ZZ001: Know the Nose! - Nosework One Day Conference

9:00am: Melissa Chandler- Skill Building with Fenzi TEAM Nosework

The Fenzi Team Nosework program is a virtual titling program that provides a progression of nosework skills to focus on strong foundations from the start. The program currently offers 4 levels and 3 series including standard, plus and honors. This program is a great way to build your nosework skills and earn titles while having fun with your dog. Join this presentation to learn how the levels and series are designed to provide skill building exercises for your team and different ways to approach the program.

When working through the program, each level adds complexity and the different series adds distractions and blind hides in preparation for nosework competition for those planning to compete. You can work through the program in different ways based on your current level of training and personal goals. As you progress, each level adds complexity in difficulty of skills, distraction challenges and multiple location requirements. We gradually add in different challenges that encourages excellence in training.

This program is different as we do not focus on finished skills in the beginning, we focus on core concepts that will all come together to complete those finished skills as you continue to work through the levels and series.

Excellent searches are the product of excellent fundamentals, regardless of the methodology used to start the sport. I hope you can join me to learn how this exciting program can enhance your team’s skills.

If you would like to check out the program in advance, here is a link to the website: https://fenziteamnosework.com/

9:00am: Julie Symons- Bringing Clarity and Confidence to NW3

There's no denying it - NW3 trials can be pretty nerve wracking! At this level the dog and handler team are tested on their advanced skills, search strategies and mental preparedness. Trust me - it does get easier with experience and you will start to welcome the challenge!

In this presentation, Julie will share how to gain confidence in your dog’s skills, finesse your search approach and push back those fears. By building on your dog's strong foundation of odor value and hunting, you will develop a stronger trust and clearer understanding of your dog's abilities.

11:00am: Teah Anders- How to make Friends with Pressure – An Intro to Mental Management®

Mental preparation and mental management for handlers competing in Nose Work can improve performance and make the competitive experience more fun and enriching. Learn how to channel nervous excitement or “trial nerves” to improve performance rather than hinder it. Mental Management techniques help you learn how to control your thoughts and tame your mind “chatter” before, during and after a trial. When you feel focused and confident, you are at your best as a handler. You trust your dog right? Do you trust yourself?

11:00am: Lucy Newton- Alerts! Shape that Behavior, No Magic Required

In this presentation Lucy will cover applying the principles of shaping a behavior to develop, improve and troubleshoot the alert in scent detection. These concepts apply whether you are training a specific behavior or are using what many refer to as the dog's "natural alert". Both are fine but if you are rewarding the dog, then you are, by default, training the alert! Find out how to help you dog communicate with you better and learn to troubleshoot some of the more common issues associated with the alert behavior.

2:00pm: Holly Bushard- Successful First Trials

Putting Your Best Foot Forward!  Join Holly for an in-depth conversation about how to ensure that your first trialing experiences are as successful and rewarding as possible! We will discuss early trial preparation training tips, acclimation strategies, and considerations for deciding when you are ready to take the plunge into competition. We will also discuss becoming familiar and fluent in the rules, practices, and cultures of the venue that you chose to participate in.

Putting thought into the little details that can have big impact on your day can go a long ways towards ensuring your success! We will discuss packing, planning, and management for trial day. Additionally, we will talk about search strategies that will help you have the best outcomes possible!

To round out our discussion, we will talk about strategies for learning from your experience. Keeping a healthy perspective is everything! Learning from our successes and challenges helps us better prepare for our next event. This will be a fun overview of competition that help you feel excited and prepared for your early forays into the sport!

2:00pm: Stacy Barnett- Decoding the Blind Hide: What is your dog trying to tell you?

When the dog searches, they paint a story about how a hide is presenting and how the odor is behaving. If you pay close attention, you can glean critical tidbits that can tell you about the potential location of the hide. How your dog works the odor can turn you into a detective as you piece together the clues. Ultimately, when the dog finds the hide, you will have total confidence in your Alert call.

This goes beyond "reading the dog". This is "reading the dog's interpretation of the hide". Learning to gather clues will make you a more confident handler who can call Alert and confidently call Finish.

In our conversation, we will explore how different hides might present and what the dog's communication tells us. We will learn how the dog paints a picture of elevated odor, size of the scent cone, pooling odor, and odor that is affected by both thermal forces and wind. We will reveal how the location of the dog's behavior with respect to the search area topography and the weather gives us clues about the hide.

This information is critical for competitors who wish to understand and unlock the secrets of odor in both a competitive and training context.

1:00pm: Panel Recording- Nosework Competition Foundation Skills with Melissa Chandler, Lucy Newton, Julie Symons & Sandra Tung

4:00pm: Panel Recording- Skills for Advanced Nosework Competition with Teah Anders, Stacy Barnett, Holly Bushard and Sandra Tung