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Monday, March 7, 2016

Positive Dog Training - Recalls and Nosework

I am joining the Positive Training Blog Hop today. The theme was supposed to be recalls. However, I have written about our training for recalls so many times that I decided not to do it again except a tiny bit.

I think that recalls are the most important skill for any dog - even if you don't plan on having your dog off-leash. You never know what might happen, and they may end up running free despite your best intentions!

My theme is to make recalls the most exciting thing for my dogs. When they do a good recall, we have a party. As my trainer likes to say, "if your recall party doesn't border on being embarrassing, you're not being excited enough". Until recently, our "party" consisted of treats, treats, and more treats, given one-by-one, as I excitedly praised the dogs. Very recently, I've started using tugging as a reward for Shyla, which works extremely well as long as she's in an excited mood.

My biggest folly is practicing recalls too much, which makes those "recall parties" become a little less exciting for the dogs. I think 10 per day is a good limit, making sure that everyone's enthusiasm stays high. When I am able to do so, I run away from the dogs after I call them to make myself a more interesting target. Running away is a key trick, especially when there are lots of distractions around.

For the rest of this post, I'm going to update you on our "nosework". We started nosework in December with a Fenzi course, and we've trained almost every day since then. We've done all sorts of training - including box training and interior searches (where I can hide the scent anywhere within a room, and the dog alerts on it).

Today, I'm going to show you videos of the Duo's first day of searching the exterior of vehicles. I placed 2 q-tips with birch scent inside a small magnetic tin. I stuck the tin to metal on the outside of the vehicles. I wasn't trying to truly hide the scent because it was the Duo's first time searching vehicles. Moreover, it was windy - making it harder for a dog to pinpoint a scent source. I placed the scent so that they would succeed quickly.

I tend to speak very softly to the dogs so it's hard to hear me in the videos. I say "search" at the start of each search, and then I say "yes" each time they touch their nose to the scent. You'll see that they knocked the scent off the car a couple of times. I put it back in its original spot... although I wasn't sure what I should've done in that situation (leave it on the ground or put it back). I'll learn.

Without further ado, here's the video (or you can watch it at Youtube). I was walking in an odd way in the video because I was walking on ice! Yesterday was the 1st day that it was safe enough to try this at all!


I think that nosework will be a game that I play with our Duo for a long time. It works their brains, and I cannot overemphasize how much they love it. I feel so good about having found something truly fun for R to do during this phase of waiting for surgery and then when he's recovering.

BTW, we live on a dirt road so it's impossible to have a clean car :)

Next time, I will video an "interior search" for you. It's amazing to watch the dogs work a room!

24 comments:

  1. Good advice from your trainer! We've also taken the first nosework class at Fenzi. I'm thinking of taking shaping with him next term. Thanks for joining the hop!

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  2. Great video! I love watching my dogs find a scent. It's amazing what their noses can do. I use the scented tins, but still pair with a treat on top of the tin. How long did it take before yours showed alerts? Mine don't. Even when they can't get the treat themselves, they just move on, they don't actually show me that they've found it.

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  3. I like the idea that if you are not embarrassing yourself you are not doing it right

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  4. That is so cool! I'm going to start Nola on nosework soon.

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  5. I definitely agree with you on the recall party! That was an awesome nosework video! I would really like to get my dogs into it! Nosework looks like so much fun!

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  6. That is some amazing work gang, you're amazing!

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  7. I've never had formal training. I like to think of myself as a self trained man. Mom says I have nothing to brag about. BOL

    Aroo to you,
    Sully

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  8. Kari - To answer your question from my blog, we didn't start with a treat on top of the tin. We started with me having one hand full of treats and the other hand holding a scent tin. It was a little like the "it's your choice" game. The dog had to put his/her nose on the tin and hold it there to get any treats. Then, I'd give them a train of treats while they held their nose on the tin. That game set the foundation for the notion that holding their nose on the tin (and keeping it there) would earn them a jackpot.

    Both dogs actually have two parts to their alerts. They hold their noses on the tin and they wag their tails like crazy :)

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  10. I really enjoyed this post, and your video too! I've had dogs in the past, and maybe even one or more here now, that would love trying this, and I've no doubt do pretty well. Thanks for a good post -- Your love, dedication to your pups, and all the time you make for them each day is an example for all of us to follow!

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  11. Shula: Hense the term TELL TAIL!! We knew as soon as she smelled it!!

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  12. That R seems to be a natural. He really knows how this scent thing works. I loved watching them both. But R really has it...touch, get treat, touch, get treat.

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  13. I love the video, they have super noses... and I feared for you, walking on this icy ground... it reminded me of my hell-bow adventure :o)

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  14. What fun! We love how R would look at you when he "found it"!

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  15. Mom is shocked the way I sniff out things. Us brachycephalic breeds should not have good sniffers
    Lily (& Edward)

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  16. I want to get Zoey involved in nose work, because she can use the confidence boost. I've been looking for someone locally who can give me tips, because we don't have a class nearby. Thanks for this post - it's the boost I need to find someone.

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  17. Thanks for the nosework posts. I want to start my black lab Zeus doing this. He is 13 now and is past the run/play stage and this will keep his mind busy and him from getting bored (and me from feeling guilty):)

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  18. Maggie is our sniffer, other than that we are untrained. Mom is just shaking her head. stella rose

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  19. I have been doing more with Cocoa with recall and training. I love how it makes us closer!!

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  20. Bravo! You can tell the dogs love doing nose work!

    Keep Calm & Bark On!

    Murphy & Stanley

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  21. Awesome tips on recall.

    I always wonder what in the world I used to do with my dogs before discovering nose work. (or in my case just some simple "find it games") It's Laika's favorite game and it's just amazing to see how much fun she has doing it, and how tired she is afterwards - it really is a nice mental workout.

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  22. Recall party...I love it! I always figured I was over-enthusiastic at times when the dogs do something right, it's nice to know that's OK!
    I can't wait to start the nose work classes with Fenzi too. As soon as we get into our new home and settled I plan to do that. We've done our own games at times and both Cricket, our beagle, and Luke, our Lab mix, love it. But I want to learn how to do it right and to advance beyond boxes with treats!
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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  23. Incredible!
    Good job R and Shyla!
    love
    tweedles

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  24. Wow, thankyou very much for sharing that KB - I'm not familiar with nosework and always assumed it was something very complicated but reading your comments showed me that it wouldn't be out of my reach someday. Little Ava sure loves to use her sniffer so I expect this would be a good thing for her in the future - although being much shorter I'm not sure how she would be able to alert to things higher than a tyre!

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