Applying Knowledge in Real Life Searches

Thanks to my role within Scent Work University, I have had the distinct privilege of moderating and sitting in on hundreds of presentations with tremendously talented colleagues. Each presentation has been filled-to-the-brim with knowledge, contributing to my continued growth as a professional trainer and dog owner.

Now, I will readily admit as a consumer, I fall into the common pitfall of buying something then tucking it away somewhere safe. "I will make some time to read or watch this later," yet that time never comes. It is as though I assume the knowledge from the resource will magically flow into my brain through osmosis. Learn from me dear grasshoppers: take the time to watch AND internalize all the various offerings you purchase. Trust me, it is worth it.

Thankfully, watching and internalizing the presentations through Scent Work University is my job! Tonight I saw that knowledge become real and I had to write about it.

My tiny terrier was buzzing with energy and I had a mountain of work to do. Let’s do a search to take the edge off!

First, come up with a plan. What to set? Perhaps start with a blank search, to see what areas my little guy is assuming are indeed productive and which are not (thank you Michael and Natalie McManus for highlighting this in your Training Blank Areas Webinar).

However, as I was walking through my rental, a potential high hide placement on the brick fireplace caught my eye. This would be a good channeling challenge! Our dining room table is set about 4 feet from the fireplace, and there is furniture set off to the side. Thus there were plenty of opportunities for the odor molecules to travel and interact with the space and give him a line back to source. I thank Judith Guthrie for helping me better visualize what odor may do within a space due to her excellent white board illustrations in her various webinars, especially her Odor Series Webinars. Additionally, having the expectation that this type of puzzle will require more breathing and patience on my part, as the dog works out the math involved with an elevated hide, as Tony Gravley has so eloquently explained in his Elevated Hides Webinar.

Setting this out-of-reach channeling hide, I headed back down the hallway to where he was staged and decided to set two more hides along the way: one in a far corner of our bedroom (to confirm he knew this was indeed a productive area and to see how he would work it) and another within a partially closed cabinet in the hallway where he has found inaccessible hides before.

Released him to hunt and the tiny terrier immediately found the corner hide with no problem whatsoever. Note to self: ensure he is not merely tracking ME to find his hides! Incorporate more age time in our future searches.

He then backtracked and worked the inaccessible hide beautifully, bracketing either side of the cabinet and then was seeking to get into the cabinet itself, just as Michele Ellertson covered in her All About Brackets Webinar. I opened the cabinet to grant him access to source, he ate his cookie and took off to the dining room.

Once there, he immediately got to work on the fireplace. To see him work along the grouting, then pirouette on his hind legs, head outstretched to then sniff along the edge of the dining room table was a thing of beauty. Back and forth he went, making the bracket smaller and smaller, reaching further and further up until he pinpointed precisely where the out-of-reach hide was. Bounce, bounce, bounce, “it is up there lady!” Well done little guy!

Now I was psyched! Let's do more!

My next set of hides included a treat underneath a sandal in the living room, to play with expectations. As Holly Bushard has mentioned in several of her presentations, we want to underline the importance of finding source, not guessing or making assumptions. Another hide was tucked behind the leg of an end table within the living room and the final hide was set on top of the door jamb of my office. Now staged in the kitchen, the tiny terrier would be coming into the space from the complete opposite side of the house.

Watching him fly into the living room and then come to a screeching halt upon picking up the odor from the floor hide was awesome. He painted a picture that the odor was emanating from the hide, to the entertainment center ahead of it and even flowing up a bit, collecting in the lower open cavities. No matter, he was able to work it back to source without an issue.

Next up was the end table hide. He did a perimeter sweep, the odor seemingly grabbed a hold of his face and he did an about turn toward the end table. There are many reasons I love training with food hides, One being watching the dog work the search as Jill Marie O’Brien has mentioned, as it appears the dog does not know what food looks like when they are scenting. Meaning, tiny terrier had anticipatory moments where he thought the treat would be there, due to odor, but it wasn't! He needed to follow the odor back to source. This seemingly simple hide placement took a fair amount of sourcing to nail down, but he did it successfully. Well done little one!

Now it was time for the final hide. As Sue Sternberg has mentioned, it is better to capture effort and end the search with a happy exit than stepping in to try to help the dog. This is harder than it sounds! My expectation was this would be a tricky hide. He knew the area was productive and had successfully found hides on either side of the door jamb and within the strike plate itself. However, this hide was set on top of the door jamb, a markedly different picture.

He picked up the odor from the hallway and immediately showed signs that he knew it was elevated, seeking height but within the hallway itself. Once inside the office, I recalled the sponging behavior Michele Ellertson mentioned in her Nose Work for Small Dogs Webinar, where the dog will try to sweep their head along the top of an object odor is falling onto. This gives the dog the information necessary to realize the hide is ABOVE that object. However, if the dog cannnot get their head above the object to effectively sponge, this whole thing can be rather challenging.

As I watched him work, I realized that was precisely the issue he was having: all the surfaces he was trying to sponge off of were too high! Now a decision point on my part: do I call the search here, put him up with a “NICE TRY” and make an adjustment or do I move some items around as he is searching? I opted for the former. The “NICE TRY” approach is common part of our searches, so he is happy to bounce back toward his staging area, rest for a moment and then try again.

My initial plan was to bring in some shorter profile objects he could hopefully sponge off of, ensuring they were set far enough away from the door jamb to allow the odor molecules to travel and interact sufficiently. This first attempt indeed helped. He knew the hide was still in this part of the room and was elevated, but he couldn’t quite nail it down. What I loved was his tenacity and desire to keep trying. This included concentrated detailing and sniffing on all the surfaces available to him. No worries little one! Gave him another “NICE TRY” as he was actively trying, fed him a cookie for effort and put him up to rest for a minute.

Now my goal was to make this hide accessible to him, which is frankly what I should have done in the first place. Hey, trainers get caught up in the moment and make mistakes too! He was far from broken. I brought the hide down from on top of the door jamb to roughly 3.5' off the ground. He could reach this by being on his tippy toes or bouncing.

Released the terrier and he got right to work. He collected the numbers. He sponged on the various surfaces, more of them being at his height. He did not make any assumptions about where the hide was. He got right to source and I then rewarded him with a half a stick of cheese, one little piece at a time while singing his praises. Well done little one!

For our party, he chased tossed treats down our hallway, did a few spins and twirls and wrapped up the whole session with a deliciously stuffed Kong.

All that to say, it is thanks to knowledge shared by my colleagues that I was more able to visualize what was happening, better interpret what my dog was telling me and make more mindful decisions in the moment to best support him. To me, this is the purpose behind everything I do through Scent Work University: to make the knowledge real and applicable to real life searches.

WEBINARS TO CHECK OUT

All About Brackets Webinar with Michele Ellertson
Elevated Hides Webinar with Tony Gravley
Helping Your Dog Find That Last Hide: Friend or Foe? Webinar with Sue Sternberg
Nose Work for Small Dogs Webinar with Michele Ellertson
Odor Series Part 1: Hierarchy of Found and Unfound Odor Webinar
Odor Series Part 2: Convergence Webinar
Odor Series Part 3: The Mystery of Strings and Triangles Webinar
Training Blank Areas Webinar with Michael and Natalie McManus

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!