Nosework Thread

[jackie_hubert]

Maybe the indication thing is easiest explained quite simply: Don't teach an indication, let your dog teach you his indication.

In class I have the horrid experience of having everything I do taped and then we watch it as a class! But it has taught me about more than my crappy handling because I've really noticed the "head snap" that you want to look for (in most dogs). For Cosmo his tail goes faster and faster as he's getting closer to source, then right when he find the source his tail stops and drops, and then wags even quicker.

You can really see the "head snap" in the first turn.

The last one demonstrates the importance of encouraging the dog to stay on the scent no matter what I do. A dog that thinks about the handler is never going to be trustworthy - I've seen dogs try to pretend there's a scent in an empty box, indicate and go through the motions, just because they feel pressured by the handler, eventhough the handler was just trying to encourage the dog. Stubborn dogs make great noseworkers!

Note also in the video that he starts first by doing "inventory", walking all over the room go get his scent bearings. He walks out of the scent pool towards the camera and as he noticed that he is going futher away from the source he circles back. Some dogs will circle "in and out of scent" quite often to determine the edge of a scent pool. There's a blind dog in class that spins his way to source.

K9 Nosework with Ball - YouTube

K9 Nosework with Ball - YouTube

[jackie_hubert]

After practicing adding a few boxes I am now on week 2 with the cat's training.

He now knows to look in the boxes, even if I am not pairing with food.

We are now playing a lot of "it's raining kibble!" - I wait for him to come upon the box with the scent in it and I chuck kibble into the box every time he looks down into the box.

I'm impressed with my aiming - I used to be really bad and food would go all over the room and under the couch. If you do miss it's okay because it allows him to learn to back to source to continue the reward.

I'm learning much about working with a much less intuitive, lower drive animal. It's a great challange.

We will be practicing this step for some time and I will be fading out the pairing until we get to more difficult hides and locations.

K9 Nosework with Cat Part 2 - YouTube

K9 Nosework with Cat Part 2 - YouTube

[goldy1]

That's so interesting about recognizing the "indication". Having never taken a nosework class, you have crystalized that concept for me. I am now going to me more observent to try to see if Chance has been giving me a subtle indication that I might have missed.

I think one thing I realize is that I have been too much an active part of his nosework. Acting more like his partner - they way we work as a team in rally-o for example. I should be playing more the silent partner role in nosework, if I am getting the concepts right.

Very funny how you describe " the horrid experience of having everything I do taped". That's how I know I would feel too !!!
But I can see how it would help - similar to how football players study the tapes after a game.

[Me11yC]

Hi everyone, I would like to join this thread as we are on day 2 of nosework training. Right now I am training him myself until classes are available. I am using 5 Boxes and and lits are loosely on top. As scent I am using wintergreen and also have some freeze dried beef liver in it. He seems to get the hang of it but is not overly excited when he finds the scent as I am, but that might just be the way he is :-)
Anyways, hope to get some ideas and help....

[jackie_hubert]

Welcome!

I've lately been slacking off but I have been working on Cosmo not destroying the source when he find it which is hard because he just wants to dig on it and put it in his mouth. Am trying to tape everything down! lol

[Jennifer1]

So happy to see an old thread on this.
I just started Kenzie in nosework (online Fenzi dogsport academy) and am having a blast!
I'm now at the point of having her chose between 2 boxes-1 with birch scent and 1 empty. She's pretty good at it, until she gets bored or distracted! So, we're keeping training short (about 10-15 treats worth) and often (3X a day).