Find your "Tell"

My dogs know me better than I know myself. Each one of my dogs is student of me, they study me and everything I do. Recently read another blog - by Roger Abrantes - PhD in Evolutionary Biology and a great speaker, trainer of people and animals. Here is the quote from Roger, "If you ask me today, I'll answer you without hesitation that the most powerful tool you have when working with animals is yourself. If you control yourself, your body language, your facial expressions and the little you say, you'll achieve what you pretend and more." http://ethology.eu/the-most-powerful-training-tool/

I can imagine playing poker with my dogs, I would loose every time. Why? Because they have the advantage (they are cheating), they read our expressions, movements, body language. It sometimes looks like they read our thoughts being so good at reading the slight deviations we make in our movements. How do they do that when the are not looking at us? Don't forget they have what nears 250 degrees of vision among such a keen senses to read our body language that we might as well have shown them our cards before we even started playing a hand.

So where do this leave us with nose work. Ha, we are doomed, just kidding, but do you know your tell? - Because, I bet your dog has. So here is the test, attached is a video from a trial I did last fall in Oregon, our first Elite trial. I've split it up into 3 parts so you can see my body language for 3 separate hides. Can you read my tell? https://youtu.be/5R5cGSEUNkc

It doesn't matter the level you are at, your dog is learning how you work they are studying your every movement and learning all they can. Are you doing the same about their movements? They also have a head start because they are using the language they are fluent in. So you better step up you game. So I'm suggesting you change try to eliminate your tell, maybe. Humans fall into routines, we get comfortable in our patterns, just ask yourself if you could change anything in your life that is routine.

My current hypothesis, our dogs are so good at reading us that our body language, that it's better than any conditioned reinforcer we might use while working with our dogs in nose work, the facial expression of "excitement" when we see our dog complete a scent puzzle is virtually instantaneous. Or the leash adjustments we make in preparation of calling "alert", if you found my "tell" you might imagine the my dog already knew he had solved the problem. In all 3 segments of the video I drop my arm off the leash in anticipation of switching the leash or in order to get the treats out of my back pocket. I now understand why I am a terrible poker player. Find your "tell" and see where it leads you.

The Dynamics of the Trial Search

Each search only happens once. You step to the start line maybe with a slight pause and then proceed into the search area with your dog leading the way. The search you have just entered will never be repeated again, you and your dog will gain some bit of learning from that search and if you ran it again and again, it would be different – conditions, pace, knowledge, etc. This is what makes each search a dynamic process. The dynamics are captured in video and it is very exciting to view the video that has started to be taken at trials for purchase by competitors. Most of us don’t have photographic or eidetic memory, and even for those who can remember much of what they do during a search it is unlikely that you would remember everything.

Did you start reaching for a treat before you called alert?

Did you move in such a way to restrict your dog’s path to odor?

Did you allow your dog access to every container?

Did you have a pattern, or did you look like you had a pattern in covering the search area?

In the analysis of each search I often think of what I could change, and the one thing I keep coming back to is that I can only change “me”, well the choices I make the next time. It is not easy, either, replaying the search and thinking about what area I didn’t cover for example is not always a simple question. The video is the best challenge to this hindsight analysis within our minds. It gives us a series of imagines that go far beyond an eidetic memory. What video can’t show is what we are thinking in each moment, but that is probably less important that observing what we are doing in each moment.

Before we get to the deconstruction of the video lets describe a successful search. For NW3 one factor is missing, we are not told the number of hides ahead of time – I would pose that a successful search is any search that we work with our dogs and find 1-3 odors and call finish (or call finish after finding no odor if it is a clear room). Note; I’m not sure it makes the search any more successful if we find all the odor there is to find, that only matters for the possibility of a title at the end of the day for NW3. I’m twisting it a bit but most of us would agree that if we called a “false” then we would immediately feel that would not have been a successful search. Why because we no longer have the opportunity to get a title? It’s only when we are given the knowledge of how many hides were present in each search area at the end of the day that we can determine with 100% confidence that we miss something or found everything. So I would say that if we complete each search, where the handler/dog team find and call correctly as many hides as possible in a given time limit and call finish – we have successfully completed that search. Now don’t get me wrong, come the end of the day if we missed a hide – I might reevaluate the success of that search – but that is in hindsight after being given all the information. Some days we(handler and dog) will be at our best and find all the hides and title and some days we will be not at our best and miss, false and not title or maybe just by chance or maybe our dog carried us that day and we will title anyway.

