Do you feel like all of your hides seem to be similar or that you or your dog is a little bored? It could be that you need to introduce more variety to your setups. If we always set hides using the same or similar style, we can accidentally mold our dog's searching style in a way that can cause gaps. This class is all about helping the newer team to build variety and FUN into their searching by providing setups to help you touch on key skills and close those gaps! (or never let them have gaps them to begin with!)
This class is a GREAT way to give your training a boost and will help you to conquer your goals in small bites and less time commitment.
This class is intended for the newer team... if you can train in novel locations, this is the perfect class for you! We will be doing a variety of single and multiple hides. Some can be done at home or if you have access to an indoor area. You can also accomplish a lot by seeking out exteriors and vehicles! And we will make Containers FUN too!
This class will include 4 to 5 different setups per week. The setups will include problem solving, skill building, proofing, and drills in a way that you can either pick and choose or do them all! Some teams may decide to practice some of the setups multiple times and some times may decide to just do what they have time for. Feedback will include discussion about hide placement, odor behavior, building confidence/motivation in your dog, odor obedience, and handling!
Teaching Approach
This course will include one lecture per setup. The instruction will be written with short videos of example searches. The student may need to adapt the example to their own situation. Lecture videos may run from 1 to 4 minutes long, with the average between 1-2 minutes. The lectures are designed to help a student understand the purpose of the topic and how its application might vary by dog. Care is taken so that learners who learn by both watching and reading will be successful.
This class will have a Teaching Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook discussion group to help the bronze and silver students! Directions for joining can be found in the classsroom after you register.
Stacy Barnett is a top nosework competitor and trainer, with many Summit Level titles in the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW), (Judd SMTx3, Brava SMTx5, Powder SMTx3). She is also a Wilderness SAR K9 handler with her certified dog, K9 Prize. Stacy has been a faculty member at FDSA since 2015 (Click here for full bio and to view Stacy's upcoming courses)
This class will include 4 to 5 different setups per week. The setups will include problem solving, skill building, proofing, and drills in a way that you can either pick and choose or do them all! Some teams may decide to practice some of the setups multiple times and some times may decide to just do what they have time for. Feedback will include discussion about hide placement, odor behavior, building confidence/motivation in your dog, odor obedience, and handling!
Week 1: Hides that build balanced searching behaviors
When we set hides, we often have innate patterns that we might not be aware of. These patterns mold our dog's searching patterns, often to their detriment. This week, we will set hides to help balance out where and how our dogs search.
Week 2: Hides that challenge understanding of source
We can use hide placement to help our dogs to work all the way to source rather than drawing assumptions about the hide's location. This week, we will help our dogs to understand source better.
Week 3: Hides that challenge handling
Sometimes hides are placed in a way that make handling a little awkward. This week, we are going to push the boundaries of our handling so that we can become accustomed to handling in spaces that make this a little more challenging!
Week 4: Hides the build focus
Sometimes our dogs "travel" through the search area rather than actively searching. We can use hide placement in surprising locations and in a way that will tighten up our dog's focus and get them searching the entire area.
Week 5: Hides that incorporate unproductive space
At some point, our dogs will need to work blank areas and to clear search areas of all available odor. This week we are going to enlarge our search areas in ways that help our dogs to learn how to cover unproductive space happily.
Week 6: Hides that use the sun or heat
Heat makes odor expand. When heat is applied on or near a hide, the odor will behave very differently than if the heat was not there. This week, we will set those hides intentionally in order to really build our dog's understanding of odor movement.
Dog should be comfortably able to work in novel locations in order to take full advantage of this course. Although not a requirement for all of the setups, teams should have started working multiple hides.
How we set our hides drives our dog's search patterns. When we set hides, we often have innate patterns that we might not be aware of. These patterns mold our dog's searching patterns, often to their detriment. This week, we will set hides to help balance out where and how our dogs search.
For instance, a lot of handlers may set hides in the center of the room. In some cases, some handlers might have a side preference and set the majority of their hides on one side or another. We usually don't even know that we do this but our patterns in hide setting usually become apparent when our dog works. Although this isn't an issue in practice, when you go to trial, you will be running someone else's hides and they might have different pattern types than you!
This week, we are going to set hides in way to help bring your dog back into balance and to sensitize you to your own potential hide placement patterns.
Exercise: Four Corners
In this exercise, we are going to encourage the dog to work into their corners EQUALLY by using all 4 corners in a room. You might need to get a little creative and pre-plan your hide placements prior to running these searches. I found when setting these up, that the structure and layout of my house may be contributing to my own hide placement patterns. I had very few options for Corner Position 4! It's fascinating really and going through this setup was eye opening because it became clear how our search areas that we use also influence how we set hides. And if we re-use the same areas out of convenience or necessity, our patterns can be influenced subconsciously. Food for Thought!
