Do you film your searches?
Do you watch them back?
My friend and coach Ann McGloon recently posted a video of a search with her WCS. There are a few Changes of Behaviour (CoB) that gave Ann a clue as to where the hider might be. At one point Millie stops moving, points her nose toward the hider (from a distance away) then continues searching. It was like she got a whiff of odour, but it wasn't enough to follow yet.
Learning to notice these changes in behaviour while you're searching can be hard. Having video footage allows you to watch things back. A training partner or coach might notice things you didn't and help you 'get your eye in'.
Ann did exactly that for me in this search. I've only just started learning about these larger scale searches (Sol is searching for a person) and while I noticed the CoB I didn't know what it might mean. It can take multiple exposures before we're able to notice and interpret what we're seeing in real time.
It's much easier to absorb that information away from the pressure of the search. Video allows you to be a spectator rather than a handler. It's a powerful tool for building our understanding.
If you like learning about search dogs, Ann has just published a book. In it she shares stories from her time as an operational Search and Rescue dog handler. There's even a story where the ability to notice these pointing alerts from a long way away led to a missing person being found. The book is called Seeking Scent.
Teaching a ‘recall-refind’ indication was one of my summer projects with Sol.
This type of indication is actually a chain of behaviours and is useful if your dog is going to be ranging a long way away from you. When the dog locates the target, they automatically recall back to the handler and communicate that they have found it. The handler then cues them to refind the item.
Here are a couple of little searches from the weekend where Sol is searching for a shoe. When he finds it, he runs back to me and barks to let me know. I then cue him to run back and show me where it is. When the chain is complete, he gets his reward!
Always fun learning/training something new 😃🐾
A nice little track with Sol last night 🤩.
My online Foundation Tracking course is running again next month. Its perfect for beginners or teams who would like to sharpen up article indications, corners or reading their dog. Get in touch if you would like more information 👣🐾👣🐾
Beginner's course starting Monday, September 4th 🤩
Learn Scent Work with Discover Canine!
Learn Scent Work with Discover Canine 🤩
Beginner's Courses starting soon:
- Dandenong - 2 day intensive, 13th and 20th August.
- Traralgon - 6 week course, starting 4th September.
Intermediate and Advanced courses
Weekly trial prep classes (or just sniff for fun) daytime and evening options
INDICATIONS - How do you reward?
Duration of NoS (nose on source) is a behaviour that many of us want for our Scent Work and Tracking dogs. It allows the dog to clearly communicate the location of the source to us.
There are many ways to reinforce NoS and each has pros and cons. In general food rewards keep the dog in a lower state of arousal (which is better for learning) and allows for many reps in a shorter amount of time. Toy rewards are more motivating for many dogs and allow the reward process to be drawn out into a longer event. Some dogs can find toys so exciting that they might find it difficult to perform and maintain the behaviour in the presence of the toy.
Delivering food by hand close to the source will help your dog develop value for staying close to the source. It can be hard to develop duration using this method as dogs might start to look to where the reward is coming from. Throwing food (or a toy) at the source is a great way to counter this, because when done well the dog won’t be able to notice any cues that the reward is coming until it appears. Throwing the food or toy isn’t always an option though, depending on hide location.
Using a terminal marker to tell the dog to take food (or a toy) from you is a great way to develop clarity around when the dog can stop the indication behaviour. Dogs tend to really enjoy being rewarded in this manner but may start to anticipate the terminal marker. A terminal marker is useful for rewarding the indication while developing duration as it can be used before the dog tries undesirable behaviours such as mouthing or scratching.
Remember, training is never finished. Every hide/article is an opportunity to reinforce your indication behaviour. The reward you choose and how it is presented needs to be considered so that the behaviour you want is reinforced. Having a range of options is going to help you develop a reliable NoS behaviour with duration because you can avoid or counter issues that develop t
Scent Work with Discover Canine! Beginner's Courses starting soon 🤩
Foundation Tracking Online course starts on Wednesday!
Get started with strong article indications and precise tracking behaviours. Already tracking? Sharpen your skills and learn some new ones.
Course taught by Talia Duell - almost 20 years experience training and handling a range of breeds for ANKC Tracking and Track and Search.
Tracking season is just around the corner, so we're starting to get ready. Here is one of the training tracks I did with Sol yesteday - he's looking good 👍.
Lots of my tracking students are surprised to learn that I'm not in the habit of stopping my dog when he overshoots a corner. Knowing that he will 'search back' when he loses the track is critical to being able to trust him when trialling.
Volume up if you'd like to hear my rundown of this little track. It isn't perfect, we're a bit rusty, time to revisit some foundations to tighten things up.
