shows while working scent.
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Introduction to K9 Nose Work Level 2
Dogs begin working through more varied searches as they build confidence and resilience in the hunt. Handlers continue developing observation and handling skills while learning when to give their dog space to work.
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Introduction to Odor Level 1
Dogs transition their established searching skills to target odor, beginning with birch. The focus remains on maintaining the dog's enthusiasm for the hunt while developing a clear understanding of the new target scent.
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Introduction to Odor Level 2
Dogs add anise and clove to their odor work while taking on a wider range of search environments and challenges.
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Continuing Nose Work
For teams who have completed the introductory progression, continuing classes build more advanced searching and handling skills through increasingly complex search problems.
What to Expect in Class
K9 Nose Work classes are designed to give each dog the space to search individually. Dogs work one at a time while the other dogs wait securely in their vehicles. This allows each team to focus while giving handlers a chance to watch and learn from the other teams in class.
6 Weeks
Six weekly classes.
60 to 90 Minutes
Class length ranges from one hour to an hour and a half, depending on the class and number of teams.
$200
Per six week class series.
Dogs work one at a time and must be able to wait comfortably and safely in their vehicle between searches.
Is K9 Nose Work Right for Your Dog?
One of the things I love most about K9 Nose Work is how many different dogs can participate.
Nose Work can provide meaningful mental and physical enrichment for dogs of different ages and abilities. It can also be especially valuable for dogs who experience fear, anxiety, dog reactivity, or environmental sensitivities because dogs search individually and are given the space to work without direct interaction with other dogs.
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Previous Nose Work experience is not required, but dogs should have a solid reinforcement history with food or toys. Searches begin at an appropriate starting point and become more complex as the dog gains experience.
Your Nose Work Instructor
Kerri Clifford-Mahon, MS, CPDT KA, FDM, PNWI
My path into Nose Work started with my own dog, Sweet Tooth.
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For a long time, his world was very small. He struggled with noise, movement, riding in the car, other dogs, and many everyday experiences outside of his familiar routine. We were working through a behavior modification plan alongside a veterinary behaviorist, and as he became more stable, I started looking for ways to help him experience more of the world with confidence.
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That is what brought us to our first Nose Work class in Olympia. I hoped searching might give him another way to navigate the world. What I did not expect was how much the skills he developed through Nose Work would begin to carry into the rest of his life.
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Searching gave Sweet Tooth a way to gather information, navigate uncertainty, and figure things out for himself. Over time, I began to see those skills show up outside of Nose Work too. His world became bigger.
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Watching that change is what pulled me deeper into Nose Work and eventually led me to pursue becoming an instructor through the National Association of Canine Scent Work. I continue my education through instructor coursework, mentorship, practical experience, and time spent learning alongside established Nose Work instructors.
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That experience shapes the way I teach. I want dogs to have the space to think, make choices, work through challenges, and discover what they are capable of. I want their humans to have the chance to see that, too.