[alaskayorkie]

Eddie went to his first mock nose work trial yesterday, and did GREAT! He was the smallest of 28 dogs competing, and he came home with two ribbons -- a first place and a fourth place -- in four events! I was quite proud of him.

Nose work is a new dog sport, where dogs learn to identify different scents -- they start out with the essential oil birch. In a trial, they have to do four stages: A vehicle search where the odor is hidden in one of three vehicles parked side by side; an interior search; an exterior search; and a container (or box) search.

They're given roughly 3 minutes to complete each task, and Eddie completed each one under the time limit! If it were a real trial with real judges, he would have received his Level 1 certification! It's my understanding that no Yorkies in the country have received Level 1 certification yet!

His best event was the interior search. He entered a small room and correctly found the odor in 11 seconds. It was hidden in a heater vent, and he went right to it and pawed at it. His next best was the container search. 20 or so boxes in a room lined up in 3 rows. He started out checking the first row, then split off and raced to the third and pawed at the correct box in 15 seconds.

Here are a few pics of the searches and a shot of his winnings!