Using Nose Work to Build Confidence with Nancy Reyes

🎥 This episode is also available in video format on Spotify. 

When I first introduced nose work to my anxious dog, Nessie, I thought it would simply be a fun enrichment activity. What I didn't realize was that it would become one of the most powerful confidence-building tools in our journey together.

In this episode of Shy Dog Diaries, I sit down with Nancy Reyes, founder of For Your K9 and certified nose work instructor, to explore how scent work can help fearful, anxious, reactive, and behaviorally sensitive dogs feel safer, calmer, and more confident in the world.

Nancy shares why nose work is uniquely different from other dog sports, how it taps into a dog's natural instincts, and why allowing dogs to solve problems independently can create profound emotional growth. We discuss the fascinating brain-nose connection, practical ways to start scent work at home, and why "going slow to go fast" is often the key to helping anxious dogs succeed.

We also talk about real-life success stories, common mistakes handlers make with sensitive dogs, and the role medication can play in helping dogs learn and feel safe enough to engage with the world around them.

About Nancy Reyes

With more than 30 years of professional experience, Nancy Reyes, CNWI, is a dedicated dog trainer whose work spans both dog behavior and dog sports. Her path began with a lifelong interest in animals and has evolved into helping dogs and their people navigate a wide range of challenges.

In 2004, Nancy founded For Your K9, Inc. in Elmhurst, IL, creating a training center that offers behavior-focused programs alongside dog sports such as Agility, Barn Hunt, Rally, and Nose Work. She has extensive experience working with complex behavior issues, including aggression and separation anxiety. At the core of her training philosophy is a commitment to strengthening the human–dog relationship through clear communication, thoughtful training, and mutual respect.

Nancy is deeply involved in the canine nose work community, serving as a Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI), Certifying Official, and Judge for the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW), as well as a CPE Scent Work Judge and CWAGS Judge. She has mentored scent work instructors both locally and internationally, in person and online.

An international speaker and presenter, Nancy has taught dog behavior and nose work across the United States and in Japan. She has written for multiple breed publications and regularly presents webinars for professional and owner-focused audiences. As a Certified Mental Management Instructor, she also coaches dog–handler teams to improve focus, resilience, and performance across dog sports.

Connect with Nancy

Website: www.foryourk9.com

Email: info@foryourk9.com

Business Facebook: ForYourK9

Personal Facebook: NancyQReyes

Instagram: @for_your_k9_training

Sniff & Solve Quiz for Dog Anxiety: https://go.foryourk9.com/sniff-and-solve-quiz

Connect with Shy Dog Diaries

Instagram: @shydogdiaries
Email: pod@shydogdiaries.com

Transcript

Nancy Reyes: In scent work, barn hunt, nose work, the dog is telling us We are going into their world. We learn what works for them, and, and sniffing is so incredibly natural for these dogs. We are coming into their world, and they are in charge. They are the leads in the sport, and it is our job to learn and understand them. . ​

Samara (Music Intro): Ever wonder what's really going on behind your dog's big feelings and how to actually help them feel safe and thrive? Well, you're in the right place. This is Shy Dog Diaries. 

Samara: Hello, friends. Today's conversation is especially meaningful to me because nose work has been an absolute game changer for helping my anxious dog, Nessie, feel more confident in the world. And so I am so excited to welcome Nancy Reyes, founder of For Your Canine and certified nose work instructor who works extensively with fearful, anxious, and sensitive dogs.

Samara: Hi, Nancy. Welcome to Shy Dog Diaries.

Nancy Reyes: Hello, all. Uh, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here this morning. It's a very important topic, so I'm really excited about, you know, our conversation today, 

Samara: well, I discovered you, Nancy, I think I told you, on another podcast, and I just thought, "Oh, this is the expert to talk about nose work as it applies particularly for our sensitive or behaviorally sensitive dogs." So This is gonna be an amazing conversation. I, I just feel it.

Nose Work as a Confidence Builder

Samara: And where I wanted to start was I want to, uh, try to familiarize our listeners with who, you know, who might not know much about nose work. Uh, could you please explain what it is, and then talk about why it can be beneficial for dogs with behavioral challenges?

Nancy Reyes: Sure. Well, um, I started in dogs 30-plus years ago, um, dealing with behaviorally challenged dogs, reactive dogs, shy dogs. I was dealing with, uh, lots of rescues, working with a lot of rescues, as well as, uh, the pet-owning population, uh, with dogs with issues, whether it's reactivity or anxiety or whatnot. Uh, and a lot of times we try to give them a job or give them something to help with, uh, you know, help them focus or channel some of that anxiety.

Nancy Reyes: And nose work came along in 2010 to our part of the world in the Midwest, it was great. I really enjoyed the sport. And then I got to see, as we started getting into doing nose work, how incredibly transformative it was for dogs especially that had reactivity issues and anxiety, and how it built their confidence. then I thought, "Wow, this is pretty interesting." So it kinda married two things I love, which is behavior work and also scenting, 'cause I used to do a lot of tracking back in the day, and scent work and scent kind of games, nose work really brought those two things together. And I I just saw the changes in the dogs were so profound and so quick 

Samara: that 

Nancy Reyes: I thought, "Huh, there's something to this."

Nancy Reyes: So while I do teach a lot of, uh, competition level nose work, a lot of our dogs are dogs with behavior issues. They're reactive or they're shy, and that they're able to... If, if, if the owner, uh, wants to, the dog can go from being completely shut down and not working or not doing anything to even going to competition, which is not what everybody's goal is. But some of the people who may have had these dogs get there, which is incredibly... amazing how that works. Um, and I have one of those dogs that, um, uh, that is able, that was able to do that. And when you get these dogs that have these anxiety, and you see how shut down they are, in my, in my wildest dreams, I never thought that the dog, my little beagle, uh, Rumba, was gonna ever be able to compete.

Nancy Reyes: And here we are. We're already at the NW3 level, and she's thriving. She's very naughty now. Uh, but, but she didn't, she didn't, she didn't, you know, start that way. So it was... It's just been great, and as well as some of our other clients that have all had these really challenging dogs, and they're able to now do...

Nancy Reyes: They have more... They have a life. They have more things they can do. They can be out in the world more. Um, and just, it's just life-changing for the handler and for the dogs.

Samara: Yes, and I have, I have experienced that firsthand, uh, with Nessie. Um, you also teach and you participate in other dog sports. I think I saw, uh, rally, agility, those... or barn hunt, which intrigues me. But

Nancy Reyes: Yep

Samara: does scent work compare to those sports, particularly for these kind of dogs? Like, you know, how does it emotionally

Nancy Reyes: Right.

