A game-changing program for you and your dog. A life-changing program for shelter dogs.
What is K9 Nose Work?
Here is a description of nose work credited to Alexandra Butler, and we believe no one has said it better.
It’s Not Just a Game. People love to call scent work a fun little enrichment activity. And sure it is fun. Dogs love it. Handlers love it. It’s full of joy. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s just a cute game. Scent work changes dogs. It rewires behavior. It builds confidence. It gives anxious dogs a way forward, energetic dogs a sense of control, and disconnected dogs a way back in. It’s not just about finding an odor. It’s about who the dog becomes on the way there.
The dog who couldn’t cope with the outside world suddenly has a reason to engage with it. The dog who shut down on walks starts to pull you towards the next challenge. The dog who used to bark, spin, or disengage now pauses, breathes, and solves.
It’s not a distraction. It’s not a trick. It’s proper work. Structured, satisfying, mentally rich work that taps into the part of your dog that’s always been there, waiting for something that finally makes sense. Scent work isn’t just a game. It’s a turning point.
The Ed Center is taking a break from Nose Work classes during the hot summer months, but looks forward to starting up again in the Fall! If you’re interested in a K9 Nose Work® please submit this form.
What is behind K9 Nose Work?
The activity and sport of K9 Nose Work was originally introduced in 2009 by three top professional canine detection trainers. After many years of witnessing positive changes in dogs due to searching for controlled substances, these three detection experts decided to bring these same positive benefits to the world of companion dogs. Today, K9 Nose Work is the fastest growing sport in the world with instructors, trials and training classes in 14 countries. K9 Nose Work operates under the guidelines and guidance of the National Association of Canine Scent Work, commonly referred to as NACSW. Certified Nose Work Instructors, or CNWI’s, are certified through rigorous training and coursework by NACSW.
Why is Nose Work so popular?
Nose Work training is all about unleashing your dog’s desire to search, something your dog is already equipped to do. In Nose Work, you are going to harness your dog’s drive to search and use it for the benefit of you and your dog as a team. Dogs work one at a time and out of the sight of other dogs, so that dogs can engage and focus on the job in front of them. The act of deep sniffing for an odor or scent is hard work for your dog, so they become physically and mentally satisfied with just a few minutes of searching. This allows you to exercise your dog indoors, outdoors and in small, confined areas. Additionally, K9 Nose Work helps dogs to build confidence, impulse control and develop socialization skills. For the human end of the leash, it helps to build teamwork between you and your dog.
How does Nose Work help shelter dogs?
It’s been proven through research that the act of searching builds optimism in dogs, so dogs within a shelter that engage in K9 Nose Work are quite simply, happier dogs. Shelters across the country report that an in-shelter K9 Nose Work enrichment program increases adoption rates for their dogs due to the dogs becoming calmer, quieter and more relaxed.
By enrolling in the K9 Nose Work Program, you help your dog and you help bring Nose Work to shelter dogs.
When you take a class from APS-FH, your tuition is used to help fund the K9 Nose Work Program for the in-shelter dogs. You are helping shelter dogs to receive the gift of a home while allowing your dog to use the greatest gift of all. The dog’s nose.
SJI K9 Detection Club
Ongoing practice sessions on all K9 Nose Work elements in various locations are offered through the SJI K9 Detection Club at $25 per month plus one-time club membership join fee.
Upcoming Classes
Call us if you have questions.
K9 Intro to Nose Work (Level 1) – $300
In Intro to K9 Nose Work, your dog will learn to search for a primary reward, such as food or toy, while you learn to observe how your dog works in a search area. The spirit of Intro to K9 Nose Work is to allow your dog to discover their “inner hunting dog” and get rewarded for searching and finding a target scent or odor. Our job as handlers is to facilitate the search environment for our dogs without helping or hindering the dog in their mission to hunt, so that we can guide them on their scent work journey. This is a perfect activity for helping dogs to build confidence, overcome environmental stressors, create better impulse control, drive, increase teamwork and meet a dog’s needs for mental and physical stimulation. This is a rapidly growing sport and activity on the Island and around the world, and It’s all very easy to train and lots of fun!
