This is the fourth in a series focused on Skill Building by working through a set of challenges each week. We will stretch our skills and comfort zones using drills and exercises geared towards improving the Nosework team. Each Nosework Challenges class is standalone so don't fret if you missed an earlier one! I basically just have more ideas than I know what to do with.
In general, the Nosework Challenges classes are not as dense as my other classes. I do that on purpose! You will be given a set of exercises each week to work through.
The challenges we will play with will give your dog specific puzzles to help build their natural capabilities. Our dogs come to us as college grads in Olfaction... through puzzles and challenges we help to turn them into Olfaction Rocket Scientists.
Although this is a Series, please remember that the classes DO NOT need to be taken in order. I hope you can join me!!
The theme of Nosework Challenges Series 4 is INACCESSIBLE HIDES!!
Registration
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Registration will begin at 12:00 Noon Pacific Time.
Gold Level includes access to all course materials and the ability to post questions and videos to the course forums. Students will receive instructor feedback on written and video assignments.
Silver Level includes access to all course materials and the ability to participate in the discussion forum. Students may ask GENERAL questions about course materials and may submit two, one-minute videos for instructor feedback. Any questions specific to your dog MUST be accompanied by a video.
Bronze Level includes access to all course materials and the ability to read all questions and answers posted in the class forums. Students will not post questions or submit written or video assignments.
For more details, refund policies, and answers to commonly asked questions see our FAQ page.
Welcome to NW243 Nosework Challenges Series 4! This is a class that is entirely focused on training Inaccessible Hides. We will do so in a way that follows a progression, first by teaching a concept and then quickly moving to more advanced concepts. In this class, be sure to also practice Accessible Hides. We will talk about the importance of this in a later lecture this week.
This week we will cover basic concepts that will carry us throughout the course. These concepts will give you a foundation to work on as we explore all of the types of Inaccessible Hides.
First of all, did you know that there are three types of Inaccessible Hides? There are! In this class we will cover all of them. Each on is challenging in its own right. With each one, we will explore how to introduce the concept, how to set hides, read our dog and call alert at the right time. This is basically the “guts” of being successful with Inaccessible Hides.
The three types of Inaccessible Hides are:
Inaccessible Due to Reach
Inaccessible Due to Containment
Inaccessible Due to Elevation
Up until now, you have probably sourced mostly “Accessible Hides”. Perhaps this is your first foray into Inaccessible Hides? Perhaps you have experience but you might lack the confidence to call an Inaccessible hide in competition? We will take care of all of you!
In order to start, we need to talk about what makes a hide “Inaccessible”. An Inaccessible Hide is basically a hide that where your dog can’t get to or put his nose on the highest concentration of odor. The highest concentration of odor occurs very near source.
But what is “concentration of odor”?
When a hide is placed, the odor which has been infused on a Qtip, escapes into the air. This is a process called “Diffusion”. When odor molecules are released into the air, they immediately start traveling as far as possible from the source of the odor (the Qtip in this case). As they disperse, they get farther and farther apart from each other. When the odor molecules are initially released into the air, they are bunched as close as possible to the Qtip. Odor molecules are extremely dense near the source of the odor. It’s this high concentration that our dogs seek to find. The closer we are to the source of the odor, the higher the concentration.
When hides are “Inaccessible”, the dog simply can’t get to the proximity of the hide where the odor molecules are most dense. This could be for a variety of reasons.
One of these reasons can be because of REACH.
In this clip, the hide is located deep inside of the soda machine. Brava sticks her head inside of the opening in the front, trying to reach source. She tries but can’t quite get close enough. This is Inaccessible Due to Reach.
What you are going to find with this type of Inaccessible Hide is that sometimes, these hides are accessible for some dogs and not for others! In this video, Judd is stretching to get closer to a hide in the bathtub. Many dogs would just jump into the bathtub but that’s not comfortable for him…. So for him, it is Inaccessible Due to Reach.
Another reason why a hide may be inaccessible is due to CONTAINMENT. In this case, the hide is contained in such a way that the odor has to escape through natural cracks and crevices…. this occurs with hides placed in drawers or cabinets.
Here’s a quick clip of Brava finding a hide in a desk drawer. The drawer is completely closed. In this case, it’s not necessary for her to alert on any specific location on the drawer.
The final reason why a hide may be inaccessible is due to ELEVATION. Basically the hide is located above where the dog can reach! It’s not necessary in this case for the dog to put his feet up to alert (although many do!)
Here’s a quick clip of Brava finding a hide under a light fixture. You can see how far that odor traveled!!
Here’s another quick video… Here are Inaccessible Hide calls in competition.
Can you tell which type of Inaccessible Hide each hide is?
(Hint…. The order is Reach, Elevation, Containment!)
In the next lecture, we will explore the different types of body language our dogs will give us with inaccessible hides! We will need this information in order to confidently call Inaccessible Hides in competition.