How Nose Work Compares to Agility for Emotional Regulation

Nancy Reyes: So here's the difference. Rally obedience agility is we are bringing the dogs into our world. We are dictating how they work, and we, we are in control of those games that we play, right? We tell them to sit or down. We, we, you know, we are the ones telling the dogs what to do. In scent work, barn hunt, nose work, the dog is telling us We are going into their world. We learn what works for them, and, and sniffing is so incredibly natural for these dogs. We are coming into their world, and they are in charge. They are the leads in the sport, and it is our job to learn and understand them. So aside from confidence in that way, it also really strengthens the bond between the handler and the dog, 'cause we're really learning how to read the dog, understand what they're trying to tell us, and just bring us in, all into that. And so it just gives us so many more tools and so much better understanding of the dog, uh, no matter where they are, whether it's a high drive or whether it's an anxious dog, we are in their world, and we need to learn how to navigate it, which is a little more challenging for the handlers for sure. at the end, it's so rewarding

Samara: I think, gosh, I never thought of it that way, that we're kind of plopped down into their world and they're teaching us something. But now I look back over the last three years with Nessie and, and it really is truly amazing. You know all those times where you see a dog, uh ... I think it's funny 'cause if you drop a treat anywhere in this house, forget it.

Nancy Reyes: Yes

Samara: I mean, they will, she will stare at it, and then you realize, well, of course, this is why nose work is her. It, that we've evened the playing field for her. That is, you know, these dogs, that is their world. 

Brain-Nose Connection

Samara: I love that.I'd like to know a little bit about that, the brain-nose connection and, and how the dogs kind of appear more confident or calmer during searches

Nancy Reyes: Sure. So in the brain, the ol- the olfactory, uh, bulb of the dog is huge compared to ours, right? So ours is, you know, maybe the size of a postage stamp, and theirs is the size of an eight and a half by 11 paper, right? So much ... The difference is pretty, pretty big. So, so much of the dog's brain is dedicated to scent because that's the first thing they do when they're born and the last thing they do when they're, when, before they leave us, right?

Nancy Reyes: Scenting is such a, is, is, is, is everything to the dog. Tango. Is Sorry. Is everything to the dog. So the, cortex, the olfactory cortex is where all the information is processed, right? It goes in, and, and just for a, a fun fact, the dog's nose works ... The nostrils are independent, not like ours. Ours work together

Samara: What?

Nancy Reyes: I'm smelling carrots here, and I'm smelling steak on this one," right? They're ... That is how their noses are built, right? So when they're processing, they, the emotional responses are processed through the amygdala, right? Whether it's scary, whether it's calming, whether it's fun, whether it's relaxing, all those emotions are processed there. And then they go into the hippocampus where the memories are. That's why when ... in nose work, it's very re- reinforcing and very emotionally fun, so those memories stay there. That's why the dogs when they, they can go anywhere and do scent work because they're gonna they're gonna bring up that memory that scenting is a good thing.

Nancy Reyes: It's a positive thing. So it's very important when we start that we make nose work very safe, very relaxing, and very calming so then that way that becomes part of their memory, so when they go different places, that memory is like, "Okay, yeah, this scent is a good thing. It, it's a re- it, it's a positive and it's calming.

Nancy Reyes: It's not scary." So the start and how we start dogs is super important because you wanna build that library of scenting no matter what we're, what we're doing is great, and it's wonderful, and it's relaxing, and it's calming. So that's how it processes it in the brain, and you want those memories to be solid in the hippocampus because once it's there, it stays there just like us.

Nancy Reyes: If we smell, um, cookies that your grandma used to make and we smell, have that smell 20 years later, it's gonna bring back those feelings and those emotions around that smell. So that's why for the dog it's really important that we set it up correctly, especially for those dogs that are worried and anxious.

Nancy Reyes: But we, we believe all, everything should be set up properly for no matter what dog, right? But more importantly for dogs that are worried, and, and go back as much as you need and kind of help the dog, uh, figure out that, and make it good and happy for the dog.

Samara: Okay. That is, that is truly fascinating. Uh, I knew that they say that, you know, the nose work or brains, uh, dogs use like 30% of their brain, um, for it, and I know that Nessie can be wiped out after 20 minutes of it, which is

Nancy Reyes: Right.

Samara: Um

Nancy Reyes: Amen, sister.

Samara: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh, especially when you have a dog who doesn't love to go on walks, and is hard to get, you know, that, uh...

Samara: Oh, what am I trying to say?

Nancy Reyes: Physical energy out.

Samara: The physical energy out, you know, other than the crazy zoomies in the morning. And also, yeah, you don't want your dog standing around all day at your desk while you're working when you've said, "Hey, I wanted to take you for a walk, but you didn't wanna go," you know? So I had to find another alternative, and this has been it, and we do it all over the house, and in the backyard.

How to Start Anxious Dogs with Nosework 

Samara: And I... Not sure if I ever started it the right way, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on how you would start, um, particularly an anxious dog. But you said you like to set them up,

Nancy Reyes: Mm-hmm

Samara: are a dog that might go to competition or a dog with behavioral challenges, you try to get them started in the same way.

Nancy Reyes: Right.

Samara: would somebody start with nose work?

Nancy Reyes: Well, when you're starting with a particularly an anxious dog, if you have a dog that doesn't have any real environmental issues, you can start them anywhere, right? Uh, but dogs that have anxiety, like for example, my, uh, little beagle, when I got her, she wouldn't come out of a crate for three months, so that was tough.

Nancy Reyes: And there was a lot there to unpack 'cause she's from the, uh... she was from the breeding facility in Virginia that released all those beagles about, mm, this was about... Now I'm, I- September will be four years I've had her. Um, so but she was very shut down for three months. uh, so we started doing the scent work at home, and for dogs with anxiety, that's the best place to start, 'cause at least once they start getting comfortable there, they can, you know, it's a, it's a safe place once they realize that, 'cause it takes time for that.

Nancy Reyes: Like, I didn't start nosework with her for a year because First of all, she had to be comfortable in my house. It took time. She had to be okay in a car. That took a long time. And she had to be comfortable at my facility, uh, too. And so I wanted to do all those normal life things before I started scent work.

Food as Primary Reward

Nancy Reyes: So I started at home, a box with food at home. And that's why we start with primary, which is food, with all dogs. Uh, and I know there's a lot of controversy about that.

Samara: Hmm.

Nancy Reyes: w- the reason we start with food is because it's good for all dogs. It ... The difference is we might start them looking for food in the beginning, and dogs that have no issues will probably go to odor sooner, if, if they're choosing to compete.

Nancy Reyes: If you have a dog that you just wanna build a, a good life and have some, um, you know, some confidence and, uh, everything like that, you don't need to ever go on odor. You can just stay on food forever, right? It's no- nobody ... There's no rules. It's, especially for a dog that's a little bit worried about life, because you can't make a mistake there.

