Post by oksaradt on Sept 14, 2008 16:52:29 GMT -5
Patience (or Water 202)
When training a dog on a new level of difficulty in any venue that requires the dog to actually think, patience is required. This is something all of us dog handlers tend to have in short supply. Both Murphy and another dog got to work new problems yesterday, both required the handlers to be patient or the handler becomes a crutch for the dog.
Yesterday was a great day for HRD and trailing work. It was difficult for area search dog teams as there was heavy humidity and little to no wind with some problems in dense woods. We had overcast skies as Hurricane Ike was moving through. A cold front was moving in from the north as the same time. We had some rain, but not much. The temperature was in the 70s, a nice change from the 80s and 90s.
Three sources were placed with the intention of increasing difficulty with the last source being in 8 inches of water. Source 1 was a cavity wipe from a recent death. Source 2 was a cavity wipe from a decomposed body. Source 3 was adipose tissue and blood in a sponge of decomposed human hair in a PVC tube tossed out into a small cove (120 feet long by 0-to-100 feet wide that opened into a lake. Wind currents were pushing the water in towards the beach such that the oils would wash into the shore worked. Cotton string connected the tube to the shore and it’s not uncommon for dogs to hit on the string as it can wick the scent up. For a first time, finding the string is actually a good thing as dogs can work it out to the source. As the dog’s expertise improves the string is hidden, submerged, and the water is much deeper. The lake this was done at has had several recoveries, so I’m not really worried about contaminating the water more than it was.
Source 1 was placed under a heavily leafed tree with a cedar tree growing next to it, both trees had branches all the way to the ground. The source was placed on the top of a slope that flowed down to a dirt road about 8 feet away. This was done intentionally to assist the dog in the find by allowing the scent to flow down to the road where the dog would be working.
Source 2 was placed in thick scrub with both dead grass and leafy scrub again on a slope that worked down to the road. Both sources were placed in great suet cages that blend in well to the terrain and prevent dogs from “snacking” if they should so choose. This gives the handler an opportunity to see they need to prevent this in other venues such as at feeding time. My method is to teach “EASY’ by stopping the dog from eating it’s kibble and pushing the face back. Over time, the dog learns to stop eating when you say “EASY” and can resume if you release.
Neither dog had ever seen sources like this before. Murphy having been recently introduced to decomp, had seen adipose tissue, organ tissue, and such recently, but neither has seen the combinations presented. So, as discussed in Interpolation, the dog has to make a judgment call as to whether to tell the handler if this is material it is supposed to alert/indicate on. This is where the patience comes in. If the handler jumps the gun and makes the call for the dog, the dog learns that the handler will always tell it when it’s supposed to alert. This can create dogs that work great in known problems where the handler knows where all the sources are, but the dog doesn’t do so good on blinds or real searches.
Signs that a handler needs to let their dog work is when you have the handler actively searching for the source as well AND/OR asking the problem setter, “Where is it?” My stock reply is, “let the dog find it for us.” To be honest, I tend to find ways to mark where I put sources distant from the source because I often forget the exact location where the source is. The result is I depend heavily on my dogs to locate the sources. I stopped looking long ago until the dog tells me it has a find and targets. I mark problems I set up in such a way that only I know the mark just in case the dog and/or handler miss it. Then I can ask them to work an area again. That a dog might miss scent the first time can simply mean the handler did not get the dog to search where scent was available to find.
So, I’m basically going to talk about Murphy’s water work to demonstrate the point. Water can amplify the scent travel of a scent source due to water evaporation helping to carry some of the chemical components from the source. Murphy began picking up scent on the water problem 80-100 feet away from the water itself. The land around the water was grown up with vegetation 2-4 feet in height which Murphy had no problem working through in pursuit of scent. Murphy worked along the shore which was bare of vegetation near the source for about 50 feet. Murphy located the string and did a touch on the string. I gave light verbal praise but told him he had to get closer. Murphy went out into the water and worked back and forth. Murphy gave me an alert about 3 feet from the source which I would not accept in these conditions and again asked for “closer”. Murphy worked all around the source which was visible through the water, but he was using his nose and not his eyes (which I prefer). Murphy began to do a touch in the water and in doing so located the source, put his nose closer, then gave a bark (still a wheezing bark due to puppy excitement). I praised and asked for a show me which produced a touch over the source and I gave a big reward.
