Did you enjoy learning the skills covered in Nose Work: Building Skills #1 (sourcing, elevation, threshold, and multiple hides) or did you miss out on the fun the first time around? In either case, come join us to work on four new nose work skills in Building Skills #2!  

This standalone course will help you expand your dog's problem-solving toolkit and mastery of complex scent pictures. It is perfect for teams already proficient in finding the target odor who want to build a foundation for Elite-level work, and the exercises also have options for challenges appropriate for more advanced Elite/Detective teams. 

The class systematically addresses four advanced challenges:

• Close Proximity: Mastering "converging odor" and teaching your dog to stay engaged in the hunt immediately after a find. You'll learn to distinguish between a dog "referencing" a hide for information versus "nagging" for payment. 

• Containers: Refining your dog's "inspection" style using single-pass urgency drills. We will also address distractor fluency (food and toys) to ensure your dog offers communication only on odor. 

• Back Doors: Building the spatial reasoning required to navigate barriers. This skill teaches your dog to solve the "go around" when they encounter a scent cone on the opposite side of a physical obstacle like a vehicle or furniture. 

• Inaccessible Hides: Strengthening your dog's persistence and bracketing behavior when they can smell the odor but cannot reach the source. This is essential for navigating hides tucked deep into cabinets, drawers, or cluttered environments. 

Over the duration of this course, you and your dog will isolate and practice the components of each skill through targeted exercises designed to build independence and problem-solving fluency. 

You will receive personalized feedback on homework assignments to assess your dog's understanding and progress their learning. Crucially, feedback will also include an assessment of your hide setting skills to ensure you are creating optimal training scenarios to support your dog's success. This is the course you need to sharpen your team's technique, enhance your communication, and prepare for the complexities of higher level competition. 

What is included with your registration?

• 4 weeks of lessons and homework that include written lectures and video instruction (a new lesson is released each Wednesday)

• Access to all course materials on both mobile devices and your computer

• Downloadable content for off-line access when you're out training

• Ability to ask questions, participate in discussions, and watch all posted videos

• Keep what you buy—No expiring content; after the course ends, you won't be able to ask questions, but the content is still available to you

What additional items are included with a Premier registration?

• Ability to submit up to 5 minutes of video each week

• Instructor feedback on video assignments

Note: This class is intended for one dog/handler team. If you also wish to post videos of a different dog, you must purchase another registration for the other dog(s).

Prerequisites

Minimum of ORT/Novice level with a strong understanding of locating source. Exercises will have options for challenges appropriate for more advanced Elite/Detective teams as well.

Equipment and space needed

• Nose work odors, hides, and putty, magnets, etc. to affix hides

• 12 closed containers

• The inaccessible and back door exercises can be done with exercise pens, furniture, or items you would find in a typical house or garage

• The exercises can be done inside or outside, and most require minimal space. One of the lessons requires room to place 12 containers in a line with about 2 feet between them. 

Preview

How to complete registration after payment

After you complete your purchase using your credit card or PayPal, you will receive 2 email confirmations: the first is a receipt acknowledging that your order has been received and the second email contains a link for the Conference Unleashed classroom in the Clean Run Learning Center. Click on the link in the email to complete your registration for the conference. If you already have a Learning Center account, you will go directly to the classroom. If you do not, then you will enter your email address and a password to use for this Learning Center program and any future ones you purchase. Please be aware that this is a separate account you are establishing on https://cleanrunonline.com/home, and it is not the same as your Clean Run website account (although you can use the same email and password for both accounts). 

Refund Policy

We offer a 90% refund for the class if you request a cancellation at least 5 days before the class begins. There are no refunds once the course has started.

We suggest that you read the information provided carefully before making your purchase. If you have any questions about whether the content is right for you, please email us.