[alaskayorkie]

Eddie won his Nosework 1 title at a trial yesterday, and as you can tell by the pictures, he went Full Monty he was so happy! ;D

Nosework is a relatively new dog sport where dogs are taught much like police K9s and search and rescue dogs to find specific odors. All dogs can do it, all dogs LOVE to do it, and they are all master sniffers.

In a trial, dogs have to pass four stages -- interior, exterior, container search and vehicle search. They're given anywhere from 2-3 minutes to find each object.

Eddie got tired as the day progressed. He started with container and found it in 20 seconds. He followed it up with the three-vehicle search and found it in 23 seconds. In the afternoon, he went right to the exterior odor but I couldn't tell exactly where he was telling me it was (over his head, about 2 1/2 feet high under a picnic table!) I let the clock wind down until I got the 30 second warning, and I guessed under the table. Eddie was right.

In the afternoon, he was exhausted, unwilling to sleep in the car all day. But interior is his favorite, and he's practiced them almost every day for four years. Only this time, he was LETHARGIC. He sniffed people in the room, he walked the perimeter of the entire room and showed little to no interest in anything. When I got the 30 second warning at 1:30, I started to panic. He hadn't alerted to an odor! I decided to call him over to one area where he'd shown mild interest. In my head, I was counting off how much time I had left. At the last possible second, I called ALERT. It just so happened he was right on the odor at the time, and the judge gave it to us!

Thirty dogs tested -- and Eddie was the smallest along with a Dachshund and a Westie. He was one of 16 to pass.

Eddie becomes only the seventh Yorkie in the country to win a Nosework title in the four or so years they've had the sport. His sister, Jillie, passed last year and is the 5th Yorkie in the country to pass. I'm the only Yorkie handler in the country to pass with two Yorkies!

Yes, yes, I'm bragging, but I'm quite proud of Eddie. He certainly made me sweat!