Nosework birch ORT

This morning we got up ridiculously early and drove an hour to take an Odor Recognition Test (ORT) for the sport of K9 Nosework. The test is made to be simple and easy to pass: there were twelve boxes set out in two rows, and the dog has three minutes to indicate which box contains the planted odor, and the handler has to correctly identify when their dog has indicated the odor and call "Alert!" The purpose of the ORT is just to certify that your dog has, in fact, been trained to find the odor in question in a new, exciting location. There are three odors which are used in this sport: birch, anise, and clove, in the form of essential oils on q-tips. The first level of competition uses only birch, and that's what Dragon and I tested for today.

There were two sets of five warm-up boxes in the parking lot, for which I was extremely thankful. When Dragon and I made our first pass, he did not indicate AT ALL on the box which was marked as containing the odor. Boy, did that stress me out. But I waited until he passed by it again and rewarded him handsomely with boiled chicken. On the next pass he paused a bit at that box. On the third try he didn't indicate clearly but was more interested in it and wagging his tail a bit. We stopped there and rested in the car.



After about an hour we were called "on deck" and had a chance at the second set of boxes. This time Dragon was ready to work. I used one of our "triggers" to get him excited about working: I wrapped my arm over his body as he stood next to me, hand flat against his chest, waited for him to look forward, then let go and ran with him. I cued "searching!" and he locked onto the boxes and found the odor right away. Good boy!

When we entered the building for the actual test, he was a bit distracted but ready to sniff out the birch oil. I got him ready with the trigger again. He slowed down and gave an extra sniff at one of the boxes, and I wondered if that might be the correct one, but wasn't ready to call it yet. He continued on but I noticed that he was also sniffing the floor around that box more than the rest of the area. We started down the other row of boxes and then he switched rows and went for the same box again, stopping to give a quick lick to the floor along the way. He reached the box and sniffed at the opening of the lid with his tail raised up (showing increased interest/excitement). At that point I was sure and called "Alert!" The judge confirmed that we were correct. The search took 57 seconds.

Dragon and I are now cleared to enter K9 Nosework trials at Level I. We are not ready though, as we have more training to do in new indoor and outdoor locations and especially on vehicles. Time to step up our game!