Being Victorious in the Tug O’ War with Pressure

by Dianna L. Santos

Did you know as you are tackling a search with your dog, you are simultaneously playing a game of tug o’ war? Who is your opponent? Pressure.

During a search, pressure can be a giant, hulking beast figuratively yanking our dogs and ourselves off our feet, or a small, tiny and insignificant little weakling we can easily overpower.

The fallout when pressure wins at this tug o’ war can be vast and impactful on a team. Some examples may include our dog marking within a search area, obsessing about dog odor, critters or other distractors, offering alert behaviors without any relevant changes of behavior, asking questions, stressing up with barking and grabbing the leash or simply quitting the search. As handlers, we can become flustered, frustrated, quick to anger, suffer from decision paralysis, fog brain or simply zone out and not be engaged in the task at all.

When pressure wins, the fallout can be quite impressive.

What contributes to how powerful pressure can be at any given moment during a search

Odor Puzzle

How difficult is the odor puzzle our dog is attempting to solve? If there are several, what level of challenge are the odor puzzles offering individually and collectively? What are the skills necessary for the dog to solve this odor puzzle and effectively source the hide? If 5 total skills were required but our dog only has 3 of those skills, what would happen? If our dog must contort their body to get to source, can they do so? Will they need to push in deep, push through objects or overcome a confidence challenge to get to source?

Environment

What is the layout of the space our dog is attempting to search? Is it indoors, outdoors or a combination of the two? How large or small is the space? What makes up the space? Is it mostly empty or cluttered with items? Are there nooks and crannies or large sprawling areas to cover? What is the airflow and wind doing? Are there inconsistencies, such as doors opening and closing, HVAC and fans turning on and off, watering fountains and vending machines kicking on and off, or nearby vehicle traffic whizzing by? What are the weather conditions and how are they affecting the odor puzzle and the performance of your dog, yourself and your team? On a blistering summer day, are you and your dog performing at your peak or not so much? What of the area surrounding where you are searching? Are there noises, movements, distractions or novel happenings that are drawing the attention of you, your dog or your team?

Expectations

What are you and your dog expecting as you cross the start line? For example, has your dog made the calculation that every interior search will be accompanied by someone suddenly slamming a door shut? Or maybe you see artificial turf and exclaim that the world is set against you, as now your dog will never get their nose off the ground! How will these expectations color the way you tackle this search?

Handling

Do you have an appreciation for what handling decisions you will likely make during a search? What verbal or body cues will you provide, when and why? What choices will you make and in which scenarios? Will these be clearly received and understood by your dog or will they inject confusion, muddiness or frustration? As an example, how closely will you position yourself to your dog throughout the search and why? Are you providing support or are you interfering?

This list is by no means exhaustive yet illustrates how easily these various factors can contribute to our opponent of pressure. Before we know it, our team is figuratively being flung around the search area at the end of our rope.

Recognizing the role pressure plays in our searches can cause us to feel as though we are at the mercy of these things. We are under the thumb of the environment, Mother Nature, the odor gods. The deck is stacked against us. This catastrophizing can be prophetic in how our future searches turn out.

But what if we shifted the narrative and our perspective? What if these contributors to pressure can be opportunities for us, instead of harbingers of doom?

Each identified factor is something we can isolate and work on in our training. Thus, building the skills necessary for our dogs, ourselves and our team to rise to challenge.

Instead of being at the mercy of pressure, we can control the level of pressure in our training and then build skillsets that will help us, our dogs and our team surpass that pressure. We will be big and powerful in the game of tug o’ war, while pressure is small, weak and insignificant.

Essentially, we can syphon off the power from the contributing factors to pressure and use that power to our benefit instead!

For instance, let’s say we recognize that hides set where the dog must push deep into a space to correctly source it is indeed a pressure point. Opportunity unlocked! Now we can design a series of fun games and exercises, both within and outside the context of Scent Work, encouraging our dog to get into tight spaces.

Know that the warm weather takes a toll on you and your dog? Build an acclimation program where you spend more time outside doing all the things other than Scent Work. Simultaneously, develop physical and mental stamina and endurance performing tasks of increasing difficulty, time pressure and other constraints.

Suddenly, pressure points are not something to be concerned about, fear or avoid. They are treasures to be mined and exploited.

Will pressure ever disappear? No.

Will the tug o’ war ever end? No.

These too are opportunities. Chances for us to continue to hone our craft, design more games, drills and exercises that help build the skills necessary to win the battle. Pressure has a crucial role to play. Our task is to use the right perspective and maximize these opportunities, granting our dogs, ourselves and our team the best chance to be successful.

If this topic interests you, become a Scent Work U Member and listen the presentations from Michael McManus where he discusses building resilience in our dogs and ourselves.

Have you been struggling with a dog who is obsessing about dog odor, critters or distractors in their searches? Perhaps pressure is part of the issue! Check out these resources:

• Dogs are Scary: Dog Odor v. Target Odor Webinar
• Sexy Time: Dog Odor v. Target Odor Webinar
• Decoding Toy Obsession in Your Searches Webinar
• Find Your Hide - Proofing for Crittering Webinar
• Conquering the Environment in Scent Work Webinar 

Dianna has been training dogs professionally since 2011. She has done everything from teaching group training classes and private lessons, to specializing in working with fearful, reactive and aggressive dogs, to being a trial official and competition organization staff member.

Following a serious neck and back injury, Dianna was forced to retire from in-person dog training. But she was not ready to give up her passion! So, she created Pet Dog U and Scent Work University to provide outstanding online dog training to as many dog handlers, owners and trainers possible…regardless of where they live! Dianna is incredibly grateful to the amazingly talented group of instructors who have joined PDU and SWU and she looks forward to the continued growth of PDU and SWU and increased learning opportunities all of these online dog training platforms can provide.

In June 2021, Dianna and her business partner, Sean McMurray launched Cyber Scent Work, an organization that operates in the gray space between training and trialing in Scent Work. With Cyber Scent Work, handlers have the opportunity to earn Qs, titles and ribbons while also receiving helpful training advice regardless of whether they qualify or not! The advent of the Cyber Sniffing Games, Traditional Cyber Scent Work Program, in-person and online assessments have been met with much fanfare! Be sure to check out Cyber Scent Work, you will be happy you did!