Your immediate evaluation of the search directly after can be a tough place on the day of trial, if you are doing back to back searches then if you replaying the prior search you might lose focus in the next one. That is something that you might need to change. Working to get ourselves refocused before every search can be important for the outcome we are seeking.

So after about 50 trials with all my dogs I have started to get the trial video on a consistent basis. With just a few videos of Atlas(2 Elite trials) and the first few videos of Bailey and I working(2 NW3s and now our first Elite), I can know start some objective criticisms of the choices I’m making in trials. I’m struck by the snap shot of the video, it’s a narrow focus but not quite as narrow as the trial photos. In the past I would spend time after trial photos were posted looking through all the dogs and wondering if the handler positioned them selves out of choice, pattern or something else in each photo. I would look at how the dogs communicated each hide and sometimes review photos from trials I haven’t even attended to see if I could read when the dog was working odor versus not working odor. Here is the one search (NW3 from February) – if you don’t know the outcome watch and see if you can decide if it is successful, both by your definition and by mine.  Did we find all the hides? https://youtu.be/7euIsTZWEVo
 

Normally I might ask myself if I covered all the containers although I don't think that is always necessary, or if I pulled my dog off any containers? If you get the chance to get trial video of your runs, I think it can be a very valuable tool as part of our training. Could I have called finish sooner? Did it look like from reading my body language that I knew where the hide was that I didn't call the first time? I have a whole set of questions that I have started to compile for each video I watch. Now the most difficult assessment is not to be to hard on myself of the choices I made in the moment of the trial search. This process is also not meant to distract me from the next trial, but instead to find the success and see if there are opportunities to improve, to see the dynamics of each search and to learn for my choices. In the end the only chance to run that search again is when I press play on the video.

 

 

 

 

 

Learning is Fun! - CNCA / NACSW symposium

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.

The Scent dimension – not seen by the handler

We don’t have glasses that can see the scent our dogs are hunting for, and that means our primary sense – vision puts us at a handicap for the analysis of the decisions our dogs make while working odor. I’ve heard several analogies used to describe how the dogs work, trying to relate it to our visual world. Ron Gaunt once (paraphrasing) articulated it as a room where all objects are mirrors, (fun house style). So imagine each chair, table, wall, and door is made out of mirrors reflecting the visual spectrum back as us. How many of use would run into things, as we observe our dogs doing as they work odor. We have all seen it, where out of the blue the dog turns quickly and “smack” into the bottom of a chair or table leg. The dog seeking odor is in an unseen dimension of sorts, and not always the same for each dog. Where one dog runs into objects another leaves the threshold and goes directly to source, without any delay. Each dog is similar and yet different based on that dog, their experience and changes in the environment.

Imagine we could design a scent Rorschach (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test) test to give to our dogs.

One dog would see one image and another dog might see the same or the negative image in the test. Sometimes when watching a dog work I see the dog searching all the negative space, the void in-between objects. Yes they encounter corners, edges, stumble over containers and even run into objects, but not always. It’s beautiful to watch the dog moves in this negative dimension from what we can’t see or different from what we initially see. It can be frustrating to the handler when the dog appears to not making progress, i.e. the source is not in the negative space of that image. In fact just this past weekend I watch several handlers call alert and then say were the source was located. It was like they watched the voids and objects the dog evaluated and where able to see what was coming next – the dog would have turned and sourced and therefore knew where the source was.

There was a test as a kid I took once at the optometrist, that tested for dyslexia. It was cube of sorts with several layers of letters, you looked into it and there was a paragraph to read out load. Not sure if I can fully describe its design but if the patient moved then the letters would shift. The optometrist said at the end, that most adults performing the test would give up because it doesn’t make sense what they are reading. But as a kid with dyslexia I just read to the end squirming in my seat and making absolutely no darn sense. What if every time the dog moves while working, that negative space/image of scent they are encountering is altered, either by the handler, dog or some other environmental factors? Imagine the intense work and focus the dog must be under in the moment with so many computations to make.

The Rorschach image or ink blots have a unique property, called reflection symmetry or mirror-image symmetry which happens in nature, and can be described in mathematical terms. I often suggest in my classes with the possibility that the dogs are really doing differential calculus problems to solve a scent problem. Each term of the equation as it is solved by the dog reduces the remaining information or terms required to complete the scent problem and source.