In between all this was lots of Murphy going around the water, tasting the water, some snorkeling, and looks at me for help which I acted oblivious to. Snorkeling the water is a good sign as dogs have another scent organ in the roof of their mouth which snorkeling helps them utilize. Snorkeling is where the dog puts its nose in the water and blows bubbles.
As Murpy had worked problems in water with both jars and creeks, this wasn’t a major step for him. Murphy had to deal with a new source in an area unknown to him previously. Murphy had never had to work water this size. So, that was all the difficulty that was needed to be added to a new problem. Once Murphy had been rewarded for his new decision, he was asked to “show me” three more times, went back out to the water and did a bark/touch on the source precisely. This is done to reinforce the lesson of the problem. I should note that I asked for repeated show-me’s on the two previous problems as well to reinforce.
When the second handler worked this problem, it was obvious that he itched to walk out into the water to help his dog. To his credit, he let me torture him and his dog. Watching the dog, it was obvious that the wheels were turning in its head, desperate to figure out how to please its owner. This dog has a touch that we are recently reinforcing. The dog’s first try was once it located the source, to reach down into the water and bring it back up in its mouth. The handler’s reward distracted it to dropping the source. We reinforced the find several more times and the dog went to its touch in the water. Each time was painfully difficult on the handler as time seems to slow down to a crawl while the dog works out what we want it to do. For those that don’t believe old dogs can learn new tricks, this other dog is a 9 y/o GSD. Both handler and dog are doing great with patience, each other, and learning new skills.
Jim
(Caveat: Water work is the only venue where I will use PVC tubing. I use it there because it's heavy and turtles can't destroy it easily. I don't like PVC anywhere else as I think it puts out enough odor on its own that the dog begins locating the tubing instead of what's inside. I hope that water inhibts this, but as the dog progresses a blank PVC tube should be placed out in the water as well then tossed......tossed because it might be contaminated with what else you put in the water.)
When training a dog on a new level of difficulty in any venue that requires the dog to actually think, patience is required. This is something all of us dog handlers tend to have in short supply. Both Murphy and another dog got to work new problems yesterday, both required the handlers to be patient or the handler becomes a crutch for the dog.
Yesterday was a great day for HRD and trailing work. It was difficult for area search dog teams as there was heavy humidity and little to no wind with some problems in dense woods. We had overcast skies as Hurricane Ike was moving through. A cold front was moving in from the north as the same time. We had some rain, but not much. The temperature was in the 70s, a nice change from the 80s and 90s.
Three sources were placed with the intention of increasing difficulty with the last source being in 8 inches of water. Source 1 was a cavity wipe from a recent death. Source 2 was a cavity wipe from a decomposed body. Source 3 was adipose tissue and blood in a sponge of decomposed human hair in a PVC tube tossed out into a small cove (120 feet long by 0-to-100 feet wide that opened into a lake. Wind currents were pushing the water in towards the beach such that the oils would wash into the shore worked. Cotton string connected the tube to the shore and it’s not uncommon for dogs to hit on the string as it can wick the scent up. For a first time, finding the string is actually a good thing as dogs can work it out to the source. As the dog’s expertise improves the string is hidden, submerged, and the water is much deeper. The lake this was done at has had several recoveries, so I’m not really worried about contaminating the water more than it was.
Source 1 was placed under a heavily leafed tree with a cedar tree growing next to it, both trees had branches all the way to the ground. The source was placed on the top of a slope that flowed down to a dirt road about 8 feet away. This was done intentionally to assist the dog in the find by allowing the scent to flow down to the road where the dog would be working.
Source 2 was placed in thick scrub with both dead grass and leafy scrub again on a slope that worked down to the road. Both sources were placed in great suet cages that blend in well to the terrain and prevent dogs from “snacking” if they should so choose. This gives the handler an opportunity to see they need to prevent this in other venues such as at feeding time. My method is to teach “EASY’ by stopping the dog from eating it’s kibble and pushing the face back. Over time, the dog learns to stop eating when you say “EASY” and can resume if you release.
