ACSW or Dogs Australia? Understanding Your Scent Work Competition Options.

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 target odour, work it to source and then tell you about it?

The competition structures around that job are different, however. Each organisation has different progression pathways, title requirements, target odours, eligibility rules and approaches to competition.

Who are They?

Australian Canine Scent Work (ACSW) is an independent, privately operated sporting organisation. It administers the Australian competition framework for K9 Nose Work®, including its rules, trials and titles.

Its competition pathway progresses through:

ORT → NW1 → NW1 Plus (optional) → NW2 → NW3 → Elite → Summit

Dogs Australia, formerly known as the Australian National Kennel Council or ANKC, is the national canine organisation, operating through its State and Territory Member Bodies. Scent work is one of the recognised dog sports conducted under its national rules.

Its competition pathway progresses through:

Novice → Advanced → Excellent → Masters → Ultimate

While the terminology and competition structures are different, your dog doesn't know which rule book you're competing under. Their job remains beautifully simple: Independently search, recognise target odour, work it to source and then tell you about it.

Can we trial in both?

Absolutely.

Good scent work foundations are transferable. In either competition framework, we want a dog who can search independently, recognise target odour, follow the information the odour is giving them, work their way to source and tell you about it.

What changes is everything around that search: eligibility, the odours being used, how searches are structured, scoring, progression and how titles are earned.

This is why it's important to read the rules for the organisation you're trialling with rather than assuming that because something is allowed in one system, it will also be allowed in the other.

Where do you start?

Photo credit: Pinnicle Photography

This is one of the first significant differences.

For ACSW, your first trial experience will be an Odour Recognition Test (ORT). Birch, Anise and Clove are tested separately, with the dog searching 12 boxes to locate the one containing the target odour. A Birch ORT is the entry requirement for NW1.

For Dogs Australia, there is no ORT requirement. An eligible dog can begin competing directly at Novice level.

There is an important distinction here, though:

Being eligible to enter a trial isn't necessarily the same as being ready to trial.

Before entering either system, your dog should be confident searching independently in unfamiliar environments, comfortable working around the sorts of distractions they'll encounter at a trial, and have a solid understanding of what we are asking of them.

The target odours are slightly different

ACSW uses three target odours:

Birch • Anise • Clove

Dogs Australia uses four:

Birch • Anise • Clove • Cypress

The way those odours are introduced through the competition levels also differs.

ACSW uses Birch at NW1, while Birch and Anise may be used at NW2. By NW3, all three target odours may be in play.

Dogs Australia can use Birch, Anise, Clove and Cypress across all competition levels, with the number of possible target odours increasing as the dog progresses. The trial schedule tells competitors which odour or odours will be used.

If you plan to compete in both systems, you'll eventually want your dog comfortable working all four target odours.

The biggest difference: how you earn titles

This is probably the most important structural difference to understand.

ACSW: the whole trial matters

In the core ACSW pathway, particularly through NW1 and NW2, the dog and handler need to successfully put together the required searches at the same trial.

At NW1, for example, there are four searches — one Container, one Interior, one Exterior and one Vehicle search. There is one Birch hide in each search.

To earn the NW1 title, the team needs to successfully complete all four elements at that trial, earning the full 100 points with no more than three faults.

So if your dog absolutely nails Containers, Interiors and Exteriors but misses the Vehicle hide, those successful searches don't accumulate towards an NW1 title at the next trial. You come back and try the whole thing again.

As you move through NW2 and NW3, the search problems become progressively more complex, with multiple hides and eventually unknown numbers of hides and blank search areas.

ACSW also offers Element Specialty Trials (ESTs), which provide an element-specific competition pathway. There are also four searches to complete across these trials.

Dogs Australia: qualifications accumulate

Individual searches are judged as Qualified or Not Qualified, and successful searches earn Qualifying Certificates (QCs).

Those QCs then accumulate towards titles.

That means a dog can also progress through different elements at different rates. A dog might, for example, be competing at Advanced in Containers while still working at Novice level in Interiors.

For the Novice class title (SWN), a dog needs six QCs: at least one in each of the four elements, plus two additional QCs across two elements. The requirements increase through Advanced, Excellent and Masters, before the pathway culminates in Ultimate.

Neither approach is inherently about changing the dog's basic task. They are simply different ways of structuring competition and progression.

What happens as the searches get harder?

Photo credit: Pinnicle Photography

Both systems progressively increase the difficulty of the searches, but they don't do it in exactly the same way.

For ACSW, the progression from NW1 through NW3 moves from single known hides to multiple hides, unknown numbers of hides and eventually blank search areas. Distractors are introduced into searches at NW2 level. At Elite level, the familiar separation between Containers, Interiors, Exteriors and Vehicles begins to disappear, and searches can combine elements into more complex scent problems.

Dogs Australia increases complexity through its five classes. Novice begins with one hide. Advanced moves to two hides and introduces distractors. Excellent increases the complexity further, while Masters introduces an unknown number of hides, blank areas and additional distractors. Ultimate moves to integrated searches incorporating at least three elements.

So whichever competition pathway you choose, the challenge grows considerably beyond simply teaching your dog to recognise an odour.

What about rewarding your dog?

Here the systems are much more alike.

Both allow handlers to reward their dogs with food or toys during the search, provided the reward isn't being used to lure or guide the dog and you don't contaminate the search area.

Neither requires your dog to perform a formal trained indication such as a sit or down. Instead, you learn to recognise your dog's individual change of behaviour around odour and source, and when you believe your dog has found the hide, you tell the judge by calling:

“Alert!”

That ability to read your own dog is one of the skills that makes scent work such an interesting partnership.

There are some trial-day differences too

Some of the differences between the systems become particularly important when you're actually attending a trial.

ACSW explicitly describes its searches as taking place in real-life environments. Ordinary environmental distractions aren't necessarily removed simply because they might interest a dog.

ACSW also permits reactive dogs to compete provided they are not deemed to have intent to harm, and bitches in season can compete under specific management conditions.

Dogs Australia operates under its National Scent Work rules together with the relevant Member Body rules. Search areas are designed to meet the specifications for the particular class, with intentional distractors introduced as teams move into the higher levels.

Dogs with behavioural challenges can participate provided they can safely complete the class without undue stress, while aggressive behaviour can result in removal or disqualification. Bitches in season may not compete or remain within the trial precinct.

These are exactly the sorts of details worth checking before trial day — particularly if you've previously competed under the other system.

So… which one?

You don't actually have to choose one.

You can compete in ACSW, Dogs Australia, or both.

Rather than changing your fundamental training according to the competition system, build the dog you want to take into either environment:

• a dog who genuinely loves searching;

• a dog who understands that source odour has value;

• a dog with experience searching across different environments, surfaces, weather conditions and distractions;

• and, most importantly, a handler who knows what their own dog looks like when they encounter odour and work their way to source.

  
  

Then learn the particular rules of the competition you're entering.

Because whether the judge is standing at an ACSW NW1 trial or a Dogs Australia Novice trial, your dog's fundamental question is exactly the same: Where is source odour?

Ready to give trialling a go?

Photo credit: The Intelectual Canine

At Canberra Nosework Training, we train the underlying search skills rather than teaching dogs simply to pass a particular competition exercise.

If you're thinking about entering your first trial and you're not sure whether you and your dog are ready, talk to us. We're very happy to help you understand the process, work out where your dog is at, and prepare you both for that first step into competition.

Competition rules can change. This blog post is an introductory guide based on the current ACSW and Dogs Australia Scent Work rules. Always check the current official rule book and individual event schedule before entering a trial.