Nancy Reyes: If they, something scares them and maybe that food becomes adverse, you can change the food, where odor, you can't do that. So that's why we, we really are big on, we start it the way the NACSW inte- intends it to be, food, and there's a reason for that. A lot of people think that, um, that if you start them on food, they're gonna have trouble with distractors, and that's not true at all. Um, I've seen in my ex- because I'm a CO2, you know, a certified official for NACSW, and I'm a judge for CPE and some of the others. Um, I've seen dogs al- uh, false alert on food that were started on odor, too. So, not, not a true statement. It's not, it's not a ... That is, doesn't hold water. If you do it properly, we've

Nancy Reyes: I started all my dogs on, um, food, and none of them have ever, ever had a problem with, um, distractors ever. And I have two labs. And I have one lab that'll sell her soul to the devil for a cookie. So she, she understands that odor is the only thing that m- that pays. So, you know, um, so that's a, a fallacy. So, but for dogs that are anxious starting food, you can put them in a box if you want, but sometimes, for some dogs, box is scary, so you just put it, putting it in the, in the house where the dog can just go find it and sort that out. And, and as you said with your dog, that you can do a few minutes of nose work, and she's, she's tired after 10 or 20 minutes. That's exactly how it should work, 'cause you're doing a lot of mental, mental effort. Um, and it just calms the brain. That's why it's so, so effective for dogs that have reactivity issues or anxiety, that are stressed. You do a little bit of nose work, it calms the brain, and it calms them down. So, like, for some of our, our reactive dogs, do a little bit of nose work before going on a walk, because that, it'll just calm the brain, I mean, it doesn't mean it's gonna, you know, he's gonna be like, "Oh, I don't care," but it's gonna gonna be in that heightened state of arousal.

Nancy Reyes: Same with the dogs that are stressed.if you wanna take them on a car ride that maybe is a little scary, a little bit of nose work before you go in the car will help calm the brain so they can take in that information and process it and feel good about it. So it has a lot of, lot of i- you know, again, odor and all this stuff is only if you're really g- wanna think about competing with the dog. But you can be on primary forever and ever with a dog that, that you just wanna have a decent life and give them a, a more enriched life. You n- you never have to go to odor. You just can stay on primary forever. It's not necessary, right? For the pet owners. If you decide that you love it and you wanna go on, okay. You can do that too. That works

Samara: Okay. Well, I could take that in so many directions.

Nancy Reyes: Right

Calming Tool For Real Life

Samara: So many, and, and, but the one thing I wanted to mention was it's really interesting because, you know, Nessie has separation anxiety, and we've gotten her up to three or four hours alone. But recently she had a little bit of a... She took a few steps back.

Samara: And I started reviewing the video footage, and, you know, just trying to figure out what, what is different. And then I realized I used to do a little bit of nose work before I would leave her, and I had gotten too busy some of the times and didn't do it. And I can vouch for the fact that it was making a huge difference.

Samara: Now, I don't have to do it every time right before, but if I'm gonna be gone longer, it was the ones where I was gonna be gone longer, where we were having some trade-offs in the time that she could be alone because I realized, oh my gosh, that was making a bigger difference than I realized.

Nancy Reyes: Mm-hmm.

Samara: Um, so let's see.

Samara: I'm really curious. So I wanna tell you a little bit about how I started Nessie 'cause it might... I don't know if this will help listeners, and I'm curious to see what you think about our technique for how I started with an anxious dog. If-- And I'll, I'll try to be brief about it, but essentially, I started little boxes, and you're right, sometimes they don't wanna, they don't wanna put their head in boxes.

Samara: So I was using Amazon boxes, and it was just a treat, just a freeze-dried treat. And then she would do that fine after a while. And then finally I just graduated. I call it graduating, but I would, I would put her on a sit, and 45 seconds she would just sit there, and I'd go all around and hide treats, and then I go "find it."

Samara: And so I put 10 treats out every time, and some of them I just-- she eats them if she feels comfortable in the location where they're at. And other ones where she, she almost has, like, an instinct "I better not get up on that shelf to do that, so I'll indicate," and she freezes.

Samara: And I got to know her, her way of indicating without ever, I think, teaching her an indicator. There's a lot to unwrap there. But is that for somebody who's just starting with a behaviorally sensitive dog, is that an okay way to... Okay

Go Slow to Get There Fast

Nancy Reyes: Yeah, the only thing I would probably do, like you said, start with a couple or one, put- and then just really focus on the location of where you put the hides so you can kind of tell, like, what's the trigger for the dog. Like, okay, a shelf is too hard, or going in between those two chairs might be tough, or going under the table might be challenging.

Nancy Reyes: So you wanna kind of see where the dog is worried at, where the concern is. So doing one at a time, so you might do 10, 10 times, but it'll be 10 different places, right? And also, um, it also builds speed for the dog to go to it. It'll build, bu- you know, and to solve those problems, right? So, um, so like in, in the case of Nessie, um, I- maybe putting that one on the shelf or maybe a little bit lower where she can get it and maybe build her up to, you know...

Nancy Reyes: Or like, uh, for example, if a dog is having trouble going off un- underneath the table, you can just put it just right near the table and see how she does. And if that looks good, and what I mean by looking good, it means that the body's relaxed and calm. If it's any kind of stretching or whatever, I wouldn't progress that, right?

Nancy Reyes: I would just

Samara: Okay

Nancy Reyes: wait until you have- Relax going to that. Then you would move it two or three inches underneath the table and see what you get there, so on, right? So you might put it right by the table, and the dog's like, "Yeah, that's not a problem," and you put it in a little closer, and she goes, "Yep, still not a problem." And then you go put it all the way underneath the table, and she goes, "Oh, still not a problem." So you know that that's not an issue for the dog versus a dog that may be like, "I'm not going under there, 'cause I could... That's a scary place," then you know it's a thing, and you can... That's gives you, like, you can work on that. And what you're looking for is relaxed body language. Anytime an anx- especially the anxious or the c- there's any compressing or any stretching to get to the odor, you don't, you don't want that. It's like, it's like, "Here's a cookie, little kid," and the kid's like, "Uh." They grab the cookie, but they're not, they're not relaxed about it.

Nancy Reyes: They're still worried about it. So you want the dog to be able to be like, "Okay, I can do that. I can relax. I can manage it." And even if it takes them a little bit of time to figure it out, they're figuring it out, not you. You're not All you're doing is putting the hide where it's gonna be, gonna be a little cha- a little challenging.

Nancy Reyes: If, if the dog's like, "I'm not doing that," then you just already know you need to change that, right?

Samara: Okay

Nancy Reyes: anxious dog. Um, one of the things that we tend to do many, many times is put a lot of pressure on the anxious dogs. It's like, "Well, he did it here. How about here?" I'm like, "No, no. Move slower, slower." A- and it's, even if it's a couple inches, it's like go slow to get there fast is what I always say. Just slow, tiny, painfully steps will get you so much further with a dog that's got, um, issues with anxiety and stress, for sure.

Samara: As I have learned. So it's interesting because I have always ... Well, when Nessie, when I put them a little out of reach for Nessie, she doesn't show any kind of anxiety. She's definitely very loose and gentle, ears are loose, tail is. I always thought I was, she was just doing an indicator like you would do if she was on actual scent.