Back to Ron; he encourages us to watch the dog work, to do our best not to interfere, move/not move but use them as our guide in the world of scent because the dog is the expert. It appears to be “magic” sometimes but in a way we are lucky when we see something that can not be seen it can only be observed in how our dogs work the scent problem in that particular environment and search. It can not be repeated later, it only happens once. Or if we observe carefully it happens similarly enough with another dog that is gives us a glimpse into their world of scent. We also encounter experienced handlers, judges, trainers with new observations about the dog’s patterns that we may not have fully understood what we were seeing at the time. Do all of these apply to every dog, maybe not, but it’s these observations that help us understand the vast unseen capabilities of dogs.

My dogs do calculus and I do addition and subtraction, I think the problems they are solving are beautiful to watch.

A worthwhile adventure K9 Nose Work for your Shiba Inu

Are you wondering if your Shiba has the ability, capacity or desire to participate in nose work? K9 Nose Work©  created by the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW™ www.nacsw.net ), is a detection style game where dogs learn to get excited about using their nose to seek out a favorite toy or treat reward placed in one of several boxes. Your Shiba will benefit from the way the game of K9 Nose Work® is designed from the beginning to give the dog the choice and independence to hunt for a primary reward. We start with a primary reward to build drive and the desire to hunt with all types of dogs no matter their physical abilities, ages or level of training. The great thing about starting nose work as a game is that it provides the most flexibility for all levels of dog owners no matter their dog’s sport background. Each dog and handler progresses at their own pace as the dog solves puzzles and learns their own way, best for each dog; fast, slow, blind, deaf, old, young or retired champion.
 
Every description of the Shiba breed includes the words “independent”. The game is well suited for this trait and as I discovered with my Shibas, once exposed to the fun and independent nature of hunting in nose work, they were much more willing to work with me in other training situations. It’s been a great compliment to the Shiba’s hunting desire in a controlled environment and they have thanked me for it with a stronger bond and wonderful relationship. As each dog grows more confident with the puzzles, the game expands to entire rooms, exterior areas and vehicles. The challenges can grow to resemble much more of the detection style searching and for those interested in training more advanced skills; target odors (birch, anise, etc) are added to the search, and much more! Competition is available for teams that enjoy the challenges and opportunities to Title under the NACSW™.

Starting with just a few boxes, an inexpensive piece of equipment, my Shiba; Atlas searched for his treats placed in the boxes. It expanded the searching for treats with more boxes, folded into puzzles, mazes, stacked, hidden, nested, scattered, in every imaginable way. Other objects were added too, like cones, chairs, tables, carts and bins of all sorts. Then the boxes went with us, searching these puzzles in training rooms, garages, houses, parks, backyards, barns, and fields. The nose work game is only limited by your imagination. If you need some ideas on how the game starts and where it can go, check out the Parker Videos (https://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DGT280). Part of the fun is thinking up new searches for all teams, it’s an interactive game for both dog and handlers.

 

I started with a particularly challenging Shiba, a resource guarder, sensitive about his space, super high energy and when he became an adolescent I was not very successful training him to have good manners. He got plenty of exercise but the physical exercise lacked mental stimulation. K9 Nose work® changed that and gave him a job to do. Instead of letting the Shiba intelligence free to devise all manner of ways to play their games, many times at our expense, put those Shiba skills to work. Nose work provided a wealth of puzzles for him to solve and exhausted his energy faster than any 10 mile hike. Motivation via food worked in my favor, but it was the desire and instinct to hunt, seek and problem solve in the nose work environment that saved him. It was extremely rewarding for me to see him hunt happily every time the boxes appeared. The best part was giving him the freedom to choose his own path and for me to learn by watching him work out all the puzzles. K9 Nose work® became my passion because of the wonderful changes in the relationship with my Shiba Inu.

The sport of K9 Nose Work® had just started growing across the country in 2011 when I started playing the game with my Shiba, Atlas. I had no plans to compete, no desire and no idea what to expect. After about 9 months of having fun, I had advanced to working with the first target odor; Birch (an essential oil on several q-tips in a small tin container). I drove 16 hours (one way) to attend my first Odor Recognition Test (ORT), a requirement to compete in a trial. This is a test which consists of 12 identical boxes normally in 2 rows where one box has the target odor placed inside. The challenge of the ORT is to test if the dog recognizes the odor in a box and then can the handler recognize their dog working the odor to call “Alert” on the correct box. I had never competed with a dog and was very nervous.  With my novice skills reading my dog’s communication working the birch odor, Atlas and I, missed, when I called “Alert” on the wrong box. It was disappointing but just seeing him navigate the environment and hunt was enough for me to be hooked on the sport. I now compete with all three of my Shiba’s, each has a different search style.  Of course, they have Shiba similarities but each is an individual and part of the fun is learning how to grow my skills as a handler and be the best teammate possible when competing in nose work.

