Reflections on Keen’s first NW Trial

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My younger border collie Keen had his first nosework trial experience this past weekend in two Level 1 Element trials (interiors and containers). I have to admit, by most people’s standards it didn’t go great. Out of the 8 searches, he had four “nailed it!” searches -including a four-second threshold hide search! The other four searches didn’t go so well. What did I observe? What did I learn? And how can I take the lessons forward into training?

In the interior searches, we had the option of on/off leash.  I chose on-leash for the first two searches since I was worried about his jumping on people.  He nailed the Kitchen search (4 seconds!) Then, I had him on leash in the super tight room 107 and that was a mistake as I was distracted by trying to keep the leash untangled and didn’t recognize (til later) that he was in odor at the bottom of the podium. He did great in the music room search – a room that was a bit more open (off-leash); and we had an honest mistake in pooled odor situation on the chair search. 

Of the four container searches, he was beautifully successful in two of the searches – the alley (outdoor) and the hallway. His search time doesn’t reflect how quickly he found the hides because he was pulling me a little across the start line at the beginning of each search (LOL).  The two he struggled with were the super tight ORT-box container search with three people and 7 boxes crammed into a small space and the open hallway with boxes on the chairs along with loud voices from the atrium below. I could tell he wasn’t “working” in either of these searches so I tried to restart him, but he was just too distracted to focus. (BTW, we have actually worked on containers on chairs in a training scenario, so this was not a new context for him).

I took away a ton of great information from these trials. How does this help us going forward?  Well, it seems kind of obvious after some reflection – but it took me a while to get there… 

But first, a little about Keen. 

Keen is a happy boy and doesn’t take anything too seriously. His training history includes foundation agility taught almost entirely in my backyard and a few trials where he earned his Novice Speedstakes title (he’s a beautiful jumper, btw)…and then…I quit agility. Sorry buddy…it was time. His biggest love is sheep herding where he brings that same joy along with good instincts and a little bit of goofiness. Fortunately for him, he’s been trained by a knowledgeable instructor and it shows. He has “partnered up” with Paul and it gives me a lot of pleasure to watch him do what a border collie was bred to do, and be a useful dog in a farm chore context. Keen is good to the sheep but/and is not a “deep thinker” and doesn’t get offended by fair pressure. It’s no surprise that Paul’s nickname for Keen is “Bubba”. We have no trialing planned. This is the year where my goal is to learn to handle him on sheep. We’ll see. [insert laughing emoji]. 

Back to Nosework

My older border collie Nick is competing in NW3 and he’s my first dog that I’ve concentrated on scent work training and with whom, I’ve come to enjoy the nuances and challenges of Nosework. In contrast to Keen, Nick came to his first Nosework trial (NW1) with years of agility competition under his belt. And in general, he’s more serious and intense in his work than his nephew Keen. At Nick’s first trial, I called him my “little professional” as he confidently went to each start line, searched without distraction and achieved his title with an overall “pronounced” designation from the judges. As we’ve progressed through the next levels, we’ve had some things to work through – like managing his arousal – and I’m still learning to read his behaviors – but one thing I’m sure about…Nick enjoys Scentwork and brings focus to each search. 

Back to Keen and his first trial experience

Keen’s nosework skills and problem-solving are very good. He’s benefited from my experience training Nick, and subsequent growth in my understanding and experience of introducing/practicing various nosework puzzles. In a familiar location or even in a local park he does GREAT and definitely enjoys the game.  Why did he struggle at the trial?  Three things, I think:

    • He’s a joyful dog and super-friendly towards people. Think golden-retriever energy. To the point where people are a distraction in Scentwork (never in herding but it was an issue that we worked thru successfully in his few agility trials). Guess what you see at a Nosework trial and in your searches? Lots of people. People close by. Sometimes people talking. We’ve been preparing for this in Nosework classes and have made progress but aren’t “there” yet (Apparently!). 
    • Plus, he’s lacking all the experience a dog like Nick had in his agility career that helped him keep his head together in a variety of  environments.
    • Plus, plus…I won’t let myself off the hook.  I was distracted by leash handling in one search and I’m still struggling in general with how to “help”, without taking over if my dog gets stuck – e.g. in odor but not solving the puzzle.  
Going forward

So, going forward…I pulled Keen from the NW1 trial we had entered in just a few weeks.  Instead, we’ll be concentrating on training in a variety of environments and getting him used to being around people, people who are talking, and people in tight spaces.  Pop-ups, Mock trials, class drop-ins, CountryMax, Home Depot…anything to get him used to working around people. Plus, of course, continue to work on his “odor fluency” with lots of puzzles to solve.  