Samara: Is that not ... So the freeze, she's freezing, and then I did move her over to Clove, by the way, and sh- and she indicates for it. So is that bad that I didn't let her e- ... I give her the treat when she points, so she'll point and then I give it to her

Self Reward And Odor Pairing 

Nancy Reyes: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: because what, one of the things, one of the hallmarks of the, and there's a reason we use food and then we pair and all that, is because it, it kind of goes along with the sequence, right? The chase and the hunting. They're hunting, especially you have a pointer, hunting, and then they get to, in, in the, in the pointer's case they point, but in some of the others they, you know, they consume. So it's like, oh, they hunted for it and they get to consume, right? It's, it just, it's an instinctual thing, and all dogs have it. Ob- obviously to varying degrees, right? Um, like a pointer's not gonna, is not really gonna be devouring things, but they can, they can get it. They can end that sequence by eating the food. Um, but it's not terrible because they're doing, she's doing something very natural to her, right?

Samara: Yes

Nancy Reyes: right? She, so it's very natural. But, and that's, every once in a while doing that is okay, but on the majority, the 80% should be, they should consume whatever it is, the food, the thing, whatever.

Samara: Yes. Okay, I guess we're doing that. Most of them she can actually reach, and she just eats. And then there are always a few, like in a windowsill or something like that, where she indicates.

Nancy Reyes: Yeah.

Samara: and then when I transitioned her to clove, 

Samara: And like you said, for behavioral sensitive dogs, it's not necessary if you're not gonna go to trial.

Nancy Reyes: No

Samara: but I just kind of started. She'd know I'd have the treat, and I hid-- I would do one tin with the clove, let her sniff the clove, and then put it down and

Nancy Reyes: Yeah.

Samara: find it

Nancy Reyes: pairing, well, when usually when we tr- when we move dogs to, um, odor, we pair it. So it'll be the tin and then we put a food on top

Samara: Okay, and I wasn't doing that part, but I was immediately rewarding and I would reach down by the source and,

Nancy Reyes: So

Samara: and feed

Nancy Reyes: do, we- the reason we do, and again, going back for confidence building, the reason we pair it and self-reward, we don't go in, is because we wanna build that confidence.

Samara: Mm-hmm

Nancy Reyes: "Got it. I'm eating, I'm eating the food. Don't need you." I mean, eventually that changes over time, but initially it's that confidence, right?

Nancy Reyes: It's like, "I got it, and I can eat it, and I can consume it myself," versus you giving it to her.

Samara: Oh.

Nancy Reyes: building issue, So it's not good or bad. like for dogs that have anxiety, if they're like, "I found it and I'm gonna eat," and I get reinforced, I can reinforce myself,

Samara: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: It, it's to help build that confidence because it's so, so much different, like when we learn something on our own, it really stays with us when we learn it by ourselves. Same

Samara: Yes

Nancy Reyes: right? If they're like, "I, I, I found the odor, I chased, I went to it, and I got rewarded myself," that is so much more reinforcing or it stays with

Nancy Reyes: emotionally charged than you giving them the treat, right? Even though they

Samara: yeah

Nancy Reyes: you. Like my boys, I have two male, I have a male Shepherd and a male lab they are very, like bonded more, like terribly to me, so they're

Samara: Oh, wow

Nancy Reyes: So for them, I had to do a lot of, "You guys feed yourself.

Nancy Reyes: Self-reward. I, I'm just here to hold the leash," until they finally got comfortable with that, right? 'Cause they didn't wanna be away from me, and they were always looking for me. Where my girls, including the beagle, she was like, "Yeah, whatever. You'll be here. The cookie, I'm getting it." Right? But the boys were more wanting to be me more involved in it in the beginning,

Samara: Okay

Nancy Reyes: "No, you guys are on your own. You've gotta figure it out yourself," right? And then they were able to self-reward. And then, you know, over time now obviously I pay them when they find it and all that stuff, 'cause we're, we do compete with, with those dogs. 

Barn Hunt For Predictability

Nancy Reyes: Um, and, and to go back a little bit, I did start my beagle in barn hunt before we went to nose work. I'll tell you why. Barn hunt is a very predictable environment. It's small in size. It looks the same wherever you go. It's got bales of hay, blah, blah. It's very, very, very contextually the same. And for dogs with anxiety, it really is helpful when the environment is very predictable in the beginning. I started her in barn hunt. she seemed to enjoy it, and then once she looked good in barn hunt I did move her... I mean, she still do- does barn hunt every once in a while, but then I moved her over to nose work. At competitions, depending, 'cause she's noi- very noise, um, sensitive, so as far as she's come, if there's a noise or something weird in the environment at a trial, she, she'll sometimes be like, "Yep, this is too hard for me."

Nancy Reyes: So then I have to advocate for her. Even though incredibly she got her NW1 the first try, she got her NW2 on the second try, but she's not as fast, right? I notice at my facility and places she's comfortable, she's really fast. She's great. She's boom. She goes. Uh, new, new environments, takes her a minute to kind of take it all in and all that, and I am there to support that, right?

Nancy Reyes: I'm like, "Okay, we're here together." So I do her on leash more because that makes her comfortable and happy, and that works for us. Um, and, and I'm gonna be honest, I don't care if we compete or not, but she does seem to enjoy the game, very much so. Uh, so we do CPE and AKC, where it's a little simpler. The search areas are smaller, and, we just kind of work on that stuff.

Nancy Reyes: And then before ... You know, the NACSW is much more challenging, so we're doing that at a more leisurely pace, 'cause what ... My goal for her is to be very comfortable going to new places and being in new environments, 'cause that's important for me,

Samara: Yes.

Nancy Reyes: right?

Samara: Yes

Nancy Reyes: so the competition's fun, don't get me wrong, but I want her to be comfortable in life, like if I can go places.

Nancy Reyes: And now we're, we're at the point, 'cause she would throw up the first year in the car every time. was rough. And now we can go on trips. We can stay at a hotel. We can do all those things. So, and I used to just take her along with the other dogs just like, "Hey, just hanging out. We're having a good time." And I'd put a hideout, you know, at the Airbnb or something where she's like, "Oh, okay. is okay." So it's a, it was a very slow process, but it was very And, and, and I think if any, if your listeners take anything away, go slow. I promise you they'll get there faster than you think. If you try to rush it or put pressure on the dog, you are gonna take steps back that you don't want. So take your time. You know, let them ... Just kind of take in what they're trying to tell you. Like, "This is comfortable for me? Yes or no?" Always ask the question when you have an anxious dog, "Is this new environment okay? Is this okay for you? Are you able to handle this? Is this fine?" If it, the answer's no, it's okay. You'll just have to maybe back it up and go back a little bit later and see how they handle that, so.

Samara: Go slow to go fast. I'm gonna remember that now

Nancy Reyes: It's you can go so much faster. It's true. I, it's, uh, same thing for swimming when I taught my dogs how to swim. It's the same thing. It's like going down the ramp is scary for some, so just hanging out there for a while.

Nancy Reyes: The next time maybe they'll go a little further. The next time they'll go a little fur- and before you know it, they're in there having a

Samara: Yeah.

Nancy Reyes: so

Samara: I know firsthand because I flooded Nessie in the beginning. I, I had so many ambitions and goals for her, and I thought if I give her, do more and more and more, and I pushed her, and then she really shut down and didn't wanna go on any walks. And then I really learned the error of my ways. Um, and she has come along so much further.

