Meet Nooch

Nooch was born in September 2022, somewhere in Texas. She and her littermates were rescued and transported to the Helen Woodward Animal Center, a private non-profit in San Diego County dedicated to the philosophy of people helping animals and animals helping people for over 50 years.

I adopted Nooch when she was four months old—already a solid 25 pounds. From the start, I incorporated "find it!" and other nose work games into her daily training. Our neighborhood walks quickly revealed her strong scent focus and motivation, so as she grew, I introduced exercises from Imprint Your Detection Dog and K9 Conservationists, and explored other foundational scent training resources while keeping up with the latest research on conservation detection dogs and canine science. We use positive, reward-based training techniques. 

Nooch loves to learn, and our training has been the perfect way to satisfy her need for engagement and play. Around her first birthday, she joined a team of scent dogs in a year-long training program with K9Inscentive designed to locate Western Pond Turtles and their nests. Since then, she has worked in turtle habitats in San Francisco, Marin, and Yosemite National Park. When she's not working, Nooch loves basking in the sun, running on the beach, making new friends, and exploring on a neighborhood sniffari.