Nose Work, A New Canine Sport
Given the "ready, search" command, Bosun was off like a shot down the steep hill. Eschewing the concrete steps, he went straight down the grassy slope to the building, wheeled around once, then indicated to his handler the location of the scent: in the ground under a rock.
His time: 20.03 seconds.
"The judges were floored," said Karla Kimmey, a Sequim dog trainer.
Bosun was not in training for the K-9 police corps, but a family pet who was competing in Nose Works, a new sport for dogs based on police dog scent training.
And Bosun excelled, taking first place in the exterior search and second in the trial overall, despite not having the use of his back legs.
Bosun may be the first dog to qualify in Nose Works I certification in a two-wheeled cart, according to Kimmey and owner Kate Rambo of Port Townsend.
The corgi, which turned 12 years
old last month, was diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy, a
disease that affects the use of the back legs and Cindy
Horsefall, a therapist at La Paw Spa in Sequim, recommended Nose
Works training for Bosun because it helps maintain muscle tone.
It is beneficial for dogs who are older, convalescing from an
illness or have sight or hearing impediments. It also keeps
working dogs who have retired from service or competition happy
by giving them a job to do. It also strengthens the bond between
owner and dog, creating a relationship of mutual trust.
Bosun got his wheels - a two-wheeled cart that supports his back legs - in December and in January, he started Nose Works training classes with Kimmey at Hanalei Training Center near Agnew.
"It was a leap of faith for her to take on a dog in a cart and had seizures," Rambo said. "But she believes in quality of life."
However, it was questionable at first whether he would even be able to do the training. At the beginning he couldn't always get through a tight space, so Rambo would help him by lifting the cart. But it wasn't long before Bosun was backing up on his own if he got stuck. It was phenomenal to watch how he learned to maneuver better in his cart.
In April, Bosun passed the ORT, or Odor Recognition Test, qualifying him to compete in the Nose Works I Trial. Held at the Clallam County Fairgrounds the last weekend in June, it was the first Nose Works trial in the state organized by a Washington group.
Of the 66 entrants at the trial, 20 received Nose Works I titles, meaning they completed four different searches in three minutes or less.
Like K-9 police dogs, the dogs work as a team with their handlers. When Bosun finds the scent, he signals his owner, who must correctly "read" the signal, raise her hand and shout "alert" to stop the clock. "If he's right and I'm wrong or he's wrong and I'm right, we're done," Rambo said. But Bosun was always right, racking up the second best combined times for the event.
In addition to acing the building exterior search, he zoomed in on the location of the scent hidden in a box, around vehicles in a parking lot and in a room set up like a kitchen with a table and chairs.
"For a dog working in a cart, there was a lot of stuff to hang up on," Rambo said. "He beat his little feet and went right to the source." And Kimmey added that Bosun's energy that day was amazing.
Rambo said that never in her wildest dreams did she expect Bosun to do so well at the trial. When she first saw the steep steps of the exterior search site, she almost withdrew Bosun from the competition. Instead, she asked if she could help him if he got stuck on the steps, which she could, thinking Bosun would have to zigzag his way down. Nothing prepared her for the zest with which Bosun took off down the hill. "He was so on," Rambo said. "It was like he knew it was his last chance."
She and spouse Forrest Rambo hoped the corgi would continue to compete in the sport but a week ago learned that Bosun's brain cancer had returned. Less than two weeks after the trial, Bosun was having seizures and was blind in one eye from the pressure of a tumor. He passed away last Saturday in his owners' arms, a gallant little dog with a nose for life.
Excerpted from Jennifer Jackson's Port Townsend Neighbor Column auf Peninsula Daily News Online
12 July 2011
For more information on Nose Work visit:
National Association of Canine Scent Work NACSW
30.08.2019