It’s really so simple, when I think about it!  And there is no rush or timetable to adhere to…he is only three years old (soon to be four) and this is supposed to be fun! Onward!

Nosework

Reducing Friction

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Yesterday, I brought my camera along on our little hike HOPING to get a shot like this…making up for all the times I didn’t bring my camera to this very place and wished I had. 😊 Here are my reasons for giving in to the “not today” excuse in the recent past: It’s about a half-mile in and mostly uphill to get to this spot. It’s winter, it’s cold. I’m going to be wearing a bulky jacket with a hood which reduces my mobility and makes it awkward to shoot. I’ll be wearing gloves AND wool mittens because my hands get so cold. The camera/lens combo is heavy AND expensive so I’ll have to get it ready to secure on our drive, and feel reasonably confident I’m going to stay upright while trekking across the snow (actually a valid concern!).  

As James Clear says…”Before you try to increase your willpower, try to decrease the friction in your environment.”.🥰. So here goes: 1) I purchased a heated vest so I can wear lighter clothes and have more mobility 2) I use hand-warmers so I can ditch the mittens and be ready to shoot. 3) Over the last month, I’ve hit the home gym to work on upper body strength so slinging the camera body and a heavy Canon 100-400mm lens over my shoulder while hiking feel less daunting (for those youngsters out there, as you get older its an uphill battle to keep in shape to do the things you love to do) 4) I have my camera kit set up and ready to go  5) I use my new messenger-style camera bag (xmas present from my daughter) to slip in and secure the camera plus lens while driving, so I can just grab the camera and go when we arrive at our hiking spot.

I love this shot.  It captures a really fun moment in the life of Keen – his joy, eagerness, handsomeness.  The muted tones of the weeds (Queen Anne’s Lace) add color and texture to the winter landscape as do the background trees. It’s composed well – that is no small thing considering I generally just let the dogs play and run around on our hikes while I try to compose and shoot.

I try to live by a “never give up” philosophy and a problem solving mentality…which reminds me. I wrote an article about this in the context of dog training in 2017…Check it out. I still believe every word!  https://annestocumdogtraining.com/?s=solution+focus

Photography

My Big Breakthrough in Nosework

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How I eliminated barking from my dog’s searching to create a relaxed, confident working dog.

I’ve been involved in Nosework (NACSW style) for about 5 yrs. I started training my border collie Tai at age 10, shortly after his agility retirement. My only goal was to do something fun with him as he got older. I had no expectation or real desire to compete (we had competed a LOT in agility), but we did a little. Tai passed his ORT in one go; and earned his NW1 and three level 1 element titles.  We only competed once in NW2 before I retired him for health reasons at 12-1/2 years old.

And Then Their Was Nick

About the time Tai retired from Nosework, I started Nick. He is a border collie, who came to Nosework at age 6 yrs after a serious injury that led to an early retirement in Agility.  If you know Nick…you know he is a high drive, easily aroused bundle of energy!  From the beginning of his Nosework training, Nick would allow that arousal to lead to barking – nearly always at the start of a search; and often when moving from one hide to another. He sometimes barked while searching, seemingly out of frustration, when not finding the hide quickly enough. Here is a good example of the barking issues in a search from March 2, 2024.  

Nick was successful in this specific search, but was he searching as well as he could?  Obviously not. I only included one example video because it was a very consistent behavior.  I doubt I could find a video when he didn’t bark at least once, particularly as he left the start line.

Nick exhibited the barking early in his Nosework training. I didn’t like the barking and wanted to get rid of it. With my instructor’s help, I tried to lower his arousal with calmness and food at the start of the search. But honestly, it wasn’t working, so I just decided to live with it (not knowing what else to do). Despite the barking, I felt like he was growing his skill set and gaining confidence.

With the barking problem unsolved, Nick passed his ORT in Dec 2022 (2 attempts…due to arousal in first attempt) and his NW1 title in April 2023 (one attempt, overall pronounced). Then, we attempted FOUR NW2 titles between June 2023 and May 2024! Ugh, it was hard to fail that many times!! Each had only one little mistake along with many pronounced searches and placements.  We had potential!  

Was the barking and the mindset it created in Nick getting in our way?