Samara: Now I'm envious of you because you can travel and go to hotel rooms. We're-- we haven't done it yet, but we're gonna go very slow. I'm gonna try, you know, one night away, uh, nearby, so if there's any panic, we, we, um, abort mission and come back home. Um, but I have started transitioning nose work, so she can do s- nose work on our, the street in front of us, so on the sidewalk, and she's comfortable out there.

Samara: Uh, but we, we did it slow. And

Nancy Reyes: You might consider an Airbnb before a hotel

Samara: Yes, an Airbnb. Always an Airbnb

Nancy Reyes: yeah, those are so much better for dogs with, uh, anxiety for sure.

Samara: Absolutely. You can, 'cause you can find out more about them too, and if they have yards and absolutely.

Nancy Reyes: Absolutely.

Samara: Yeah.

Ethical Treatment of Barn Hunt Rats

Samara: I'm curious, Barn Hunt, am I right in this? Do they actually put rodents inside of tubes for Barn Hunt?

Nancy Reyes: Yep. So, um, I had my reservations about barn hunt when it first came out. I was like, mm... Not that, I mean, I love all animals, but I was like, I, um, I had issues with, uh, sacrificing the wellbeing of one animal for the sport of another. So I had a little bit of ti- I had a little thing about that. so after thinking about it and kind of like, how can we make this work for both species, right?so what we do, we have our own rats. We train them and make them happy and comfortable going in the

Samara: Wow

Nancy Reyes: And so we, so it's a little more work on the front end, but at the, at the end of the day, I feel okay. We do not allow our dogs to grab the tubes or smack the tubes or sm- or throw the rats across the room.

Nancy Reyes: We don't allow that. We don't train it that way. We train it very similar to nose work where the dog just has to indicate to us that it's a rat. we also, with the rats, we make it fun. We put the tube in there with them so they're in and out of there. We put food in there. And then after a while, 'cause rats are super smart,

Samara: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: we put the tube in, then we present the tube, and if they wanna get in it and wanna work, they work.

Nancy Reyes: And if not, they don't

Samara: That is so amazing, 'cause I always in the back of my mind I was thinking, "Is that really what goes on?" And yeah, so you have your own little cadre of rats

Nancy Reyes: Yes. Mm-hmm. they eat very well, they are taken well taken care of. Um, they are employees of For Your K9, and they are treated as such. Um, so then I feel a little bit more comfortable, uh, 'cause I did have that issue. In the beginning, it was a little bit of a Wild West with Barn Hunt, and I just couldn't do it.

Nancy Reyes: Like, I, I'm not gonna sacrifice a rat's life 'cause it's not any less valuable than the dogs. So it's like, no, we have to make it good for both, and we also limit how much time they spend in the tube too. So we

Samara: Oh, that's great

Nancy Reyes: so then we, we have a lot of, you know, we have quite a few rats, so that we rotate them so they're not in there for hours and hours and hours.

Nancy Reyes: They're just in there for a short time. We rotate them out. Next rat, right? And then, and then as they get older, um, they don't want to. You know, you can tell, just like us, right? We're like, "Ah, I don't wanna

Samara: I

Nancy Reyes: I'm getting too old." So they just hang out and, till they retire,

Samara: So you give them a, a fancy drink with an umbrella and let them sit on their lounge chair?

Nancy Reyes: They just hang out until they... 'cause they don't live very long. So yeah, as when they're younger, they wanna, they're more e- eager to get in there and work. And also our dogs are in there with them all the time, so the rats get used to having the dogs around, right? The dog sniffing, the dogs, and they're nose to nose with the dogs, so they're comfortable with that, so when the dogs sniff the tube they're not scared. Um, and we measure that 'cause, uh, a long time ago we rented rats from someone else they didn't do all the stuff we do, and the, the, the rats were pooping and peeing in the tube which means that they

Samara: Oh.

Nancy Reyes: So our, that's how we measure it. Our dogs, our rats rarely pee and poop in the tube because they're relaxed and chilling in there. so that's kinda how we measure it, right? Um, and so we, we, right? The, it's the, the life, rat's life is not any less valuable than the dog's life, right? So we treat them and we train them the way they should, and so I feel better about doing it.

Samara: I feel, I feel better about asking you about that.

Samara: I love you even more now, Nancy, really.

Samara: From what I've seen of, you know, heard of your training and the courses I've taken, that, that just, ugh, warms the cockles of my heart, I gotta tell you.

Nancy Reyes: So it takes a couple of months to get them ready to work,

Samara: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: that's okay. We, we train them, we get them comfortable and happy, and before we ask them to do anything, so

Samara: That's amazing. And this is all at your For Your K9 facility in,

Nancy Reyes: our

Samara: Elmhurst, Illinois, right?

Nancy Reyes: Yes.

Samara: Elmhurst. Fascinating. Fascinating.

Ruby’s Confidence Journey

Samara: Do you have, um, do you have a story that you'd like to share about any experience with a very sensitive or anxious dog who really, really thrived? Uh, I know our listeners love stories, so

Nancy Reyes: Um, yes, as a matter of fact, we- I have a lot, but there's one that's recent.She's a Chihuahua mix. Her name is Ruby. She belongs to a client of mine that has been with us Um, this is her, I think, fourth dog with us. Uh, so little Ruby, very scared, worried about people, environment, lots and lots of stuff. her owner is, uh, wonderful. She goes, if she doesn't, you know, she's, she competes with, she competed with her other dogs. She's currently competing with the other housemate of the dog, she's even said, she goes, "It's okay if she doesn't wanna compete.

Nancy Reyes: It's okay. So she brings her to class twice a week, to give her that exposure and all that. So this started, uh, so I think she started in I wanna say September, October of '25 Right? So recent. didn't want to do the boxes. We had to put a lid on the side of the boxes, And the food was a thing. Again, if the dog's not eating, that's a big indicator that, mm, she ain't happy. So we had to figure out a way to make it good for her. So she ate tuna, which was, gross, but it worked for her. And, um, so we would put it on the side of the box, you know. and then we do, because my place is pretty big, we have different rooms.

Nancy Reyes: So we went from one room to another room, and, and, and changing rooms, Little bit better, a little bit better. But it was a slow, slow process. now she's actually getting ready to go on odor. She's been on food all this time build her confidence. So you're talking September, October through now. 

Nancy Reyes: June, she's ready now to go on.

Nancy Reyes: odor. And what we're looking for is that confidence. She comes in, she's moving quickly, her tail's up, she's eating.

Nancy Reyes: She's, she's a little monster now on that, on food. now we take her outside, we've worked outside on food. Uh, we worked, you know, a couple different places on food, and she's like, "Yeah, I ... This is great. I can do it." Now is when I'm gonna put her on odor, 'cause now she can handle it. 

Nancy Reyes: by some standards, well, that's a long time. Yeah. But, but now the dog is primed and ready. So now she can go, if she wants to compete with the dog, she'll be able to do it. Where if I would, if I would've moved her sooner, she may not have, because she would've been scared. Now she knows the game, she understands it, she's happy, and she's relaxed at our place, 'cause my place is busy and noisy, and she is killing it. now is she's ready to go on odor in June. So yes, that took what? Eight, nine months? But this dog was very shut down, very, very scared. Just, the car was a problem, getting into the building was a problem. It was a lot.so if you think about it, considering how she started to now, months, nine months, not so terrible.

