N101S: NW101 - Introduction to Nosework

In this lecture we will get started with our odor imprinting! 

We can do this in two steps. If your dog is very naturally operant, you can skip to Step 2.  If you have trouble though with Step 2, go back to Step 1!

Step 1:

All we are going to do in this step is start to associate odor with food.  

You will want to find something like a cookie tin lid or metal pie plate.  If you purchased your supplies from a Nosework vendor, you'll find that most of the tins come with magnets.  These come in quite handy because they stick to the middle of the cookie tin lid!  (Some people use metal strainers for this purpose.  I tried a strainer with Powder, however it created some foot targeting behavior.  For her, the cookie tin lid was much more effective!)

To get your dog's interest in the lid, you can pre-load it with a couple of tasty cookies. Place it on the ground.  Your dog will investigate and eat the cookies.  At that point, mark with a "Yes" and then add cookies to the plate.  This will also help build duration later on!  

Once your dog has eaten all of the cookie, pause...  your dog will put his nose back towards the lid to investigate.  Mark with a "Yes" and then reward on the plate.  This is the start of your indication.  You'll see in this video how I wait for Powder to lower her head to the tin BEFORE I reward.  That's essential.  It establishes a cause and effect relationship.  At this point, your dog is already learning that odor pays off!

Step 2A:

In this step we are going to switch to our metal switch boxes.  These switch boxes come in handy if you ever need to fix a box smashing behavior later on.  I use the metal boxes in part over plastic tupperware because it prevents scattering.  Some dogs are reinforced by the scattering behavior which can increase destructive container behavior down the road. It's super important to use heavy type, unbreakable, Game Boxes, especially with your larger or more physical dog.

We are going to start by shaping the dog placing his nose in the hole.

This is going to be relatively easy if you did Step 1, because we are going to place our odor in the box before we work.  It's super important to not try to shape a nose in the hole behavior without odor, because we don't want to reinforce the dog for indicating where there is no odor.

Before we discuss how to do this, let's talk a little bit about how we need to reward our dogs.

It's incredibly important to "REWARD AT SOURCE" .  This means that you will reward as close to the box as possible without actually putting food in the box.  It can be easiest to feed out of a cupped hand in order to avoid dropping food in the box.  If you drop food in your box, your dog will focus on eating out of the box (which is tough!) and you will have a hard time developing a alert behavior.  Plus, your box will smell like food which your dog may focus on rather than the odor itself.

Feeding away from source moves the dog towards the handler when they are uncertain. So the dog ends up orienting to the handler… which can result in a couple of things down the road:

• The alert may be so brief that the dog comes back to the handler, but the handler doesn’t know where the alert actually occurred.
• Lessening of duration at source
• The dog may increase focus on the handler when confused which can easily be misunderstood as an alert. Handler may call Alert and get a No.
• You will start to see a decrease in the precision over time.

 Place your odor tin into the switch box (or use your chosen Game Box).  You will probably want to mark which box you use for odor. I put a small "H" on my hot box.

It can be helpful to do this step while sitting on a stool.  If you sit on the floor with your dog, you'll find that the dog starts to orient more towards you and your treats which can affect the nose in the hole behavior.

Hold the switch box in one hand and offer your dog the box.  You dog will sniff it out of curiosity.  Mark with a "Yes" and feed with a cupped hand over the hole being careful not to drop treats (it can be helpful to use non-crumbly treats for this!).  Repeat a few times.  Your dog will start to offer more and more of a nose in the hole behavior.  Mark and reward, shaping your dog to stick his nose in the hole of the box.  (Remember that the raised circular part of the ring needs to point DOWN, otherwise it may be aversive to your dog.)

If your dog offers a paw, simply lift the box out of reach and re-present it so that he learns that the behavior needs to be nose-only.

Step 2B:

Now let's move the box to the floor!  You'll find this step easier after having done it while holding it in your hand.  Again, mark and reward for nose in the hole behavior. 

Some dogs may get a little "footsy" with the box.  See if the behavior will self correct by not rewarding it.  If the foot continue instead of being very rare, go back to Step 2A.  It's SO important that your dog learns that alerting should not occur with the feet.  A long time ago at the beginning of Nosework, pawing was actually encouraged!  Things have changed over the last decade and there is a huge sensitivity to destructive alerts.  Remember that one day you will be searching a vehicle!  You certainly don't want to worry about scratching someone's car...  In competition, destructive type behavior that includes excessive pawing can easily earn you a Fault.  You can still title, but it will put you at the bottom of placements.  Learning how to properly indicate on odor at the BEGINNING is the best way to avoid having to use my Box Smashing Anonymous Self Study course later!

So go ahead and try these games and let's see how you do!!