Let's play small ball

When I seek out some training from someone I really appreciate the small, observant and constructive analysis of my own handling, how my dog worked and the juxtaposition of the how my handling and how my dog worked fits together. The nosework training process is many times about finding the things that you can improve on! We might think that is improving on our dog’s sourcing, dog’s communication or strengthening the dog’s stamina. This however is not always a clear path once you are working at an advanced trial level.

Being a bit contrarian I would suggest it is really about improving our skills and training. We need the best observation skills to read out dog’s body language. We need the best memory to remember if we have covered large complex search areas effectively and completely.  We need to become students of the wind, the dynamics of how odor moves in different environments and how to set out our training aids to help us learn more. We need to develop these skills dynamically over time for better abilities when we work a 2^nd, 3^rd or 10^th dog. We can learn how to work differently with that next dog all in an effort to become better. If you are teaching then being open minded to different ideas and seeking out others perspectives for improving our instructor skills. We need to never lose sight of making this fun for the dogs, but fun for us too. That doesn’t mean that there is no stress in competition but it’s about working hard to make our practice enjoyable and worth the time have invested – “if you are not having fun, stop, and change your tactics!”

One of the most often theme of questions I get; during, before and after trials is “could I have done something else to get that hide?”  I’ve asked myself that question too – the answer is always a complex dissection of the search; area missed, missed COB, dog blew by the hide, environment was difficult, dog was; tired, distracted, un-focused, to focused on handler, needed support, etc. The list goes on. But the questions is also framed by the test of day.

The test of trial day – each search has a time limit – that time limit is derived prior to each team setting out on the search, therefore in many cases it has very little to so with a team’s ability to find all the hides. Think of it as an average, on average most teams will find all the hides in a given time limit. Some teams will miss a hide, maybe not having enough time. Or a team will excel and get 1^st with plenty of time to spare. Or maybe the average was off and most teams end up missing 1-2 hides.

Instead of concentrating on the big picture of the trial let’s play some small ball. I’m a baseball fan – I watch the playoffs most years and I enjoy going to a game. I’m not a fanatic about sports (except nosework) but there are many things about baseball that speak to a proper perspective of competition. The long season creates a misconception of what are the fundamentals that are needed, the number of home-runs doesn’t mean much if don’t make it to the playoffs. We are a part of a team but rely on many individual achievements, there is a bigger perspective to concentration on, but the small skills make a big difference; fielding, throwing, catching and hitting are small skills but are critical to overall team performance. I’m also reminded of a traditional style difference between leagues, I didn’t even know how true it was; – the National League; hits more home runs, and American League steals more. The folk lore of baseball is more of a perception of the league differences (actually over the past hundred years it is pretty even and not really that much difference). I like the analog, regardless of its literal accuracy.

So let’s play some small ball, we focus on our “small” fundamental skills. I’m not meaning we stop having fun but mixed in we should be focusing on the handler skills to improve each search. We do this with our dog’s skills to by how we practice, to many inaccessible hides and we may end up skewing what our dog thinks is acceptable alert at source.

The HengTen of small ball –

1. Reward as close to source in your practice so that when you don’t, it doesn’t affect the dog’s perception of what is important. Or if you train to not reward as source – figure out the process required to strengthen the dog’s understanding of what is required to be successful.
2. Timing is a continual process of matching the dog’s arrival at source with your reward timing, sometimes it will be before, after or dead on – but the goal is to build the drive to work to source by achieving better reward timing overall. Sometimes throw the treat, or wait, or reward more. It’s all in an effort to not be like trial but to build timing skills.
3. Work on your leash skills to not impede the dog’s choices. It doesn’t mean you can’t run, stumble, use leash restraint, have a wad of leash in your hand, cue your dog through leash movements, etc. But you should work to do these things less that end up causing unintended learning for the dog.  
4. Work to understand our cues, not in an effort to become mind numb robots that don’t cue our dogs, but instead to build the understanding of these cues so that we recognize when were are doing them.
5. Be a student of our dog’s body language – not only when they are working odor, but a good understanding of that that body language is when they are working novel and everyday scents.
6. Look for opportunities to learn about how odor works in difference environments. Seek out opportunities even if it’s just watching the dog work a problem.
7. Learn how to manage our search time, work on our understanding of how long 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes and 3 minutes feels like under trial pressure.
8. Be constructively critical of ourselves, when we make mistakes work to improve for the next time and the time after that. Don’t expect things to be the same all the time and learn to grow our skills.
9. Seek out others and choose to gain from their experiences, perspectives and knowledge. Use what can be valuable in that moment and save other skills for another time or for another dog.
10. Never doubt the capability of the dog but instead question what we may have contributed in that moment that led to the results. If you see a type of hide that a dog struggles with – find a way to alter your perceptive so the dog can solve a similar types of puzzles.

- When we hit a home-run – celebrate because it is a wonderful achievement. There is some learn in that too, but don’t forget to celebrate!