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Post by rthonor on Mar 23, 2010 10:24:00 GMT -5
ok, I have read some of your info on imprinting puppies, but can you give me the details or direct me to the correct thread. thanks,rt
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Post by oksaradt on Mar 23, 2010 11:15:27 GMT -5
As people post questions on these, their order changes. I looked back and imprinting is discussed in "The Devil is in the Details", "Baby Steps", "Indication Stations".
The deal with imprinting is that most handlers circumvent it or they decide the dog/puppy is ready to move on too fast without laying a solid foundation. Part of laying the foundation is to intentionally increase the dog's nasal receptors for the scent sources we desire it to find. Dog's nasal receptors regenerate on a 3-4 month rotational basis and tend to increase on scents that feed them successfully, i.e. a wolf that lives where there are lots of mice gets really good at sniffing out mice as its nasal receptors for that scent increase.
Basically, imprinting is simply rewarding the dog for detecting and locating a scent source that we need it to find. Say a dog handler that has a dog already working in the field and the handler suddenly comes into some a human tissue component that they've never had before. The dog should be imprinted on this scent source rather than expected to do the "whole nine yards" right out of the gate. So, the handler rewards as soon as the dog puts its nose on the scent source or as close as the handler will allow it to get to prevent contaminating the source. The handler continues to reward for finding without alerting beyond where the handler thinks the dog gets it. At a time the handler decides the dog will easily locate this source, the handler now gradually holds back the reward on initial location by the dog. If the dog is already trained and wants its reward, the dog should anticipate the reward and perform its alert for its paycheck. The mistake most handlers make at this point it they immediately raise their expectations upon that find rather that slowly wean the dog off the freebie rewards for simply placing the nose on it. The result is then the dog begins guessing and the handler begins questioning their dog.
let me know if you need more,
Jim
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