Building
enthusiasm for training is always a fun result of an experience. I had the
pleasure of attending two days of lectures at a symposium create jointly with
the NACSW – National Association of Canine Scent Work and CNCA – California
Narcotics Canine Association, which brought together the two organizations for
the inaugural Civilian K9 Conference featuring key presenters from the
professional detection and K9 Nose Work® communities.
Reflecting
on the lectures and thinking about what information I could share with the
teams I coach that would help them in their training. It has been occupied my
mind as I traveled home. First the entire symposium was invigorating for me and
my own thoughts about training, not only did I get hear some great speakers. I
had the opportunity to talk with many of my fellow K9 Nose Work trainers – with
about 100 in attendance. Many of the speakers were limitedly familiar with our
sport and incredibly open with sharing information; everything from talking about
how they look at; nutrition, tracking, selecting dogs for detection(narcotics
and explosives), patrol, suspect apprehension or detection for other
disciplines (finding endangered species). One might get the impression that much
of the information wouldn’t be relevant, but that was not the case, it was a
giant jigsaw puzzle of information to fit into what I teach in K9NW or in other
areas in the desire to expand general knowledge about dogs and professional
occupations related to dogs. In an effort to share some information, I will try
to paraphrase some the highlights in the hope that it will help the teams I coach.
“Pay
the hunt” – This was a running theme, if planned or not, most of the speakers
touched on it, some describe practical applications or how they accomplish it
with dogs starting out. For class purposes we cover reward timing a lot. We can
only perceive through our observations of the dogs what works the best for each
of our dogs. Through repeated “hunting” for odor we reward our dogs for desire
to hunt; to build more drive, to build stamina, to build problem solving, to
build communication. One of the speakers talked about rewarding his “green” dog
for just a “change of behavior”- just the recognition of the track he had
provided. We many times categorize our reward as early or late but we are still
rewarding the hunt of our dogs. The reward timing is a function of what we see
and our response to the perceived communication from our dogs when they have
recognized odor, acquired an edge, tracking odor, chasing odor away or towards
source, and narrowing in on source. We make mistakes in our timing; in fact several
videos in the presentations pointed that out. A trainer saying “the timing
sucked”, or “can you see the mistake made”. It seems like a small thing to
point out but for me it was the biggest compliment to what we are all working towards,
better timing, pace, and coordination with what our dog needs from us to learn
what we desire from them. We have companion dogs but we are still paying the
hunt, building it to overcome environmental distraction, etc. I don’t think I
heard one speaker said they were paying the find, in their videos of the professional
dogs the payment was for the process leading up to, and sometimes before the dog
acquired the source of odor. Or in the case of having to tell the handlers
about an odor away from source because of the job requirements, the dog’s desire
and tenacity to hunt was very clear and handler/trainer skill in working with
the dogs was great to see on video.
“The
dog’s job” – Leave it to Amy Herot - co-founder of the NACSW to make some powerful connections about what
we are training in K9 Nose Work® and how that relates to the other professional
trainers and presenters. I’m paraphrasing again, “what was your dog selected to
do?” That was the question set on the table – personally I didn’t choose my dog
to do nosework. I was looking for a pet and companion, a dog to hike with and
enjoy the outdoors, to be a running buddy. As Amy pointed out most of the dogs
doing K9NW were not “selected” to become a detecting dogs, they were selected
to be companions, do agility or other sports, or sit on the coach. Well that
doesn’t mean you don’t have a dog that has been trained to do a “job” detection
of odor-birch, anise or clove. The first presenter spent several hours going
through how he selects the dogs, a series of 3 days test that he designed to
measure the dogs natural and trained abilities to accomplish all the tasks he
believes are needed from him to produce the best working dogs, based on his
years of experience. So what he doesn’t have is the luxury of time, in fact many
of the speakers did highlight this point. They noted that we as nosework trainers
have made an enormous investment in time to produce great hunting dogs. We have
accomplished our goals through time and perseverance. I listened to that first lecture,
to the list of tested tasks and thought about when I started nosework in 2011. I
don’t think anything described in the test would have been accomplished by my
dog, but we were still able to make a great deal of progress in nose work. Many
of the nose work judges have expressed the surprise, respect and appreciation
for all the different types of dogs doing their “job” on trial days. So think
about what your dog was able to do the first day you tried nosework and where
they are now. That is now another “job” your dog has, but they are still have
job 1 – companion, and they are even better at that even when they are counter
surfing. J
“Dog
gets to choose the best reward” – A quote from one of the lectures that the dog
should be choosing that is the best reward. Now start thinking are you paying
your nosework dog with their “best reward”? I hear it already – “no I would
need to put squirrels in the boxes”. We are talking toys and food – but the
same process should be happening, what would my dog choose? You may have done
this at the beginning put different toys or various treats while your dogs were
starting to learn the game. Has that reward changed, have you varied the reward
as you gained experience, did you let each dog choose, or use the same treats
for all your dogs. I’m not alone in forgetting to vary the reward or over time
make sure I’m paying with the best reward for my dog. Think about creatively,
it might change over time or given the conditions of the search. It was such a
simple idea and the extensive description about how to get the dog to choose
and various professional agencies use different processes in the selection of
the dog. Unfortunately I don’t have lecture to play again, but I found the
simplest concepts to be the most powerful and relatable to what nosework is
about. One of my dogs was ill for several weeks, feeding tube, etc. She pulled
through which I was very happy about but didn’t seem very interested in hunting
for odor just after the illness. She will do anything for her ball and so it
was search time for the ball, search time with the odor and ball together. The
dog is very motivated to search and likes food – she is a Labrador,
but because I’ve used food with the other dogs it was more convenient to use
food. I had used the ball but it was not my primary choice, so bringing it back
to “dog gets to choose the best reward” are you listening to what your dog is
telling you?
There was a great deal of information shared
and that was the best part of the conference. The willingness and openness of
the speakers was wonderful and to share their personal and professional experience
with an enthusiastic group of civilians that just so happen to be fanatics
about training their K9NW detection dogs. I’m looking forward to the next time
even more. You could see the excitement of everyone involved in the desire to
learn more. Thanks to all involved from the CNCA and NACSW for creating such a worthwhile
educational opportunity.