The NACSW™ sanctions K9 Nose Work® Trials that come in two forms; NW1, NW2 and NW3 were rolled out first, Element Specialty Trial (EST) are new since 2014. Once a dog has passed the ORT for the first odor; birch. That dog can be entered into an NW1 trial to find one placed birch hide (hidden from handler view) in four different search areas; containers, interiors, exteriors and vehicles. The dog must subsequently pass an anise ORT and have titled at NW1 to compete in NW2, and must pass a clove ORT and have titled at NW2 to compete in NW3.

Element Specialty trials are half day events where one element is searched; either containers, interiors, exteriors or vehicles. Normally there are at least 4 search areas per half day trial of one element. So each team will search 4 container search areas for the opportunity to title in a Level 1 Container trial, or 4 interiors search areas for a Level 1 Interior trial. For all Level 1 Element Specialty Trials, there will be 1 hide per search area. Element Specialty Trials get more challenging at Level 2 and Level 3 with multiple hides, additional odors, and intentionally placed distractions.

For a dog to title at a NW1 trial they must located one hide in each search area and the handler must call “Alert” correctly for the judge to approve. If the team correctly finds the 4 hides then the dog earns an NW1 Title.

·         1 hide per search area it will be Birch

·         4 search areas (containers, interiors, exteriors and vehicles

·         Handler must correctly call “Alert” once their dog has found each hide

·         The team must find all 4 hides correctly for the dog to title that day

 

A team is required to find all the hides on one day for NW1, NW2 and NW3, there is no accumulation over multiple trials, so if a team passes 3 out of 4 at one trial then at their next try they still have to pass a four elements to title. It is a significant challenge but well worth the achievement. Each search is timed so there is the additional opportunity to achieve placements (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd) in each element. NW2 and NW3 are very similar to NW1 with some additional challenges. Each level adds another odor; NW2 adds Anise, and NW3 adds Clove. At NW2 there can be no more than 2 hides in each of the four search areas (containers, interiors, exterior and vehicles) and the number of hides is disclosed to the handler prior to the search. Some additional challenges are added for NW2;

·         No more than 2 hides in each search area for NW2

·         For NW2 the handler is told how many hides in each search are for NW2

·         Interiors at NW2 will include 2 rooms

·         Up to 4 vehicles can be present in the search area

 

For NW3 the biggest added complication to the trial level is that it will not be known to the handler whether there are 1, 2, or 3 hides in each search area. This increases the challenge to each team significantly, the handler must be able to read when there dog has found all the hides in each search area.

·         Up to 3 hides in each search area for NW3

·         For NW3 the handler doesn’t know how many hides are in each search area

·         The handler must correctly find all the hides and call finish in each search area to title

·         For interiors in NW3 there are 3 rooms and 1 of those rooms MAY be clear of odor

·         A 3^rd odor of Clove is added

·         Up to five vehicles can be present in the vehicle search area

·         The handler finds out at the end of the trial if they have successfully by finding all the hides that day and if so receives an NW3 Title.

Video examples of NW1 and NW2 are available via the NACSW™ website.

http://www.nacsw.net/trial-calendar-information/video-examples-nacsw-k9-nose-work-trial-searches

If a dog can successfully pass 3 different NW3 trials receiving a title then they achieves a NW3 Elite Title. As the NACSW™ organization continues to grow they have added additional trial opportunities. The newest is the Elite Division trials, where all teams need to have achieved the NW3 Elite Title level in-order to trial. The new Elite Division trials no longer have predefined search elements, so an exterior type search may include containers or vehicles. Or an interior type search might include vehicles. In addition there is no longer requirements on the number of hides and the number could be disclosed or not before the search. This new Elite Division level gets very close to real world type of searches environments that professional detection handlers might encounter, show up and work a location with many unknowns. There are additional nuances about trialing; faults, distracters, and limits on hide elevation so if you are looking for more specific trial rules and information check out the NACSW™ website at www.nacsw.net.
 