The “Holly” Challenge

That brings us to August, 2024 when I met Holly Bushard…an accomplished competitor, instructor and trial official in Nosework. Holly came to Savvy Dog Sports to give a series of workshops. We had a working spot in one of the sessions and she spotted the “barking” problem immediately.  In addition to all the other great information I gained at this workshop, Holly challenged me. She said something to the effect…”if this were my dog, I would get rid of the barking”.   That got me thinking…

No Reward Markers

An important concept that Holly demonstrated in one of the workshops was the utility of “no reward markers” (NRMs) in Nosework training. A NRM communicates to the dog that the behavior he is exhibiting will not earn a reward.  It’s a clear communication to the dog –  “that’s not it… try something else.”  Holly demonstrated their use in situations where a dog stopped searching and became obsessed with a distractor. The NRM marker was used to communicate to the dog – “that is not going to earn a reward, try again”.

I’m quite familiar with the use of NRMs…I use them in agility training, for example, when training discrete behaviors like weave entries, or verbal-only obstacle discriminations.  I use them in herding when teaching off-balance flanks (don’t worry if you don’t understand that – it took me years!).  But I have never used them in Nosework.

Since Nick had a history and understanding of NRMs from our previous training, I set about making a plan to extinguish his barking in Nosework using this technique!  After all, if he is barking he’s not working and it was definitely worth a try.

The Goal

“Nick will do all his searches quietly and calmly, even when being rewarded with a tug-toy – his highest value reward.”

The Plan
  • Use NRM’s to teach Nick if he barks, the consequence will be that we stop searching, we pause (timeout) and then start again.  My NRM is “Nope”, or “No”.
  • Start this training with very simple foundation-level searches. As he is successful increase the challenges. 
  • Increase his probability of success by instituting a controlled approach to the start-line. Start him from a bed and use “cookie to nose” to move him to the start-line to lessen the probability of his barking on the way to the start line.  Pause at the start line before asking for the search. This had an important additional benefit of improving his start-line focus.
  • Challenge Progression
    1. Hot tin thrown ahead into grass
    2. Colander “Search” – a more visible container
    3. Hot tin placed in the grass
    4. Three container searches (shell game type searches)
    5. Sock Searches – one hide
    6. Sock Searches – two hides
    7. Sock Searches – two hides with tugging as a reward
    8. White Box Container Searches – with and without distractors*
    9. Metal Box Container Searches with Multiple Distractors*
    10. Take it on the road – at class and other novel areas

*Nick is well schooled in searching around distractors so I didn’t think this would be a problem.

Execution of the Plan

Session 1: 

Below is the full video of our first session on Aug 28, 2024 that included steps 1 to 4.  It took some reps to get the mechanics right and I quickly learned that throwing a box into the grass was just increasing his arousal so I switched to a visible object (colander).  The entire session is about 8 minutes long…As you can see his error rate was high at the beginning but once he had an understanding he settled and did very well. In this session, I learned the value of being quiet.  It seemed to work best for him if I spoke very softly when cueing “Find it” or “Find another” and said nothing else during the search except marking the hide.

Session 2: We did the step 5 search on August 30, 2024 (Sock searches – one hide). I recorded every session so I could track his error rate.  I wanted there to be a good balance of success and failure since that is how learning happens.

Results of Session 2 (Step 5):

  • Rep 1 – NRM off the start line.
  • Rep 2 – ok
  • Rep 3 – NRM off the start line
  • Rep 4 through 9 – ok.  After Rep 9, I added “tugging” after the “Finish” cue.
  • Rep 10 – NRM off the start line
  • Rep 11 and 12 – ok with a little tugging after Finish cue
  • Rep 13 – ok!

Sessions 3-5: Our third session on September 2, 2024 covered steps 6 & 7, introducing multiple hides and tugging.  I’ve included that video below.  

From there, I did two sessions on Sept 8th…using White Boxes (step 8) and another container search using three hot tins with cold tins and distractor tins (step 9). In each of these sessions, he had a very low error rate. He was really getting it.

Novel Area Search: Our next test was a search in a novel area.  Fortunately, we had a class scheduled on September 12, 2024 at a local high school. I brought my bed with us to be able to set the context for “no barking”.  The video below was our second search of the day.  As you will see, he searched very nicely and was relaxed and successful with no barking.

