Thoughtful Thursdays
We talk a lot about foundations for our working dogs. These are the essential skills that our dogs need in order to fully understand how their job and the contingency for reinforcement.
Having a dog that will work fluently in the 'labratory' or known space is one thing, but as quickly as we can these skills need to be taken out into the real world and flexed. Getting my young dogs out into distracting environments (including ones with Christmas music prior to Halloween) is crucial for their development.
Here is Sheba, 9 months old British Labrador, doing a search on an odor that she has only been paired to in one previous training session (5 clicks). We then take that odor, in different concentrations, into a distracting environment. This is where true generalization of working odor can begin.
This allows us to hone skills around locating odor, hunting and remaining focused in new environments while doing the trained final response, and ignoring distractions during the entire search chain.
We do NOT stop working on our fundamental skills during this process. We actually begin adding more skills like systematic searching, ignoring leash pressure, and advanced scent/odor theory.
This breaking down of essential skills and keying in on what aspect to teach helps create an extremely solid dog.
How are you breaking down essential skills?
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The K9Sensus 2023 training calendar is out so check our FB page! Make sure to sign up for our emails since all class registrations will be released through there and in the K9Sensus Trainer's Group first.
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