(Photo Credits Jason Heng, Blue Amrich, Pawsitive Impressions, Em and Zach Photography)

Opportunities to participate in an ORT and Trials are far more available now. As of 2015 the sport has exploded across the country with trials, instructors, camps, seminars, the NACSW™ National Invitational, and many enthusiastic nose work teams in many states. There will be 31 states in 2015 (http://www.nacsw.net/trial-calendar-information) that will have hosted K9 Nose Work® trial. As of 2015 the UKC is sanctioning nose work competitions. The UKC nose work competition has its own set of rules and challenges, providing an additional opportunity to participate in nose work.  http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/WebPages/DogEvents/Nosework There are also several other organizations that have created scent work games each with their own challenges.

Atlas achieved his NW3 Elite title in July 2015 having successfully titled at three NW3 Trials, becoming the first Shiba to accomplish this and becoming one of about 100 NW3 Elite title holders from NACSW™ trials around the country. It was a 4 year journey! Since the sport was just starting in my region I traveled all over the country to trial in 15 different states, making the journey very rewarding, including the opportunity to meet so many nose work enthusiasts. I’ll steal a comment from a fellow Shiba handler when they told me it is a big accomplishment to title a Shiba in any sport. And its great to see a number of Shiba teams around the country competing in nose work at many levels including NW3. It has been a great experience to meet so many teams, cheer their success and appreciate the great determination and training it takes to compete with a Shiba Inu. Many of the nose work searches I set for my Shibas aren’t about competition. I play the game for fun, giving all my dogs puzzles to engage their minds. K9 Nose work® is a great way to have fun with your dogs!

www.hengten.com

 

 

The rest of the story - Paid in Full

Soon after writing about our journey seeking the NW3 Elite title (last blog post Paid in Full ) I had accepted that it would come one day, and super excited for the next trial. Did it happen at the next trial? No. To the contrary the next trial was one of those experiences that left me wondering again if it would. I've had days like that before, fireworks come to mind, an experience I was not looking to repeat. Well we didn't encounter any fireworks, but the roofers across the street using rapid fire nail guns was an added stress that totaled up to it not being our day.

 

Atlas handled it okay to start, he was concerned for sure, jumping around when the nails starting firing and looking off into the distance in "Alert" mode. Not the kind of alert I was planning for the day. I tried to comfort him and tried to not let my emotions get the better of me, worrying about him.

 

Into the first interior room and boom, snap called on the first object he showed interest in and got a "No". I was not successful in keeping my emotions in check and I had lost my concentration. It took every bit of me to regain my composer in the hall before going into the second room. The 2nd room was a good search, found 2 hides and was feeling confident we had found everything in the room. The 3rd room however went south, when Atlas stood up on a plastic cabinet and it rocked forward. He did not cope well, jumping back and he seemed very startled. I told him it was okay, but I had trouble getting him to focus. I tried to get him to search in the stalls of the bathroom. Atlas was having none of it and when he started searching high onto the counter I called finish (for a clear room).

 

All in all the interior search was not the end of the world, I had messed up but I had a lot of searching left for the day, and having some success would mean overcoming a big distraction, the nail guns. Ah but that was not completely the case either. The vehicle search was several minutes of agony for the handler. I had not seen Atlas out for a walk during a search in a long time, poor guy was just not focused on the task at hand. We did our best and around the time of the 30 second call Atlas ran into some odor and worked it out. Two and a half minutes of walking around the vehicles showed that some distractions have an unknowable effect. He recovered on exteriors and solved the puzzles like a champ, a great success for the day. 

 

Containers was last and once again the handler needed to be reminded of an age old lesson. Proof that when things go sideways it accumulates sometimes. Atlas is the one with the expert nose and when he says we are done finding all the odor, don't try to convince him otherwise. "No, lets go check this corner bag because you haven't check it to my satisfaction." Ok said Atlas, you want me to find the food in this bag and tell you about it, happy to comply Mr. treat dispenser. Handler rewarded with a "No", Doh!

 

It was a beautiful day, sunny in the mountains of Colorado. I had humble pie for lunch and dinner, Atlas still got lots of treats and a day of searching. He didn't die from the noise of the nail gun and was not crushed by a plastic cabinet. I would later realize that the cabinet reaction was very telling. It seemed at the time like a big overreaction, but if there was odor in the room he probably wouldn't have acted that way. I have had many experiences where Atlas had run into objects, crashing is a better description, but in the presence of odor he didn't react. No odor resulted in a big worried reaction, when not in search mode being concerned about ones surroundings can be all consuming.