Overall, Nick did fantastic in all our searches that day.  His first three searches were perfect. In the 4th search, he needed one “no barking” reminder at the start line of the 4 hide search.  In that same search, he also needed a reminder after finding 3 of the 4 hides, when I cued him to “find another”.  The last hide was hard for him but after the reminder he worked in a relaxed manner with no barking. We let him keep going until finding the 4th hide. The total search lasted over 6 minutes. 

Since September 12th, we’ve participated in classes and done our own training.  I’ve had to give him very few reminders…literally one or two.  Here is a compilation of a few searches from November – I was feeling very good about his progress.

The Ultimate Test

The ultimate test would be a trial. That happened at a NW2 trial on Dec 7th, 2024. I was ready to remind him of our new “no barking” rule even in this trial situation but it wasn’t necessary at all. Not only did Nick achieve his NW2 title, he earned a first place in containers and a pronounced designation in 4/5 searches.  I was so pleased that there was NO BARKING and he was nicely focused at each start line! It was a pleasure to be able to reward each search with his favorite tugging game.

Wrap-Up

I can say with confidence that I’ve eliminated Nick’s barking in Nosework.  Even better, by eliminating the barking, Nick is more relaxed and confident in his searching, making the whole experience more enjoyable for both of us.  We also now have a focused start line routine. All thanks to Holly’s challenge, the use of No Reward Markers — and a smart, biddable boy!

Nosework, Training Tip

Little Things Make Big Things Happen

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Over the many years I’ve been living with and training my dogs for dog sports, I’ve learned by experience and from instructors the concept conveyed by legendary basketball coach John Wooden…”It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

Whether you call it “foundation” skills or “the basics”, the little things in dog sport training and everyday life not only determine success in sport but influence our relationship with our dogs. Without a solid foundation, it’s likely that frustration will build as expectations grow for higher levels of performance. Some people think foundation skills are just something to “get through” so they can go onto more exciting things. But ignoring the little things and expecting success without them can lead to frustration, blaming the dog or simply quitting.

Personally, I find embracing the little things a lot of fun! These are the skills that are frequently revisited as the puppy matures into a young dog, a competition dog and a champion. 

I’ve listed just a few here:

  • Recalls (everything)
  • Toy-based skills – Retrieves, Release of toy on cue (reward behaviors)
  • Release cues (all sports)
  • Verbal response to down (herding)
  • Circle work (agility)
  • Target behaviors (agility)
  • Staying at source after alert (nosework)

I’ve written about some of these “little things” in the past. If you have time, check them out!

The Release Word – the first step toward impulse control

Recalls!

Learning through choices

Foundation, The Little Things

Teaching Tricks to Advance Your Dog Training

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Are you looking for something to do this winter with your puppy or older dog that requires very little space? Well, I have the answer! Teach your dog some new tricks or polish the old. Teaching tricks is a great way to have fun with your dog, improve your training and even earn titles in organizations such as AKC and DMWYD.

Tricks like hand touches, spins, weaving through your legs, 4 paws in a box, play bow, “feet” behaviors, turning on a perch, backup etc. can be taught with a combination of luring, physical cues, shaping and the use of props so you can get quick results. Then you have the option to polish the tricks by putting them on verbal cues or combining them into “routines”.

Here are some of the benefits of teaching tricks.

  • Teaching tricks creates a “thinking” dog and builds confidence. It allows the dog to learn to make good choices. Read about how important that is in a previous post. Learning through choices
  • Teaching tricks improves our dog training skills – both observational skills and mechanics – the act of getting reinforcement to the dog at the right time and place.
  • Trick behaviors can be used for conditioning, body awareness and improving flexibility in your dog. If your dog gets injured like my dog Nick recently did, having a set of trick behaviors to rely on can be very helpful with rehabilitation exercises.
  • If you are involved in a dog sport, it is useful to take that “trick training” mindset to sports like agility and obedience. Thinking of sports behaviors like line-ups, stays, heeling, collected jumping, weaving or contact behaviors as “tricks” keeps it fun for both handler and dog. In fact, may of the foundation behaviors for those skills look like tricks!
  • Even a small repertoire of tricks will impress family and friends!

What’s not to like about teaching tricks? Last spring, Nick and I had fun meeting the requirements for the DMWYD Advanced Trick Dog title. Check it out….NICK’s ADVANCED TRICK DOG VIDEO

I’m sure some of you are avid trick trainers. I’d love to hear (or see) why you like teaching tricks and the benefits it brings to you and your dogs. If you need help getting started, there are tons of resources online or reach out to me. I’m teaching privates and semi-privates this winter.

Have fun!

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