Nancy Reyes: That's pretty good, 'cause now she is She's good to go. She's not worried. Everything we throw at her, she's, she's good. that's what I mean, go slow to get there fast. 'Cause now if you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, nine months is really not a terrible thing. It's not, not horrible, right?

Nancy Reyes: It's a, it's a

Samara: Right

Nancy Reyes: snap of ti- it's a snapshot of time and, look how quickly it, it goes for, it has gone for her. And now She does workshops, she does activities. We do events, and this dog now can participate in those, where previously she would never be able to do that,

Samara: That's amazing. That's amazing.

Nose Work is Good for All Breeds and Sizes

Samara: You said she's a Chihuahua?

Nancy Reyes: Chihuahua mix.

Samara: Oh, okay

Nancy Reyes: she's, she's Chihuahua-y, and there's something else in there. Some little... She's a tiny little dog.

Samara: 'Cause you just don't think of a tiny little dog doing nose work. I don't know why. You just don't

Nancy Reyes: Oh

Samara: think

Nancy Reyes: she's, a killer. She's great at it.

Samara: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: no, we have a lot of little, a lot of little dogs. And, and then, you know, my own, my own dog, it took ... I didn't start her in nose work for a year, or in barn hunt for a year because we had a lot to work on. She was afraid of noise. Noise is still a thing, but it's not as bad. Um, the vomiting, the traveling, it was, there was a lot to unpack there for her. And now you'd never, ever know that there was an issue with this dog. 

Samara: it's wonderful. It's, it's just wonderful that, that, to have that transformation.

Starting on Odors and Progress

Samara: so when you do, if, if you do, when you do transition them, what odor do you start with?

Nancy Reyes: Usually birch.

Samara: Okay. And I started with clove.

Nancy Reyes: It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. Yeah, it's just what we've always done birch, because in the be- back in the day when we started Nosework, that's the odor you started with was birch. Um, but there's no, you know, doesn't matter which odor as long as you

Samara: It doesn't?

Nancy Reyes: to all three, it doesn't really matter, no

Samara: Okay, 'cause I know the different competitions, and obviously this is for behavioral sensitive dogs. But, you know, even I sometimes go, "Gosh, could I ever get her to the point where she could go to competition?" And yeah, I don't know. She's still pretty... Novel environments is hard for her

Nancy Reyes: yep. So just keep at it, right? even if you go, like, if you're driving along with her, you can hop out at a park, put a hide, a really easy hide out, get her out, have her sniff it, reinforce, you know, or have it paired, get back in the car and keep going. That's, huge,

Samara: a great idea. Just, yeah, again, just one, one thing, get back in. I love that

Nancy Reyes: Yeah.

Nancy Reyes: And then, um, yeah, and then the dog will be like, "Oh, get out of the car. It's not so bad," 'cause that's what I had to do with my own dog, right? On the way to work, I'm like, "Oh, okay, I'll stop here, put a hide out, get her out, sniff, get it, put it in the car and go." Right? And then they're like, that's, that's like, "Oh, that was, was okay.

Nancy Reyes: I got in a new place and I..." And that's how you build the memory in, in the hippocampus about the going places and odor is okay. This is great. This works, right? And so that's why, um, yeah, that's why nose work is so incredibly effective. Um, and that's why we, a lot of the nose work we work on is a lot of independence on the dog's part.

Nancy Reyes: Like, the dog solves the problems, the dog, self-rewards, the dog... It's all the dog because that's how they build that confidence, right? And then once the dog is pretty good and confident, then we, we add the handler. but we do it that way for all dogs. All the dogs. Because sometimes when people get involved too early, they get a little overzealous,

Nancy Reyes: Because the dogs, it's easy for the dogs to become dependent on us 'cause that's, you know, they live their lives. We take care of them all the time, right? We,

Samara: yeah

Nancy Reyes: So it's easy for the dog to be like, "Well, maybe you know something I don't, so go ahead."

Session Length and Burnout

Samara: know, I notice sometimes when we're doing nose work, I can kind of tell what mood she's gonna be in and how challenging I should make it. Because if she starts kind of just ... Most of the time she's really in and using her nose, and you can hear it going, just the hard sniffing, and then it stops, and she's ready.

Samara: But sometimes she does look at me almost as though, "Is it here?" She'll go to places she knows it's been before To kind of cheat, because you know she's getting tired. And then I know, oh, I've done it too long What are some of the signs? You said that, you know, obviously their body language, but what are some of the signs where

Nancy Reyes: Um, they, they slow down, like at home, they slow down finding stuff, right? And they're like, "Okay." So usually if you work, you work for five to 10 minutes, that's usually pretty great.

Samara: Okay

Nancy Reyes: that, that's a pretty g- so that'll give you, you know, four or five searches. And, and again, it's very dog dependent. You have a pointer mix, um, they can probably go a little longer than my beagle, right? Because they're, they're, you know, they're bred to work a little longer, so you can do a little more. And, and you always wanna leave them wanting more. Like, "Oh, we're done already?" You don't want to see that, "Oh, thank God this is over," right?

Samara: Okay, well then we're having success there. I give her a little finishing treat a lot of times.

Nancy Reyes: Yeah.

Samara: that's

Nancy Reyes: if, if she's like, "Oh, let's do another one," you're like, "No, we're done." That's what you wanna leave it at. Like, "Oh man, we can't ... we're not done.

Samara: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: more." That's how you end always

Samara: I probably shouldn't say this on a podcast, but, you know, my day job, I've, there have been times where I was late for meetings 'cause we were still doing nose work and there was a hide.

Nancy Reyes: Yeah.

Samara: And

Nancy Reyes: Yeah,

Samara: like, I've, I've gotta let her, I can't, you know, leave her h- stranded in the middle of a game. So I really have, I have to pace myself.

Samara: I get excited,

Nancy Reyes: Yeah,

Samara: 'cause it, honestly, it is the most fun thing.

Funny Nosework Moments

Samara: That makes me think of, do you have, can you ha- I'm sure you do, have funny stories of nose work and maybe working, w- just some funny things that have happened either during trials during nose work, or at home, or with your, your, um,

Nancy Reyes: Our clients. Well, yeah,

Samara: Yeah, your clients

Nancy Reyes: the uh, um, the dogs, especially the ones that, um, the dogs with behavior, uh, issues and they're not so much funny as it is... Uh, I had one shepherd, she can be a little bit reactive, so she heard a dog coming in from the door, and she was working, uh, working something. She stops and goes to the dog, "Woof, shut up," and goes back It's like, it's like, "I'm busy." Uh, and I, and it was just the funny ... Her, the look on her face was priceless. She was like, "What are you doing? You're making all this noise. Stop it." And, and before she would've never been able to do that. She would've gone off and stayed off, and just been like, "I can't." Uh, and this dog was like, just like, "You're being rude.

