She did it! Piper earned her Scent Work Novice title at the Portuguese Water Dog Club Scent Work Trial in Atascadero, CA on April 23, 2019. SWN is a multi-class title which required her to earn four previous novice scent work titles (each with three qualifying legs). Here’s how she finished those:
She earned her third qualifying leg in both Scent Work Novice Containers and Exteriors in Reno, NV at the Truckee Meadows Scent Work Trial.
Piper earned her third qualifying leg in both Scent Work Novice Interiors and Buried in Atascadero, finishing all the element titles she needed to earn Scent Work Novice (SWN)
Pips actually earned fourth place in Novice A Interiors and Containers in Reno. She’s a methodical dog (meaning we work very very slowly to find the hide), so she usually only places when a limited number of dogs qualify. Since only four dogs qualified in each of these events, she placed :). In buried, she was the fifth of five qualifying dogs.
Now that she’s earned her novice title, we’re taking a break from traditional scent work before moving up to advanced. Our next scent work goal is Novice Handler Discrimination (HD) which we’ve tried at three trials without any luck. In this event, the goal is for her to find my dirty sock hidden in a box among other identical boxes. This proves that she recognizes my personal smell. So far, Pips has false alerted on the judge’s distraction sock (also hidden in a box) so it’s clear she knows to look for a smelly sock. Now we just need to practice with distractor socks at home to make sure she’s sniffing for MY smell.
Overall, the journey through novice scent work has been enjoyable. This is the most intense training I’ve ever done with a dog, and I’ve learned a lot about myself as a trainer, handler, and competitor. I can’t wait to see what new challenges await us in this dynamic sport!