My Nosey K9; Scent Detection and Behavior Training

My Nosey K9; Scent Detection and Behavior Training Dog training, Humboldt County, Eureka, Arcata, McKinleyville

09/01/2026

When your dogs love water, what else can you do but buy them a pool. šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø

Iā€™ve received a few questions about the training Iā€™m doing with the working-line GSD Iā€™ve been posting about over the la...
08/29/2026

Iā€™ve received a few questions about the training Iā€™m doing with the working-line GSD Iā€™ve been posting about over the last week.

One question that has come up is: Could I use a bark collar or e-collar to teach him to be quiet?

I could. But hereā€™s why Iā€™m choosing not to.

This dog is currently showing a high level of behavioral activation around coming out of the crate. The vocalizing isnā€™t occurring in isolation, itā€™s part of a larger pattern of arousal, anticipation, and behavior that has been rehearsed over time.

I could apply an aversive consequence specifically to the vocalizing, and that might reduce or suppress the barking. But reducing the sound isnā€™t necessarily the same thing as changing the behavioral pattern that is producing it.

In this case, my goal isnā€™t simply ā€œmake the barking stop.ā€ My goal is to change the entire sequence of behavior surrounding his exit from the crate.

Right now, Iā€™m using food strategically to reinforce lower-arousal, calmer behavior. As his level of arousal increases, his ability to reliably respond to previously learned cues decreases. Rather than repeatedly cueing behaviors when heā€™s already too activated to perform them successfully, Iā€™m working on changing the conditions under which those behaviors occur.

Once he can remain calmer in the crate and during the transition out of it, I can begin incorporating familiar cues and reinforcing a new behavioral sequence:

Calm in the crate ā†’ quiet exit ā†’ engage with me ā†’ access to the next activity.

Thatā€™s an important distinction.

Iā€™m not trying to punish away the behavior I donā€™t want. Iā€™m changing the contingencies, reinforcing the behavior I do want, and giving him repeated opportunities to rehearse a different response.

Could suppression make the problem look better faster? Possibly.

But my goal isnā€™t a quieter dog because heā€™s wearing a collar. My goal is a dog who has actually learned a quieter, more controlled way to move through this situation, even when the collar isnā€™t there.

08/29/2026

I promised you could come along on this training journey, but instead of posting videos every day, Iā€™m going to show you each weekā€™s progress, or plateau.

Previously, this big guy could not eat food under these conditions. He was way too over threshold/excited/stressed and opted to vocalize to help elevate that stress.

German Shepherds are bred to be vocal. Being easy to frustrate into barking is highly desired for a working line GSD. The fact that he defaulted into screaming/barking is no surprise, and very typical for a well bred working line dog. Itā€™s just misplaced behavior, not an undesirable one.

Finding ways to help him settle enough to be able to use food to help him calm has been tricky.

I tried a lot of things, including introducing pattern games, but for him, we borrowed from a different methodology instead.

I waited for a brief pause in his vocalizing, marked that moment, then released him to a big treat scatter in a grassy field. At first, he would start to eat, then run around whining, then go back to eating and so on until he would release to just eating. He wasnā€™t on a leash the first couple days, but then I did use a leash to interrupt him circling the van and upstressing.

These dogs travel with me all day to pick up day trainers, take them around town, and drop them back off at the end of the day. So there is lots of opportunity to get them in and out of the van. It also makes it hard to have the same setup each time, because we might not be near a grassy field.

I made sure to always get him out first. Use a snuffle mat to de-escalate after releasing him. Use a leash to interrupt any upstressing behaviors, and wait until he was calm before I got the other dog out. I also donā€™t have him present when the other dog is released from his crate because right now, itā€™s way to stimulating.

Today we moved from snuffle mat outside the crate, to cup of food inside the crate. This is a huge step forward! I didnā€™t get him out of the crate, just rehearsed opening the van doors, opening his neighborā€™s crate and letting him process while eating. He stops eating a couple times but redirects on his own back to his food.

Heā€™s going to get his meals like this for the next few weeks. Now that he can take food in the crate, this opens up a lot of ways I can help him learn to self regulate and maintain a calmer presence when he sees another dog get out of their crate.