Nancy Reyes: Stop it." And, uh, and, and she

Samara: like she feels confident enough

Nancy Reyes: Yes

Samara: communicate

Nancy Reyes: "Shut it. I'm working here." And I'm ... We were like, "Well, she told him," which is really unusual because, you know, in the ... previously she was like, "Yeah, I'm not. I can't. I can't. I gotta keep talking to this dog." a recent one, uh, one of the things that we ... you know, one of the things in nose work, um, at, at, at the facility is the dogs have to be crated so they take their turn, right?

Nancy Reyes: So they have to be comfortable in the crate. Well, we have a young dog who's not really comfortable in the crate yet s- uh, away from his handler, so we put a crate in the room, which we usually don't do, but we put it and we blocked her in, blocked him in next to the handler so that she can reinforce and make him feel comfortable in the crate. And this young shepherd, I think he's maybe 14 months, he's young, and he's starting to do his shepherd-ness, and he's a lovely dog. Loves dogs, loves people, loves everything. ch- he's used to, you know, there's only people, there's no dogs usually in the room, but this time we made the exception to help the other dog, like, get better, and I knew they were both nice dogs, so I, I didn't worry about anything. And he was in a crate st- it was also in a crate, but in, in a corner, but the shepherd knew he was there, and he kept working like he was so annoyed about the dog being in the room like, "That's against the rules." the shepherds are like, "It's the rule. There's no dogs in the search area." And he was just so annoyed.

Nancy Reyes: So, and lots of things like that where the dogs get used to this is how it is, this is how it works, and you see those different breed tendencies that come out. Like, the shepherd was, like, peeved that the rules were not being followed that day. This dog wasn't supposed to be there. And he'd stop and look like, "This is wrong." But he still was able to go back to work,

Nancy Reyes: and personally, I had a trial this weekend, and the, the hide, it was a com- competition, and the hide was

Nancy Reyes: The other dog ahead of me must have pulled it down, uh, and my dog went. She found it on the ground. It was supposed to be elevated, and she found it on the ground, and she's like, "Hello." And I'm like, "Really? It's at it, and she goes, "No, it's down here." And I look at the judge. I go, it's here." And of course, I got the credit for it, 'cause she did find it. They just hadn't realized that it was pulled down from the other dog, which happens on occasion at trials too, so.

Samara: Oh my gosh, that is amazing because I will hide one, I'll hide a treat, and I- she's still looking and still looking and still looking, and I can't remember it. So she outsmarts me. It's like, "Samara, you gotta remember." You know, that's why sometimes if I hide 10, she does really well letting me hide 10, but actually I can tend to screw up the game.

Samara: And yeah, and then there have been times like, a very similar thing, I put it up on a picture frame and she's pointing below the picture frame and I'm thinking, "No, no, no." And then I realize, wait a minute, always, what, what is it? Um, trust in dog, right?

Nancy Reyes: Yes, right. Trust the dog, 'cause they

Samara: Yeah.

Nancy Reyes: They're like, "It's right down here." I'm like,

Samara: They know. I have to always... It's that what you said earlier, we're in their world now, and if she thinks it's there, it is there no matter how many times I say, "It's not there. It's not there."

Nancy Reyes: Every time you look, you know ... And as an instructor, I teach an incredible amount of classes. Every once in a while I'm like, "That's not a hide." Or the, the dogs are indicating, and I go, "I didn't put a hide there." And after, after a while I'm like, "You know what? I'm gonna go check." And sure enough, there's a hide there.

Nancy Reyes: Either I forgot it or somebody forgot it. So always believe the dog, They,

Samara: Yeah. They really do.

Nancy Reyes: they

Samara: it's...

Nancy Reyes: know. Yeah. So it's

Samara: I-

Nancy Reyes: Yeah, that's happened to me a few times. I, I, you know, uh, 'cause I'm, you know, you're teaching so many classes on so many different levels, so every once in a while I'm like, "Oh."

Nancy Reyes: Or somebody else, or we have, we have 12 instructors that teach nose work, so, every once in a while somebody'll forget one. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does I always, the dog's always right, so I always

Samara: The dog's always right. I was in a Zoom meeting one day with some people at work, and she was standing over my shoulder, and just ... And everyone was laughing on the call because sh- they think she's entertained by the Zoom meeting. And I'm s- I'm sitting there thinking, and then I realize, oh my gosh, she's pointing at a treat that's behind the keyboard.

Samara: I had stashed a, a treat behind the keyboard.

Nancy Reyes: Right. And you're like

Samara: it's, so much fun. I just love it. I'm a little, I'm a little obsessed 'cause I never did nose work with any of my other dogs. And, you know, you go on and you go, "Oh, I wish I would've done this with this dog," or wish ... And you can't go back. But you did what you did with them that they enjoyed, too.

Nancy Reyes: Sure.

Samara: light into her eyes. Actually, a lot of light into my eyes 'cause we were struggling those early months.

Nancy Reyes: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.

Go Slow With Anxiety

Nancy Reyes: It, is a very, it is a challenging situation with a dog that has anxiety. It is, it is a, it is a road. And I think the reason sometimes we flood our dogs or overwork the dogs or over push the dogs is because we want them to be happy, or you want them to be comfortable right away. So- We have a hard time, know, letting them go at their pace. andwith dogs with anxiety, that's, that's the key is letting them figure it out at their pace even though it may not be the pace we want, 'cause we wanna make it better for them sooner. So that's why it happens, I know that. but you have to, you have to let them figure it out and kind of it just will become more permanent, right? Like my beagle didn't come out of the crate. I left the door open for the time. I put the foo- you know what I mean? We did the whole thing until she was good and ready to come out of there. until she was, I l- I just allowed her to be and

Samara: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: take what she had, and then you saw her, you know, get better and more confident and, you know. Um, and again, things, things still can scare her, but she recovers incredibly quickly. and the scent work I feel has been a huge, huge contributor to her life and a better life and a more comfortable life. So I think, um, why, uh, we use n- nose work in such a, uh, i- in so many ways. That's why for people that just have a dog at home, it is a great way ... And we, you can start them, start them the way we start them, nice and easy and slow, and before you know it,You'll be able to take them anywhere and do more and just build them up, right?

Meds as a Training Tool

Nancy Reyes: And I wanted to also address that, uh, for my beagle, I did, uh, I did start her on some meds to help with the transition, and that ... I mean, you'd need to talk to your vet about that. I'm, I'm not a vet, and I'm not, I don't pretend to be one on TV. But I did help her with some Chinese herbs, calm shen, and, um, some trazodone for a few months to help her relax in her new home here. And then as I saw she improved, I weaned her off of those things. Depending on the dog, you can put her on clonidine. You can do whatever

Samara: Yes

Nancy Reyes: recommends. Uh, and so my vet put her on some Chinese herbs, holistic, uh, for the heart and the liver, and then trazodone. So she was on the trazodone for three months, and she was on the herbs for six months, and, uh, to help her transition. And I think that's, uh, overlooked, um, for some of these dogs that have anxiety because I think uh, the medication, all it does is a tool to help them Get, feel relaxed to be able to learn. Because nobody can learn if you are so stressed out and scared. There's no learning happening.