This exercise, and most of the exercises this week, can also work on stamina. I encourage you to try running the searches back to back using 4 different areas. However, if that is not possible, you can reuse areas. If you do that, try to allow the area to air out between runs for at least 15 minutes and remove the hot object out of the search area. If that is not possible, use a little Zero Odor (available on Amazon) to clean the spot and let it dry before reusing the search area.
Setup:
Pick four search areas with physically defined boundaries. Interiors are idea for this exercise however if you have exteriors with natural physical boundaries, you can use them instead. I used 4 different rooms in my house. This is a GREAT hot weather exercise! You might need to pre-plan a little and choose which room to place which hide based on the layout of your house.
In each area, set a SINGLE hide in one of the 4 corners:
Position 1: Front Left Corner
Position 2: Back Left Corner
Position 3: Back Right Corner
Position 4: Front Right Corner
Place the hides so that they are accessible. You can place them on furniture or other objects. You can always bring in things like chairs into a room in order to have something to place a hide on. You can see that I did that for Position 4 in the example.
Execution:
Run the searches IN ORDER. Run the dog off leash if possible. If you have a more open floor plan and your dog wants to leave to search another one of your setups, you can run your dog on leash WITHOUT INFLUENCE. You will see in my example that I am running Prize in Position 3 on a Flexi in order to demonstrate that this is an option.
If you have to reset the search in between searches, make sure you set the hides and run the searches in the order 1, 2, 3, then 4.
Examples:
I ran two dogs on this setup. Why and Prize both worked all 4 searches in flow.
Position 1: Why
In this case, the hide is under the far edge of an end table in a fairly empty spare bedroom in my house. The odor is being pulled a little towards the windows. The odor is also collecting under the lower shelf of the end table. He is noticing this pooling more because of his height than anything.
Position 2: Why
In Position 2, I set the hide under the lip of a cubicle cabinet. The windows about the shelving and the windows to the right of the room are causing odor to expand. You will see with both Why and Prize that the odor has spread all across the cabinets.
Position 3: Why
This hide is located under the lip of the lower shelf on cabinet in the back right of the room. The cathedral windows are causing the odor to rise. Make sure you check out the General Lectures this week that talk about what to do if a hide is too challenging. Sun can REALLY make hides difficult!
Position 4: Why
In this case, I have a temporary partition in the room that helps to create my 4th corner. My house is not Corner #4 friendly! I put a dining room chair in this position and Why finds the hide quickly.
Position 1: Prize
Prize also had no problems with this hide, however since she is taller than Why, she did not get caught up in the pooling under the lower shelf.
Position 2: Prize
Prize also shows us how the odor in the cube cabinet is spreading across the back of the room.
Position 3: Prize
By the time Prize ran Position 3, the hide had aged quite a bit. Because of her problem solving style of working to the outer edges, she catches a lot of odor in the bathroom and has to work a little harder to get to source. I worked Prize on a Flexi in order to keep her in the room in this example. Notice that I am NOT influencing where she should search and I am only using the line to keep her in the search area.
Position 4: Prize
This position was definitely more straightforward for Prize!
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...
Roy and I have grown so much with this class -- we were consistently challenged with setups and new things to try, and given the tools to succeed. Stacy provided excellent feedback and much encouragement. I've gained so much understanding of my boy and grown our working relationship and look forward to seeing where nosework takes us.
I absolutely LOVED this class. It came at a perfect time for my young dog to help develop his (and my!) skills in a methodical, thoughtful way. I wasn't planning to, but I also ended up running my more experienced dog on a lot of the setups and found them extremely beneficial for him as well. I really feel like I gained great insight into both of my dogs' working styles, strengths and weaknesses as well as my own hide setting with these setups. It was a lot of fun as well! I am looking forward to having a reference for days or spaces where I am not quite sure what kind of problem I want to set up. This will be a cherished library class for me!
This course is as magnificent as all the previous Stacy’s courses have been. Really appreciate the opportunity to learn from the best instructor in the world while living in the other side of the world! Big thanks to TA as well!
This course was fantastic! Although marketed towards "green" dogs, I think nearly all levels of nosework handlers and dogs could have benefited from the material. I learned a lot about odor theory and dynamics, and also gained a far better understanding of my dog's behavior while working a search. Plus I now have a huge variety of set-ups that can be implemented in a wide variety of locations. Loved it!
One of my favorite classes I've taken! It really helped me explore hide setups that I would have -never- thought up on my own. I feel like we have strengthened many skills after this course.
With the exchange rate, - plus the cost of 'live' classes - I thought twice about enrolling in this course. From here on in, no thinking will be required - I'll just be joining. We don't have access to experienced instructors here in Australia so to have Ana analyzing the videos and offering feedback was incredibly valuable. Thank you Stacy & Ana. Looking forward to the next one in October!
I am so happy to have had another opportunity to take one of Stacy's courses. To learn from one of the best is a real privilege. My education has been 100% online so these courses are quite meaningful to me.
Loved this course ! I need classes for ideas on how to set up and accountability. This class was perfect! Gave me new ideas each week so I wasn’t always doing the same old thing! Loved the format!
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Instructor: Stacy Barnett
