Post by oksaradt on Jan 25, 2009 22:34:53 GMT -5
Part of training a dog to the level where it can problem solve is presenting it with controlled problems to teach it the phenomena it will have to work through. Here are two such complications to add to your training program:
Chimney Effect
Years back, another dog handler and myself were evaluators for a HRD dog test before a seminar. The hosts standards had an area 1 acre in size, no more than two sources of which could be buried up to six inches deep, surface, or elevated up to six feet up. One of the sources was a suet cage with a brand new autopsy cavity wipe in it. It was tossed into a hollow stump above a gully some 2 feet deep in some woods. Most of the dog teams testing got to work this area under overcast skies. One handler got the joy of working the area when the sun came out. His dog, found the cavity wipe and alerted. The dog and handler proceeded then to wander from tree to tree looking up each tree that bordered the gully. Now, the dog teams had 30 minutes to work their area, a fair time. The handler who was six foot two inches tall follows his dog through out the area looking up into the trees.
Usually as an evaluator, I keep my mouth shut and let the dog teams do what they will during their time period. I broke this personal rule for one interchange with this handler who wasted a good 15 minutes looking up all these trees. I asked him, “did you read the criteria of the testing?”
He replied, “yup, sure did.”
I asked, “So, you know that I can not place a source over six feet up from the ground, correct?”
He replied, “yup, sure do.”
I asked, “So, why would a man taller than six feet be wasting all his time staring up into the trees?”
He replied, “Because from watching my dog, I just know you put something up there.”
I shut up and let him waste the rest of his time. He failed to find the second source because he used the rest of his time looking up sun washed trees.
This dog handler got a valuable, but frustrating lesson in what some call the “chimney effect.”
What happened was the scent from the source dropped down into the gully. Most of the dogs used this to locate the source. When the sun came out and hit the dark bark of the trees, a thermal effect was created, warming the air next to the bark. The warm air rose up the tree …..and carried scent with it. The dog’s nose just followed the travel of scent. To the dog’s credit, it returned to the scent source three times, trying to convey to the handler that this was the source of all the scent. The handler……well, his imagination as to how evil I might be despite the rules…it got the better of him.
Weekend before last, Murphy and I had a great blind in a difficult area, many sources with wind swirls. Murphy looked up trees. I watched how he behaved and told him to keep working. Why? His nose didn’t rise on the shady sides of the trees…. None of the sources were elevated.
Scent Trap
A scent trap is a wind block that collects more scent than a scent leader produces, fooling the dog into thinking it’s the strongest location of scent. IF the dog is trained NOT to pursue to source, then it often will alert on the scent trap instead of working towards the source.
How could this happen?
The problem I worked Murphy on today was an intentional scent trap. I placed a strong adipose tissue source in the crook of a sapling at five feet up in the air. A strong wind was blowing the scent straight across an open path the tree was adjacent to. On the opposite side of the path was a much larger, bulkier tree with lots of surface area. A fence was beyond that, so Murphy could not explore further. Wind speed was 9 to 24 mph during the time Murphy had to work the area. Murphy was convinced that the source was somewhere on that tree, he just couldn’t find it. Fortunately, for Murphy, the wind slowed down to 9 mph as Murphy was upwind of the scent trap, such that the scent from the source tree could drop down to his nose. At that point his eyes grew wide and he followed his nose to the source tree, climbed up it, and alerted. Prior to this, the velocity of the wind was stronger than the gravitational drop of the scent such that Murphy did not get any scent at his nose level except at the scent trap. Depressions in the ground, tree lines, tall grass lines, bushes, any location where scent can collect away from the source can act as a scent trap. If the dog isn’t taught to pursue to source, then an alert at this location can be perceived as a “false alert” instead of simply being the way the dog was trained.
Scent Leader: (stream of scent from the source in a linear direction)
Jim
Chimney Effect
Years back, another dog handler and myself were evaluators for a HRD dog test before a seminar. The hosts standards had an area 1 acre in size, no more than two sources of which could be buried up to six inches deep, surface, or elevated up to six feet up. One of the sources was a suet cage with a brand new autopsy cavity wipe in it. It was tossed into a hollow stump above a gully some 2 feet deep in some woods. Most of the dog teams testing got to work this area under overcast skies. One handler got the joy of working the area when the sun came out. His dog, found the cavity wipe and alerted. The dog and handler proceeded then to wander from tree to tree looking up each tree that bordered the gully. Now, the dog teams had 30 minutes to work their area, a fair time. The handler who was six foot two inches tall follows his dog through out the area looking up into the trees.
Usually as an evaluator, I keep my mouth shut and let the dog teams do what they will during their time period. I broke this personal rule for one interchange with this handler who wasted a good 15 minutes looking up all these trees. I asked him, “did you read the criteria of the testing?”
He replied, “yup, sure did.”
I asked, “So, you know that I can not place a source over six feet up from the ground, correct?”
He replied, “yup, sure do.”
I asked, “So, why would a man taller than six feet be wasting all his time staring up into the trees?”
He replied, “Because from watching my dog, I just know you put something up there.”
I shut up and let him waste the rest of his time. He failed to find the second source because he used the rest of his time looking up sun washed trees.
This dog handler got a valuable, but frustrating lesson in what some call the “chimney effect.”
What happened was the scent from the source dropped down into the gully. Most of the dogs used this to locate the source. When the sun came out and hit the dark bark of the trees, a thermal effect was created, warming the air next to the bark. The warm air rose up the tree …..and carried scent with it. The dog’s nose just followed the travel of scent. To the dog’s credit, it returned to the scent source three times, trying to convey to the handler that this was the source of all the scent. The handler……well, his imagination as to how evil I might be despite the rules…it got the better of him.
Weekend before last, Murphy and I had a great blind in a difficult area, many sources with wind swirls. Murphy looked up trees. I watched how he behaved and told him to keep working. Why? His nose didn’t rise on the shady sides of the trees…. None of the sources were elevated.
Scent Trap
A scent trap is a wind block that collects more scent than a scent leader produces, fooling the dog into thinking it’s the strongest location of scent. IF the dog is trained NOT to pursue to source, then it often will alert on the scent trap instead of working towards the source.
How could this happen?
The problem I worked Murphy on today was an intentional scent trap. I placed a strong adipose tissue source in the crook of a sapling at five feet up in the air. A strong wind was blowing the scent straight across an open path the tree was adjacent to. On the opposite side of the path was a much larger, bulkier tree with lots of surface area. A fence was beyond that, so Murphy could not explore further. Wind speed was 9 to 24 mph during the time Murphy had to work the area. Murphy was convinced that the source was somewhere on that tree, he just couldn’t find it. Fortunately, for Murphy, the wind slowed down to 9 mph as Murphy was upwind of the scent trap, such that the scent from the source tree could drop down to his nose. At that point his eyes grew wide and he followed his nose to the source tree, climbed up it, and alerted. Prior to this, the velocity of the wind was stronger than the gravitational drop of the scent such that Murphy did not get any scent at his nose level except at the scent trap. Depressions in the ground, tree lines, tall grass lines, bushes, any location where scent can collect away from the source can act as a scent trap. If the dog isn’t taught to pursue to source, then an alert at this location can be perceived as a “false alert” instead of simply being the way the dog was trained.
Scent Leader: (stream of scent from the source in a linear direction)
Jim