Samara: That's right

Nancy Reyes: takes so long. So giving them the, that ability to relax and be calm and just be okay so they can start taking in information is so important. That doesn't mean that every dog needs it, my beagle was extremely shut down. Would not come out of a crate, would not, I mean, she would not So I knew I had to help her a little more. Um, so it's different levels, and I think it's something that if you're, if you're, if you have a dog that you got that way, talk to your vet, talk to your trainer, um and come up with something.

Nancy Reyes: 'Cause the medication isn't permanent. It can be temporary to help the dog. It's another tool just like anything else, right? It's just, a, it's a tool like any other. Like a leash or a collar. But I think there's such a big stigma about medication for people and dogs that, uh, unfortunately the dogs suffer at the end of it Why wouldn't you make it more comfortable for the animal? I'm not sure why that is such a big deal. 'Cause it's not a reflection about you or the dog, it's just, it, it, it's just is. So giving the dog that peace and that calm is just, I, I think it's, it's a gift we can give them, right?

Samara: It is a gift you can give them. Yeah, and I'm so, I'm so very glad you mentioned that because I waited. I thought, "Nope, nope, I'm not gonna do it." And, you know, it was the, it was the, um, uh, anxiety, anti-anxiety meds that helped us get over the hump with the separation anxiety. Sometimes separation anxiety will not budge

Nancy Reyes: You're right.

Samara: Until you use behavioral meds.

Samara: And in fact, I am meeting with her behavioral vet. We do remote sessions because we don't have any in this area. I'm meeting with her at 3:30 today because we track progress so closely, and we track meds so closely, and this is a pro-meds podcast, I will tell you that.

Nancy Reyes: Yeah.

Samara: It-- I believe in it so strongly, and so many of my guests have brought it up, and thank you for, thank you for mentioning that

Nancy Reyes: because How can you learn if you are feeling like somebody's gonna kill you? You, there's no learning happening. Now, can you do it? Sure, but wow, it's gonna take a long time. that's why my timeline seems shorter, right? Because it took, she was on stuff for six months, 

Nancy Reyes: So w- i- in the grand scheme of things, that's pretty quick, right? That's

Samara: Yeah

Nancy Reyes: Um, and then she was able to get to the business of the other things, right? and now she recovers from things quick, more quickly. She's made some positive associations. The scent work has been huge for her. and, and 

Nancy Reyes: nobody, nobody ever guesses how bad it was. She was very shut down, and everybody's like, "Oh, now she's, she looks normal." Like, normal, but quote-unquote, right? Like she was a, like she had never had any problems. I'm like, "Oh, no." She, she has. And like I said, there's always gonna be something there.

Nancy Reyes: She do- she's always gonna be a little noise sensitive, 'cause that's how she came, and noise sensitivity is kind of a hereditary thing, so, you know, it's a thing. Uh, but we, we deal with it, and we work it through and, you know. And we sometimes, now we use some of the m- more natural pet relaxing stuff if it's gonna be a scary environment for her. But not as often as we used to. You know, you see that with, you know, she doesn't need it as much. Um, but yeah, those were really helpful to help her learn and relax and just handle it,

Samara: Mm-hmm

Nancy Reyes: medication has a place. It's not for everybody and not all the time, 'cause I've had that too, where I wanna put this dog on medication. I'm like, "No, the dog just needs to be trained," right? So,

Samara: That's right

Nancy Reyes: right? It's very specific. Yeah, 'cause I've had people, they have a dog, and it's like, "No, the dog's totally fine, just needs training," right?

Nancy Reyes: And

Samara: That's why a behavioral vet can be so helpful

Nancy Reyes: Yes

Samara: you're really out of your, um, element completely and over... I was underwater when I got her. And, and you know, she's the sweetest girl, so gentle, but I was, I was underwater. I was drowning those early months, and

Nancy Reyes: It, it's, it's overwhelming for the handler too, 'cause we wanna help so bad. We wanna make it good for them so quickly, and just can't. It's gonna happen when they're ready. You just have to provide them the tools they need to work through that.

Samara: Yes, absolutely.

Key Takeaway and Wrap

Samara: Oh gosh, I could talk to you all day every day about nose work, but I know you are getting on the road soon. And, um, I'm gonna ask you one last question. I suspect I kinda know the answer to this, but I don't know. I wanna hear what you would say. If, you know, what do you think is the most important thing to share about using nose work with these behaviorally challenged, anxious, fearful, maybe even aggressive dogs?

Nancy Reyes: Sure. Take your time. Take it slow to go fast. Telling you, take your time. I think as, as human beings, we want things in a hurry, which is kind of the society we live in. but take your time, nice and slow, it doesn't s- it may not feel sometimes like you're making progress, but I promise you, you are, and you'll see it. And, and one of the things, if you, if you are working on some of this, videotape it. You will see the change in your dog because you'll see the physical changes, and you'll see the confidence changes. Take your time. Take it easy, take it slow, and enjoy the process because before you know it, they'll be a normal dog, and you'll have forgotten all about it, right? But taking your time is super important, and just going step by step and going slow with an anxious dogs, it's key. When you try to rush it and go fast, you, you, it, you know, you, you The setbacks are big and, and longer lasting. So slower is better

Samara: 100%. I've had that exact experience. well, Nancy, I think that is a perfect place to wrap up, and I just wanted to thank you so much for sharing your expertise. But before we leave, would you please let our listeners know where they can find you?

Nancy Reyes: we have a Facebook page,facebook.com/foryourk9. You can also, email us at info@foryourk9. that's, info @ F-O-R-Y-O-U-R, the letter K, and the number 9 .com. we also have a Instagram page, it's foryourk9training. so you can reach us in, all those ways. Uh, we, also, do a lot of virtual consults we have found we can do consults for shy dogs is a l- is a little bit more effective. We do in person as well if you live in our area. If you wanna get on our, uh,mailing list. And I promise we don't sell it, we don't do anything. Uh, there's a qui- quizand it's, go.foryourk9.com/sniffandsolvequiz.

Nancy Reyes: And I we also do a lot of, webinars and, Facebook Lives that are free as well, so check our Facebook page, Or just reach out if, with a, if you have any questions or anything like that, we're happy to help.

Samara: Wow. So such amazing content you have on your site, and I have not taken the quiz, so I guess I have one more thing I get to do this weekend 'cause I really wanna do that. Uh, but yes, I've s- I've seen some of your trainings, and I've seen some of your live events, and I really recommend them to folks who are really wanting to help their dogs, whether they're anxious, um, or sensitive or not.

Samara: So head on over there, and I will have all of that contact information in the show notes. And thanks again, Nancy, And to our listeners, thanks for listening to Shy Dog Diaries. If you have a story about your own shy or sensitive dog, or if you work with dogs who see the world a little differently, I'd love to hear from you.

Samara: Please reach out on Instagram at Shy Dog Diaries or through the contact info in the show notes. Until then, please give your dog a sniffy walk for me 

​Shy Dog Diaries is for education and entertainment only. It's not a substitute for working with your own trainer, behaviorist, or veterinarian.