Container Searches. Stays & Place
Setting up some container searches. One of the exercises in Nose work are container searches and if you want to do competitions you will want to be proficient at these types of set ups. What can be challenging for some teams is that many dogs when presented with objects start offering operant behaviors instead of using their noses.
Things you can use for container searches: cinder blocks, cardboard boxes, plastic bins, etc. You can also use things like pieces of firewood that you can put your food/target odor under. Basically you need a line of the same looking containers/objects that you and your dog search through seeking the target scent. I suggest starting your container searches with objects your dog will be less inclined to want to interact with, so if you think they will see a cardboard box and think this is a food enrichment toy and start chewing on it than start with heavier blocks or bigger bins. Once they get the idea of searching and alerting it won’t matter what you use and you can transition to boxes as they will start thinking with their noses and settle into a routine about it. Container searches help to create systematic searching for your dog by isolating the search to these objects.
When you very first start your container searches you can start with just hidden food or toy. Ideally your containers will eventually require your help for them to access the food so we can start setting up the alert system. You can use containers within containers if not- for example if I use the open cinder blocks I could put my treats inside a mason jar with holes poked in the top so they can find the treats but need me to open them up. Needing our help will create a strong natural alert. (we will talk more about this in the weeks to come as we get deeper into the alert side of scent work). After I run the search a few times if my dog is getting the idea I will add my target scent tin into the place I’m hiding their food/toy. The progression will be: first the motivator- food/toy is paired with the search game, then we pair the target odor with the find the food/toy game, then we take the food/toy away from the hide and create the concept that odor still produces their rewards. Don’t feel like you need to rush, the stronger the dog’s motivation to find the hidden stash the more they will work through to get there. So keep hides fun and motivating, not hard and exhausting.
Here is a video example of introducing the dogs to a line of cinder blocks.
FOR OUR PUPPIES AND BACK TO THE BASICS CREW THIS WEEK WE ARE FOCUSING ON CONTINUING THE BOX GAME, STAYS AND PLACE.
Once my puppy is offering getting all the way in the box I want to know where I am taking this so we can keep moving the game forward. You can pick for yourself what things you want to create. Here I quickly introduce the concept of coming part way out and backing back into. I could also work on sends to the box from further away or laying down in the box, or staying in the box. You can pick whatever things you want to add but the point is- you should always know what comes next with behavior shaping because if you don’t keep moving it and just reinforce the same behaviors for a long time they have a harder time offering something new or different. So don’t reinforce the same offered behavior more than 3-5 times in one rep if you still want to move that behavior forward. From the demo as you can see, if they throw something you don’t want, don’t reinforce it, toss food and start over. You can see how often I toss food off to end the rep he’s on to keep the game active. I show him and lure a bit because at his age he is still not great at tracking food and loses it easily if I just throw it.
You can see my do his very first Place with a crate mat, it’s a combo of luring, prompting and shaping. The best thing about dog training is you can mix and match. You can use lures and prompts to get the behavior primed and then shift Into shaping once they have a vague idea to polish it up. This technique allows you to fade lures very quickly and can help prevent frustration. What do I mean by prompting and luring?
As you watch the video where I introduce the place, I start by holding his collar and tossing some food on the mat, then I let go and let him go get it. Throwing that food for him to target is a prompt. After he gets that idea I use a food lure to help him down once he gets on the bed to help him offer the down. After doing those things, I don’t throw the food on the mat and wait for him to offer going to the mat, then I mark and reward (shaping). I build these steps until he is offering a go to his place and lay down.
The stay introduction is a simple pattern game. I give a piece of food, move, give a piece of food, move and I keep the pattern that food keeps coming to where he is at a steady pace quickly enough he doesn’t have a chance to think about moving.