NW180: Developing Scent-sational Skills for Competition

From week 2 Crazy Containers - Setup #1 Blanks

Containers can really be CRAZY and they tend to have the lowest pass rate across the board. So many configurations and strategies to decide. Of course containers have that added complexity of housing distractors, but we won’t focus on that right now. Let’s toss that aside and focus on just the sheer complexity that there can be with containers.

Before we jump into the various container configurations, I like to train blank searches early in our dogs career so that they don't always expect to find odor. Both my older dogs have had a tendency to false on the last box of a line when they hadn't found odor yet. This training and setup will help our dogs feel confident if they don't find odor right away and to only indicate when there clearly is odor. A cool mantra/tip is to always assume a search area is blank and then go from there if our dog is showing sourcing behavior. This is better than trying to geto our dog to source something that is not there!

SIMPLE BLANK CONTAINER SEARCH

First, let’s run a blank container search! Yep, a blank. It’s not scary at all. It’s quick and allows us to rehearse methodical searching without odor in the picture. It won't demotivate your dog to not find odor. After you leave the boxes, say "Finish" and you can reward you dog with food, toy or personal play. If you are feeling uncomfortable to reward your dog for not finding odor, you can ask for a trick and then reward. I personally have no issue rewarding a blank area search since scent detection is not just about finding odor, but also clearing blank areas. In NACSW NW3 their MAY be a blank search in ANY of the elements (when it used to only be for interiors). I would ALSO make sure not to say "Finish" when your dog is on the last cold box in a row - wait for them to dismiss the boxes void of odor.

KEY POINTS:

• Run one blank, then followed right away with odor.
• Get in and get out on the blank. Don't worry about checking each box. Call finish when they disengage from the boxes.
• Future blank setups should be in a NEW area with no trace of odor from previous searches.

Steps:

1. Prepare a hot box and let it age for at least 20 minutes. Using a well vented container would be ideal.
2. Set up short line of containers - all cold - in a single line. I used 5 containers.
3. Set up a start line/pylons.
4. Run your dog on leash. This is the BLANK search.
5. Take your dog down the line. If they walk off the last box, great, say "finish" and reward away from the boxes. If your dog wants to turn back and go back down the line, that is fine too then finish off the end of the 2nd pass. Make sure NOT to use your marker word, but to say "Finish" and reward, which is what you will say in a trial that may have a blank search. Calling "Finish" means you have cleared the area and found all or none of the hides present.
6. Put your dog up or in a down and place a hot container in the row. You can replace one that is there or add another box. Place it somewhere in the middle and NOT at the end. We don't want to reinforce the last box with being hot in this situation.
7. Run your dog on leash. This is a search with ONE hot container.

Here is Moxie doing this for the first time. Here is a 3 pass on blanks. I had good timing on the "Finish". On her other ones when I tried to not have her pass 2 or 3 times I influenced too much with pulling her off. So play around to find your dogs understanding that it's clear - without waiting too long to false!

EXTRA CREDIT:

Here is a variation of the Blank exercise - setting it up more as a drill and not a formal search. I would focus on rep 1 and rep 3 (and not add in the blank with distractors yet until after you know your dog will dismiss a pile of cold containers.