In Nose Work, dogs work one at a time and are out of sight of other dogs. Bordetella vaccination required. Instructor is Brittney Ducote (PNWI), Animal Behavior College, The Academy for Dog Trainers, APSFH Training and Behavior Specialist.
Saturdays 9:30-11am
September 25 to October 31, 2026
6 Sessions
Continuing Intro to Nose Work: The Elements (Level 2) – $350
Introduction to Nose Work Elements is the 2nd class in a three-class series. You and your dog will continue to hone your skills and introduce your dog to searching within the four elements of K9 Nose Work: vehicles, interiors, exteriors and patterned containers. This class will help your dog feel comfortable, confident and focused while searching in different environments and the four different elements of canine scent work. We will be doing vehicle searches, exterior and interior searches, and container searches, in different locations and continue to strengthen your dogs’ drive for canine scent work before moving on to Odor. It will be lots of fun and can deepen the bond between you and your dog! Instructor is Brittney Ducote (PNWI), Animal Behavior College, The Academy for Dog Trainers, APSFH Training and Behavior Specialist.
Saturdays 9:30-11am
December 5, 2026 through Jan 23, 2027 (no class 12/26 or 1/2)
6 Sessions
K9 Intro to Odor (Level 3) – $375
Sundays 1:30pm to 3pm (first class is 2 hours, ends at 3:30pm)
October 11 through November 15, 2026
6 Sessions Includes Odor Kit
Intro to Odor is the third class of the K9 Nose Work series offered by APS-FH. This class will take you and your dog from Primary (searching for your dog’s primary reinforcer like food or a toy) to Odor (searching for a trained target odor like Birch, Anise or Clove). This is a 6-session dog working class, running approximately an hour and a half long, except for the first session. The first session will be 2 hours long; we will start by making odor kits and end with introducing each of your dogs to odor.
The spirit of Intro to Odor is to continue to provide and develop your dog’s natural ability to hunt; to feed those instincts every dog is born with, to give them purpose and drive, to strengthen your bond and build off the beautiful foundation work you both built together. Our job as handlers is to facilitate and provide a safe, secure and fun search environment for dogs without hindering the dog in his or her mission to hunt. We are here to guide them on their scent work journey. Remember every dog is our dog and they are the best search dogs in the whole wide world! Instructor is Brittney Ducote (PNWI), Animal Behavior College, The Academy for Dog Trainers, APSFH Training and Behavior Specialist.
K9 Advanced Odor: Sticking at Source – $400
October 9 through November 20, 2026
Fridays – 1st Session Oct 9 12:30-3pm (without your dog)
Fridays – Sessions 2-6 Oct 9-Nov 20 1pm-3pm (with your dog)
6 Sessions Includes Odor Kit
Prerequisite for this class: Completion of Intro to Odor and your canine partner can locate and indicate on an unpaired odor hide. This class is appropriate for any recent or long-term graduate of Intro to Odor.
In Sticking at Source, you will help your canine partner learn to remain at an odor hide or “find” until you arrive with the superfabulousistic reward for your dog’s effort. As your search environment becomes larger, and your dog becomes faster, you may find that having a canine team partner that not only locates the odor hide, but then happily remains at the odor hide until you arrive with your reward is helpful. The training tools provided in this class can also help with targeted sourcing. This is a seven-week class. The first class begins with a video-showing at the library without your dog on October 9 from 12:30 pm until 2 pm. Please plan to arrive 15 minutes early for all class sessions. Instructor: Lisa Holt, Certified Nose Work Instructor. Members of the SJI K9 Detection Club receive a discount for this class. Please email info@sjik9.org for discount code. Instructor is Lisa Holt, Certified Nose Work Instructor by National Association of Canine Scent Work.
K9 Nose Work is a registered trademark of the National Association of the Canine Scent Work.