08/24/2026

A typical day around hereā€¦this dog is a working line German Shepherd. He was raised and trained by a very experienced, knowledgable trainer. They were set up differently so this behavior wasnā€™t a problem. For me, and the way I do presentations, use my demo dogs etc, I need calm, quiet behavior.

For working line dogs like this, it isnā€™t uncommon for them to build excitement around transitions. Opening the door to the yard or front porch can be a common cause for them to smash their way past you at 100mph.

The way they are bred and how they do their job puts these traits to good use and helps them have healthy outlets. Despite that, sometimes they still develop excitement/anticipation stress and frustration around simple things like letting the dog crated next to them out.

Now, I will say, feeding any kind of treat/bone/chew/licky mat etc before hand doesnā€™t work.

Letting him out first doesnā€™t work.

So Iā€™m going to be trying out a number of things, and hopefully remember to catch it all on video so you can come along.

This is just a typical day in my dog training life, but itā€™s what drives my passion to help these dogs.

My foster puppy Gila has been adopted šŸ˜­. Iā€™m so happy for her and her new owner. She is a VERY special little puppy. I h...
08/23/2026

My foster puppy Gila has been adopted šŸ˜­. Iā€™m so happy for her and her new owner. She is a VERY special little puppy. I have had to fight the urge to adopt her just about every week. I wish them the best of luck and hope they adore her as much as we did. Thank you Woof Project for being an amazing rescue for these dogs.

One of the questions I keep coming back to in Nose Work is this:How are we teaching ā€œFind Anotherā€ā€¦ and is it actually u...
08/09/2026

One of the questions I keep coming back to in Nose Work is this:

How are we teaching ā€œFind Anotherā€ā€¦ and is it actually under stimulus control?

I watch a lot of teams work, and I donā€™t think most people are intentionally teaching this behavior. Instead, it often develops accidentally through repetition.

The dog finds odor, alerts, gets reinforced, and then the handler says, ā€œFind another.ā€ Eventually the dog leaves the hide and continues searching. But was ā€œFind anotherā€ what caused the behavior? Or was the reinforcement ending the alert, the handlerā€™s body movement, leash pressure, environmental cues, or simply the dogā€™s history of continuing the search?

For a cue to truly be under stimulus control, it should reliably produce the behavior when given, and the behavior shouldnā€™t occur in its absence. Iā€™m not convinced thatā€™s happening very often.

If I said ā€œFind anotherā€ while the dog was confidently working odor but hadnā€™t yet located source, what would happen? If I gave the cue without moving, without changing leash pressure, and without all the usual context, would the dog understand exactly what I was asking?

This isnā€™t a criticismā€”itā€™s an invitation to think more deeply about our training. Nose Work is full of behaviors that become part of a chain simply because we repeat them over and over. Sometimes that chain looks like stimulus control when itā€™s really contextual learning.

As trainers, I think itā€™s worth asking ourselves a simple question:

Did I intentionally teach this behaviorā€¦ or did my dog simply learn the pattern?

Sometimes the answer tells us more about our training than our dogā€™s.

Donā€™t get lost in the shuffle of large classes when you could be joining My Nosey K9 for Basic Manners! Small class size...
08/08/2026

Donā€™t get lost in the shuffle of large classes when you could be joining My Nosey K9 for Basic Manners! Small class sizes, personal attention and quality training from an experienced, certified professional trainer will have your dog behaving better in a few short weeks.

In this class you and your dog will learn things like reliable recalls; loose leash walking; better stays; polite greeting and as a bonus, build a better bond!

Who is this class good for? Puppies and adult dogs. Must be up to date on core vaccines. No prior training required.

Where: Manila (indoors)

When:
September 1st, 2026 at 5:30 PM
September 8th, 2026 at 5:30 PM
September 15th, 2026 at 5:30 PM
September 22nd, 2026 at 5:30 PM
September 29th, 2026 at 5:30 PM
October 6th, 2026 at 5:30 PM

Register here:
https://noseydogsrock.as.me/schedule/318ab27d/appointment/73407670/calendar/6257639

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Arcata, CA

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