The Nosework 
Notebook

September has been a month of learning, problem-solving and adapting — for our dogs, our handlers and, occasionally, for us too! We've had some wonderful opportunities to develop our handling skills, welcomed more teams into classes and continued exploring the many little things that make such a difference to our dogs' searching experiences. Behind the scenes, September also brought some challenges, including the difficult decision to cancel our planned NW2 trial. But if ther

Photo credit: Confident Canines If you’ve started scent work with your dog and are thinking about competing, you will have heard us talk about two different competition systems: Australian Canine Scent Work (ACSW) and Dogs Australia (ANKC). And yes — they are different! Both involve dogs searching for target odour across the four elements of Containers, Interiors, Exteriors and Vehicles, and both test the same fundamental skill: can your dog independently search, recognise ta

Who is Maxwell? Maxwell (Max, Maxie) Max will turn 7 in November 2026. Max is a short-haired working Border Collie with prominently long legs. He was born on a Queensland farm and travelled to Canberra by plane at the age of 8 weeks arriving in January 2020 (for those who remember that was the start of COVID-19 lockdown). His DNA analysis reveals that he is over 50% Border Collie and about one third Australian Kelpie, with the rest being made up of cool breeds such as Belgian

What a month August turned out to be! There has been a lot happening here at Canberra Nosework Training — new teams discovering the searching game, continuing teams building more advanced skills, a fabulous weekend of learning with the amazing Peta Clarke, new classes getting underway and plenty happening behind the scenes as we prepare for an equally busy September.

One Month In – Thank You for Being Part of the Journey! Can you believe it's already been a month since we officially came together under the Canberra Nosework Training banner?