Student Spotlight - Maxwell

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 Malinois. 

How did you and Max find your way to Nose Work?

Max has a fear-based reactivity toward some dogs, which over time we have learnt to manage. Nose Work was suggested to us as a calm activity that suits reactive dogs. We did Introduction to Nose Work with John a few years ago but to be honest, it didn’t stick with us back then mostly because searching for food made Max more manic than calm.

It was clear though that Max loved it though as he couldn’t walk past the ACT Companion Dog Clubhouse without pulling me into it because that is where we did our classes with John.

What made you decide to give it a try?

I would amend that question slightly as in what made us decide to give it another try. The answer to that would be that I started doing Nose Work with Bella (my other dog who is a cute little and very shy Beaglier) and seeing her joy in doing it made me reconsider doing it with Max.

Although the second time around, I decided to put Max direct to odour, remembering the manic effect the search for food had on him. And it seemed to work well for him.

What does Max love most about Nose Work?

I would have loved to answer this as ‘being able to use his brain to solve scent puzzles’, but to be honest I think it’s the immediate reward that Max loves about Nose Work. This is not to say that he doesn’t use his brain to solve scent puzzles.

What has Nose Work taught you about Max?

I think it highlighted to me that despite all of his training and successes in other sports, Max is still a dog who is not naturally confident. He needs encouragement, love and support to be able to succeed.

What has been your favourite Nose Work moment so far?

It has to be watching the game click in his head and his confidence grow. How he pulls and rushes into the search rather than being unsure and watching me to tell him what to do. That swift and almost proud head turn toward me when he finds the hide and expects a reward.

What is something you and Max have worked hard to overcome or improve?

There are still a lot of technical skills for both of us to learn. But one of the hardest things for me to work on lately has been to re-learn to support Max in Nose Work emotionally by not placing the weight of my expectations and worries on him, to let him know that it’s ok to take initiative and lead, and to celebrate him being a good boy no matter what.

This is something that I am very grateful to Amy for as our instructor. In addition to reading our dogs, Amy reads us as handlers and it’s the handler corrections that are sometimes needed first and foremost. Thank you Amy – giving feedback in a way that resonates is not easy! 

What are you working on at the moment?

We are still a very green team trialling at the Novice level. At the moment, we are working on building Max’s search resilience and more precision in following the odour to source.

What would Max say is the best reward after a great search?

Max is a foodie so something like roast beef or sausage would be definitely met with approval.

What is one thing about Max that your Nose Work classmates might not know?

I think they know too many things about us but maybe that Max is scared of sheep so no sheep herding for us.

What's next for Team Max?

Hopefully being able to continue doing things Max loves.