Introduction to Wintergreen - Lesson 2
If your dog was struggling with the first lesson:
Odour Obedience – the goal we are working towards
Odour obedience means a dog finds value in odour and will work out the problem posed in order to get to source. Our goal is to keep improving our dog’s odour obedience.
Key role of confidence:
In order for a dog to be able to work out a problem, they have to have enough confidence to tackle the problem and see it to its conclusion. Every dog is going to assess a problem posed to them from the standpoint of personal safety. If a dog doesn’t feel safe, they are not going to work out the problem. Dogs will develop confidence through scent work but for our dogs to solve the scent work problems we are posing, they need a certain level of confidence already. Helping your dog develop confidence outside of scent work is a valuable thing to do. If you would like ideas about how to develop confidence in your dog, let me know and I’d be happy to offer some ideas. .
Elevated hides:
As discussed in the Introduction to Scent Work – Primary course, elevation can be tricky because of the way odour emanates from the hide in a cone shape. Depending on the environment, the odour can skid across the surface and travel a far distance. This means the dog may have to follow the odour a far distance in order to determine where the source is.
Goals for this week:
Searches – do in low distraction areas
Remember:
Tips:
Scattered Covered Box Search
Scattered Elevated Hide Search
Perimeter Search
Bonus - Imprinting Odour
If you want to try imprinting your dog to odour, use the metal box I gave you with a tin of odour inside it.
To begin, we want to associate odour with food to imprint the importance of odour for our dogs. We want our dogs to learn that odour "pays!"
Start to shape the dog to place his nose in the hole of a switch box.
Place the box on the floor. Mark and reward your dog for putting her nose in the box. Watch Remi
Sit on a chair and hold the box in your hand. Watch Remi
This is the goal you are working towards, with more duration of the nose at source. But when you are starting out, don't wait so long. Mark and reward for shorter durations because we don't want to shape your dog pulling their nose out of the box away from source. When you mark by saying yes, that will pull the dog's nose out and that's okay. That's what your want, rather than their pulling their nose out themselves.
If you find it hard to mark, just throw treats in the box as soon as they put their nose in (this will be easier if the box is on the floor) or pair it the way we are doing in class, by putting a treat in to start with. All of these methods will work to encourage the dog to put their nose at source!
- Use a higher value treat
- Use a lower concentration of odour (fewer q-tips)
- Use a different type of odour vessel, for example, the metal tin may make a sound that the dog doesn’t like
Odour Obedience – the goal we are working towards
Odour obedience means a dog finds value in odour and will work out the problem posed in order to get to source. Our goal is to keep improving our dog’s odour obedience.
Key role of confidence:
In order for a dog to be able to work out a problem, they have to have enough confidence to tackle the problem and see it to its conclusion. Every dog is going to assess a problem posed to them from the standpoint of personal safety. If a dog doesn’t feel safe, they are not going to work out the problem. Dogs will develop confidence through scent work but for our dogs to solve the scent work problems we are posing, they need a certain level of confidence already. Helping your dog develop confidence outside of scent work is a valuable thing to do. If you would like ideas about how to develop confidence in your dog, let me know and I’d be happy to offer some ideas. .
Elevated hides:
As discussed in the Introduction to Scent Work – Primary course, elevation can be tricky because of the way odour emanates from the hide in a cone shape. Depending on the environment, the odour can skid across the surface and travel a far distance. This means the dog may have to follow the odour a far distance in order to determine where the source is.
Goals for this week:
- Test your dog’s confidence working out odour problems
- Introduce elevated hides using wintergreen
- Determine what adjustments we need to make for your dog to be successful
Searches – do in low distraction areas
Remember:
- Jackpots and verbal praise when the hide is found.
- Jackpot again if they return to an already found hide.
- Give your dog time to work out complex problems.
- If something happens unexpectedly, for example a box moves or there is an unexpected noise, praise your dog.
- Never pull your dog away from source.
- Do not rush your dog, especially after they find the last hide. They may want to continue investigating the other boxes to ensure they found all their hides.
- When your dog is finished, give the ALL DONE cue and use a treat magnet to leave the area.
- Party with your dog when you end the session!
Tips:
- Make adjustments as needed to ensure your dog is successful.
- If your dog is doing well, play with elevation (vary the height but don’t go beyond nose height) and number of hides (up to 5).
- Continue to practice exercises from Week 1.
- Break up your practice sessions, plan recovery searches (end on an easy search), and schedule rest days from scent work.
Scattered Covered Box Search
- Scatter 10 – 15 boxes around the area.
- 3 lids of empty boxes cover openings of odour boxes
- Total of 3 paired hides.
- Lids of empty boxes will cover openings of odour boxes.
- Adjust how much the lids are covering the openings customize for your dog. For sensitive dogs, have the lid cover a tiny opening. For more confident dogs, start with the lid covering ¼ of the opening, then ½, and then the entire opening.
Scattered Elevated Hide Search
- Scatter 10 – 15 boxes around the search area.
- Total of 3 paired hides.
- One confidence puzzle (lid of empty box covering opening of odour box).
- Two elevated hide puzzles (no higher than the seat of a chair).
- Use empty boxes to catch the odour for the elevated hide puzzles.
Perimeter Search
- Place 10 – 15 boxes around the perimeter of your room
- Total of 3 paired hides
- Two elevated hide problems of varying size. Use empty box as odour catcher.
- Offer one plain open paired box as a hide (this offers an easier problem in the face of the harder problems).
Bonus - Imprinting Odour
If you want to try imprinting your dog to odour, use the metal box I gave you with a tin of odour inside it.
To begin, we want to associate odour with food to imprint the importance of odour for our dogs. We want our dogs to learn that odour "pays!"
Start to shape the dog to place his nose in the hole of a switch box.
Place the box on the floor. Mark and reward your dog for putting her nose in the box. Watch Remi
Sit on a chair and hold the box in your hand. Watch Remi
This is the goal you are working towards, with more duration of the nose at source. But when you are starting out, don't wait so long. Mark and reward for shorter durations because we don't want to shape your dog pulling their nose out of the box away from source. When you mark by saying yes, that will pull the dog's nose out and that's okay. That's what your want, rather than their pulling their nose out themselves.
If you find it hard to mark, just throw treats in the box as soon as they put their nose in (this will be easier if the box is on the floor) or pair it the way we are doing in class, by putting a treat in to start with. All of these methods will work to encourage the dog to put their nose at source!