 

I was discouraged, yep no getting around it. Something totally out of my control had distracted me and broke my concentration. Mainly I was irritated with myself for letting it get the best of me. The result, it was time to take a break, focus on having some fun. I pulled from the next trial, which was just before the 4th of July. I didn't wish to have another fireworks experience, not worth the additional stress on Atlas.

 

A couple months later we tried again, drove 3 days to Oregon to have some fun. It only took 14 - NW3 trials for Atlas and I to get all 3 NW3 titles required for the Elite. And 4 trials for each of NW1 and NW2. Seems like a lot doesn't it? Maybe, I'll steal a comment from a fellow Shiba handler when they told me it is a big accomplishment to title a Shiba in anything. Atlas is the first Shiba to get his Elite title, but that doesn't mean as much as the miles I've traveled with him to get there. More fun to come now the NACSW had Elite trials. Whoo hoo!

 

Paid in Full - Adapt

Paid in Full

As summer approaches it will mark four years since we made the decision that if we couldn’t find a way to learn to deal with our adolescent dog; his neurotic energy, dog reactive outbursts, violent resource guarding, the biting me, then we would euthanize him. Little did we know at the time that I had been given a glorious adventure that would send me on a wonderful journey that continues. This all happened because we started K9 Nosework®.

After a couple of months of freeing him to hunt for treats in boxes, he started to be less neurotic which allowed me to be successful with other training. It wasn’t easy; we spent every day for 8 months working through the resource guarding, success was being able to put a bowl of food down in his crate and release him to eat without a violent display. We accomplished a number of things after starting nosework; walking nicely while on a leash was big and not reacting to almost every dog we saw was still over a year away. We had set backs too, I learned to see when he was uncomfortable, the warning signals returned, we adapting to him and this summer will also mark 3 years since last incident with me. Throughout this time the constant was nosework, we played the game a lot; some weeks multiple times per day, everyday, and it worked like a valve on a pressure cooker and relaxed his mind. He became eager to “work” for food in all training situations, and nosework changed him in a way I can’t fully explain. My intense little dog is still in there but it’s channeled into the fun work we do and the weight of the world on his shoulders diminished.

When we started nosework we just wanted a happy home life, and he had so much fun hunting for the treats and then odor, I decided to try the competitive venue. I drove to Colorado, a short 16 hour drive to run him in an ORT for the first odor birch. We didn’t pass the ORT so I drove the long 16 hours home. My dog succeeded by not loosing his cool, being in a venue with many other dogs, and we passed another ORT a few months later only having to drive a short 13 hours (one way). That was just the beginning. In total, I have traveled 100s of thousands of miles for nosework; seminars, camps, trials, training and teaching. I enjoyed handling a dog so much I worked a dog professionally for a pest control company for a year of windshield time, yes more driving. I became an instructor through the NACSW and I thoroughly enjoy spending hours coaching others in classes each week as the sport grows here in Texas.

When I started competing for the first title level NW1, I thought there was a pinnacle to be achieved the NW3 Elite (3 NW3 Titles). If I got there then I would have paid my penance. I know that is not the right word for it, but it has stuck with me over all those miles. I OWE every last hour and every last mile traveled to my dog named Atlas who gave me a path I didn’t even know 4 years ago. And I know I’m not alone, I have met so many other nosework enthusiasts and new friends in traveling all those miles. Atlas and I have competed in over 20 nose work trials together we have earned some title ribbons and I continue to compete yes for the title ribbons because to me it represents the payment I owe Atlas.

It wasn’t until I was competing with another dog that so thoroughly enjoys nosework so much, that it has begun to change my perspective. Bailey is a whirling dervish when it comes to nosework, a little tornado that is a day of entertainment to watch her work; zoomies around a room when she couldn’t work out an odor problem. (And the realization that I couldn’t change it) She has more intensity than Atlas but she isn’t holding the weight of the world upon her shoulders, she always looks like she is having immense fun. I can only imagine a billboard over Bailey in each run “get out the way”!  I saw that in Atlas from the beginning but I think I needed a reminder of that perspective from Bailey. I will strive to "honor" Atlas as a great passionate companion and marvel at all that I have learned from all those miles.

Adapting in nosework is a fundamental truth, if we are lucky we get to marvel at our dogs as they adapt so fast we sometimes don’t even realize it is happening. The conditions change and each dog, each handler changes even if they can’t explain how. It is art in motion, entertainment, and the beauty of a calculus problem in the mind of a focused and passionate puzzle solver.