[alaskayorkie]

LOL, I know what you're thinking: What the heck is an ORT? And did he have to eat it first in order to pass it? Nooooo.

We've been doing a new dog sport called called Nose Work, and an ORT is an Odor Recognition Test. They set up 10-12 cardboard boxes in a large room, and he had to tell me which one held a Q-tip with a drop of birch oil on it. In order to compete in competitions, he has to be ORT certified.

It was fun and funny all at the same time. He's been great in practice, so I wasn't really worried. But he got all excited at the test because there were lots of people and lots of strange dogs milling around. We had 3 minutes to find the correct box -- without making a mistake. I started to panic when he passed ALL THE BOXES once without giving me his signal of scratching at the box. So we made another lap around. This time, he stopped right away at the correct box and scratched away. Woohoo.

This picture has nothing to do with the test, but I just wanted to show off his talented -- and certified -- snout.