NW2-3 WORKSHOP 1 GAIL McCarthy 10-11/9-2024 (Åhörare)

BESKRIVNING AV WORKSHOP
TOPICS OF THIS WORKSHOP:
High hides, Improving Pin-Point Precision, Inaccessible Hides and Building Hunting Duration

Day 1, Session 1: High Hides
The key to the dog telling you about a “High Hide” is to have a dog that truly knows that he is to tell you about “source” and not “odor.” If a dog does know that he is to tell you about “source” and not “odor,” than the dog can really lock onto hide location and not just respond to the odor coming off the hide. The dog will also try to get as close to the hide as he can. The objective of this training is to condition the dog to look up for “High Hides,” to increase the height of the “High Hides” and to vary the location where the dog makes “High Hide” finds.

Day 1, Session 2: Improving Pin-Point Precision
In Nose Work, dogs are taught to “go to source” and the handler needs to be able identify exactly where the source is if asked by a judge at a Nose Work Trial. If you cannot immediately pinpoint based on your dog’s behavior, you will not pass that element. So, “going to source” is an important component in this sport but it also is the foundation for dogs being able to solve more complex scent-problems. However, “going to source” is really just a learned skill to the dog — the dog really does not care where he makes his decision and pinpointing source initially makes little difference to the dog.

Gail will offer some exercises to help our dog learn to tell us about source-location and to not chase odor around and around. Remember, “learning to pinpoint source location” is a “gray” area for the dog initially but, once the dog learns to pinpoint because of your “proper reward delivery,” it is black and white (though perishable if you start to “slip up” in your training).

Day 2, Session 1: Inaccessible Hides
The key to working “inaccessible hides” is to have the dog know that he is to tell you about “source” and not “odor.” If a dog does know that he is to tell you about “source” and not “odor,” than the dog will try to find a “route in” to physically access the hide. This session will explore what a dog looks like when he is “bracketing,” or physically trying to access the hide, versus when the dog is ”sourcing” the hide. We also will explore how the dogs work very deep inaccessible hides.

Day 2, Session 2: Building Hunting Duration
The objective of all Nose Work Training is to develop an absolute belief in the dog: 1) That there will always be a hide to be found; and 2) That the dog will always be successful. Gail calls these the “Twin Beliefs” and together they help create the proper “Hunting Mindset” in the dog. The proper “Hunting Mindset” is what is necessary for a dog to search for longer periods of time and/or to search in the absence of odor without displaying “Displacement Behaviors.” In this session, we will explore how to strengthen our dog’s “Twin Beliefs” and to develop our dog’s confidence to search for longer periods of time.