Introduction to Wintergreen: Lesson 3
Broadening the Search and Adding Complexity
Goals:
Help dogs to generalize and broaden their expectations. We want the dog to understand odour can be anywhere, not just inside boxes. They now have a strong reinforcement history with boxes but now we can begin to broaden their horizon by working on different problems. We can still use boxes to help draw the dog near other items. Need to keep in mind how odour will interact with different material. For example, plastic will attract odour and come hot very quickly, i.e. saturated with odour.
Interior Hides
Odour will look completely different when the hide is in an interior space as opposed to a container. Help them understand the hide can be anywhere in the room. Key is to give dog plenty of time to work out the problem. To help our dogs, place an empty box in front of the interior hide to help the dog locate where the odour is coming from.
Feed as close to source as possible. Now that we are using interior hides, this is even more important. Place your hand as close to the odour vessel as possible, right above it if you can, to make it clear to the dog that finding the odour source pays. You want your dog to tell you where odour is coming from – the source - not where it is going.
If your dog goes back to an already found hide, reward it. This is something we will fade later because you do not want to be rewarding already found hides. However, this early in the game, we want to impress upon the dog that odour pays. But if you think your dog keeps going back to already found hides so that he can get another cookie, consider picking up each hide after your dog has found it to prevent your dog from going back over and over again to a hide in order to get more rewards.
At the same time, be aware that some dogs will go back to a hide they already found to determine where the odour from that hide is coming from so they can determine where the unknown odour is coming from. This is called triangulating and we want the dog to be able to triangulate if that is what they are doing.
Confidence building
As always, we want to build up the dog’s motivation and confidence by posing odour problems that are challenging but not so difficult that the dog becomes frustrated and wants to give up. Always remember too, that the reward really matters to the dog and use high value treats.
Ways to build confidence:
Boxes and things search (5 paired hides; go past obstacles/maze to get to a hide)
Cones, buckets, and interior search (5 paired hides; obstacles/maze; one hide in a tight place/corner)
Note: Move in to tip over the cone to help your dog. We do not want your dog to learn to destroy any container to get the hide or to get to the hide and then walk away because the problem is too difficult.
Chairs and things search (5 paired hides; obstacles/maze; one hide at threshold and one in a tight space)
Single interior hide search
Only one single hide either on a chair or another piece of furniture, head height for your dog. Use odour catcher box.
Remove all the other hides, making certain you have removed all the odour containers. This is an interior only search and can be challenging.
Swap out chairs and other furniture that may have lingering odour.
Remove all the odour containers. Keep only empty containers in the search area.
- Broaden understanding by bringing in novel containers and setting interior hides
- Increase complexity with mazes and obstacles – go through, go around, squeeze into tight places
- Establish patterns such as hides at threshold
- Practice leash skills
Help dogs to generalize and broaden their expectations. We want the dog to understand odour can be anywhere, not just inside boxes. They now have a strong reinforcement history with boxes but now we can begin to broaden their horizon by working on different problems. We can still use boxes to help draw the dog near other items. Need to keep in mind how odour will interact with different material. For example, plastic will attract odour and come hot very quickly, i.e. saturated with odour.
Interior Hides
Odour will look completely different when the hide is in an interior space as opposed to a container. Help them understand the hide can be anywhere in the room. Key is to give dog plenty of time to work out the problem. To help our dogs, place an empty box in front of the interior hide to help the dog locate where the odour is coming from.
Feed as close to source as possible. Now that we are using interior hides, this is even more important. Place your hand as close to the odour vessel as possible, right above it if you can, to make it clear to the dog that finding the odour source pays. You want your dog to tell you where odour is coming from – the source - not where it is going.
If your dog goes back to an already found hide, reward it. This is something we will fade later because you do not want to be rewarding already found hides. However, this early in the game, we want to impress upon the dog that odour pays. But if you think your dog keeps going back to already found hides so that he can get another cookie, consider picking up each hide after your dog has found it to prevent your dog from going back over and over again to a hide in order to get more rewards.
At the same time, be aware that some dogs will go back to a hide they already found to determine where the odour from that hide is coming from so they can determine where the unknown odour is coming from. This is called triangulating and we want the dog to be able to triangulate if that is what they are doing.
Confidence building
As always, we want to build up the dog’s motivation and confidence by posing odour problems that are challenging but not so difficult that the dog becomes frustrated and wants to give up. Always remember too, that the reward really matters to the dog and use high value treats.
Ways to build confidence:
- Adjust the environment if the dog was struggling, e.g. how much the odour box is covered, how high the hide is elevated.
- Go back to using primary only if your dog really struggled and was worried about the search because we never want the dog to associate wintergreen with being afraid.
- Build your dog’s confidence outside of scent work with simple exercises that teach the dog they can get into tight places, such as:
- Toss a treat behind a partly closed door and wait for the dog to get it. Adjust how much the door is closed over; if worried, have the door almost completely open and gradually go from there. Teach the dog they can get into tight places.
- Toss a treat into a box, laundry hamper or open luggage; praise when the dog gets it.
- Ensure you give the dog time to work out the problem but don’t allow your dog to get frustrated and want to quit.
- Use smaller elevations to start and increase the height of the elevated odour problem incrementally.
- Always have an empty box facing the odour box (we will fade this later).
- Be mindful of how HVAC, fans, windows, vents, etc. are affecting the odour picture.
Boxes and things search (5 paired hides; go past obstacles/maze to get to a hide)
- One confidence problem with boxes
- Two elevation problem with boxes
- Two bucket hides
Cones, buckets, and interior search (5 paired hides; obstacles/maze; one hide in a tight place/corner)
- Two cone hides
- One bucket hide
- Two interior hides – elevated with odour catcher box
Note: Move in to tip over the cone to help your dog. We do not want your dog to learn to destroy any container to get the hide or to get to the hide and then walk away because the problem is too difficult.
Chairs and things search (5 paired hides; obstacles/maze; one hide at threshold and one in a tight space)
- One cone
- One novel container elevated
- Three interior hides at head height of dog
Single interior hide search
Only one single hide either on a chair or another piece of furniture, head height for your dog. Use odour catcher box.
Remove all the other hides, making certain you have removed all the odour containers. This is an interior only search and can be challenging.
Swap out chairs and other furniture that may have lingering odour.
Remove all the odour containers. Keep only empty containers in the search area.
