EDN Team Tango rocking their NW1 container search. Really proud of the work this team has put in- check this young, high drive dog work her first trial (other than ORT) with confidence, precision, focus and drive. And her handler for lovely handling and calls. Oh, and odor obedience for days!!!!! This is what training to fluency before test day looks like- easy. 😍🥹🔥💚
ALERT! New EDN skill challenge! "On Second Thought" Hide. Post a video in the comments for a chance to win a $20 gift card to K9 Nosework Source! Winner will be announced next Sunday, June 23!
It's likely the last cooler morning for a while so we got out and trained. Check out Brennan SMTx5 working my favorite hide of the day.
This is a great example of an atypical hide placement + thermals that created a deceptive sourcing challenge. Brennan has found likely hundreds of hides on the bottems/seats of chairs/tables/benches. I set the hide in the base of the seat on the ground, in direct sunlight. Direct sunlight causes the odor to rise and collect under the seat of the chair and throughout the tables. Brennan had to override his expectation of hide placement and work through the rising odor by using his nose to fully source down to the hide. Fun training hide!
This is how we create tenacious sourcing and maintain our criteria! Regardless of the dog's level of experience, we have to maintain this throughout their career!
This weekend, we challenge you to go set an "on second thought" hide. Pick an object that your dog is used to searching. Benches, picnic tables, chairs, etc are great for this. Think of where you would normally put it. Now, pick somewhere else on or near the object to put your hide! Run your dog, mark and reward the moment they are at source, have a party! Share your video in the comments! Happy hunting 🥰
That feeling when your hide works exactly like you wanted it to 🥰😎 Go Team June Bug!!
Here's a fun illustration of the swirling that happens to odor in an alcove with wind. I saw this dancing leaf in an alcove at work the other day when it was really windy and I immediately thought about nosework and odor and couldn't not get a quick video, lol. Odor = air, so picture your odor as the dancing leaf!
Here's the video response to yesterday's scent theory game! Listen with sound for the commentary and to watch Brennan SMTx4 work these hides. This is a very experienced dog so that is part of why he is so efficient with this set up, but he has very demonstrative changes of behavior that help us see what odor is doing. When we talk about dogs showing us their world and what the odor is doing, this is what we mean! Their body language and searching tells us the story!
As shown in the video, these hides did indeed converge. Remember, proximity of the hides alone does not indicate convergence, but rather what the enviornment is doing with that odor to make the scent cones mix, or not.
The other thing to realize with this is how physically far from the hides Brennan needed to go to work out the problem. Holding them in an area you think the odor is most available may actually restrict them from getting the necessary information and ultimately take more time for them to solve the problem than if they had been allowed the room!
You can play this yourself. When you set hides, think about where that odor is going to go. Make a prediction. Write it down, record a video "I think the odor is going to go here". Then run your dog and see what they tell you. It is a great way to keep developing these skills. The learning never ends!
Thank you for the great engagement! I'm a big nerd and love this stuff- I hope this was fun! If you liked this and would like to see more content like this, let me know and I'll try to make this a more regular thing so we can all talk about functional scent theory together!