Neither dog had ever seen sources like this before. Murphy having been recently introduced to decomp, had seen adipose tissue, organ tissue, and such recently, but neither has seen the combinations presented. So, as discussed in Interpolation, the dog has to make a judgment call as to whether to tell the handler if this is material it is supposed to alert/indicate on. This is where the patience comes in. If the handler jumps the gun and makes the call for the dog, the dog learns that the handler will always tell it when it’s supposed to alert. This can create dogs that work great in known problems where the handler knows where all the sources are, but the dog doesn’t do so good on blinds or real searches.
Signs that a handler needs to let their dog work is when you have the handler actively searching for the source as well AND/OR asking the problem setter, “Where is it?” My stock reply is, “let the dog find it for us.” To be honest, I tend to find ways to mark where I put sources distant from the source because I often forget the exact location where the source is. The result is I depend heavily on my dogs to locate the sources. I stopped looking long ago until the dog tells me it has a find and targets. I mark problems I set up in such a way that only I know the mark just in case the dog and/or handler miss it. Then I can ask them to work an area again. That a dog might miss scent the first time can simply mean the handler did not get the dog to search where scent was available to find.
So, I’m basically going to talk about Murphy’s water work to demonstrate the point. Water can amplify the scent travel of a scent source due to water evaporation helping to carry some of the chemical components from the source. Murphy began picking up scent on the water problem 80-100 feet away from the water itself. The land around the water was grown up with vegetation 2-4 feet in height which Murphy had no problem working through in pursuit of scent. Murphy worked along the shore which was bare of vegetation near the source for about 50 feet. Murphy located the string and did a touch on the string. I gave light verbal praise but told him he had to get closer. Murphy went out into the water and worked back and forth. Murphy gave me an alert about 3 feet from the source which I would not accept in these conditions and again asked for “closer”. Murphy worked all around the source which was visible through the water, but he was using his nose and not his eyes (which I prefer). Murphy began to do a touch in the water and in doing so located the source, put his nose closer, then gave a bark (still a wheezing bark due to puppy excitement). I praised and asked for a show me which produced a touch over the source and I gave a big reward.
In between all this was lots of Murphy going around the water, tasting the water, some snorkeling, and looks at me for help which I acted oblivious to. Snorkeling the water is a good sign as dogs have another scent organ in the roof of their mouth which snorkeling helps them utilize. Snorkeling is where the dog puts its nose in the water and blows bubbles.
As Murpy had worked problems in water with both jars and creeks, this wasn’t a major step for him. Murphy had to deal with a new source in an area unknown to him previously. Murphy had never had to work water this size. So, that was all the difficulty that was needed to be added to a new problem. Once Murphy had been rewarded for his new decision, he was asked to “show me” three more times, went back out to the water and did a bark/touch on the source precisely. This is done to reinforce the lesson of the problem. I should note that I asked for repeated show-me’s on the two previous problems as well to reinforce.
When the second handler worked this problem, it was obvious that he itched to walk out into the water to help his dog. To his credit, he let me torture him and his dog. Watching the dog, it was obvious that the wheels were turning in its head, desperate to figure out how to please its owner. This dog has a touch that we are recently reinforcing. The dog’s first try was once it located the source, to reach down into the water and bring it back up in its mouth. The handler’s reward distracted it to dropping the source. We reinforced the find several more times and the dog went to its touch in the water. Each time was painfully difficult on the handler as time seems to slow down to a crawl while the dog works out what we want it to do. For those that don’t believe old dogs can learn new tricks, this other dog is a 9 y/o GSD. Both handler and dog are doing great with patience, each other, and learning new skills.
Jim
(Caveat: Water work is the only venue where I will use PVC tubing. I use it there because it's heavy and turtles can't destroy it easily. I don't like PVC anywhere else as I think it puts out enough odor on its own that the dog begins locating the tubing instead of what's inside. I hope that water inhibts this, but as the dog progresses a blank PVC tube should be placed out in the water as well then tossed......tossed because it might be contaminated with what else you put in the water.)