I see people make decisions all the time and as a trainer and I can’t help but think of the downstream ramifications. Decisions regarding how to fix a training problem… all the way to how we respond to failure in a search… all the way to how we interact with our dogs on a daily basis… Every decision we make is a training decision.
Let’s focus on searching in this post. When a dog is searching effectively, the dog will demonstrate two qualities… (1) channeled motivation and (2) a clean behavior chain. Let’s break that down.
Channeled Motivation….
A dog with Channeled Motivation will be confident, focused, and In Drive. Backing into this formula, the dog understands their job and can work in the environment they are in. The dog is in their optimal arousal state and understands that the job at hand will produce the expected reinforcement. This dog is working under stimulus control because their focus is singular and the steps to achieve reinforcement are understood. This is where the excitement of the dog is funneled through their understanding and is transformed into Channeled Motivation.
Clean Behavior Chain….
Search. Locate. Report. This is the searching Behavior Chain that starts with the initiation of the search and ends with the dog performing an expected behavior when the source of the odor is found. This Behavior Chain is the same regardless of what the dog is looking for. Granted it might LOOK different… but it is truly the same. Brava or Powder working a fast and furious Summit level speed search has the same steps in their search as Prize working 85 acres to find a human in the woods. The differences are really very minor and are mostly just differences in emphasis and duration. In a trial, my dog might settle on a hide in a brief manner that is enough for my observational skills to call “Alert”. In the woods, my dog might perform a complicated chain of behaviors that involves ping-ponging between her “lost” subject 500 feet away and downing at my feet each time she returns to me while leading me to the subject over difficult terrain. It’s still the same behavior chain. And yes… sometimes the behavior chain isn’t completed… a search area might be blank or your dog might have cleared all available hides and as they are searching, you call “Finish”. But the behavior chain is still the same.
A CLEAN Behavior Chain is one that doesn’t have extra “stuff” in it. It means that the dog isn’t demonstrating self employment behaviors such as sniffing dog pee or checking out critters. It means that the dog isn’t scavenging or eating food on the ground. A Clean Behavior Chain also means that the dog is focused and staying on task. It means that they are channeling their motivation.
Now that we have talked about what an effective searching dog looks like, let’s go back and talk about how everything we do is a training decision.
Disclaimer here… I am NOT telling people that they need to do anything differently… and every dog is in an individual! This is really just to get you thinking about potential impacts to your dog’s performance. Ultimately it’s your decision as to what, when, and how you make changes (or don’t!)
Our training decisions that we make both DURING and OUTSIDE of searching will affect future performance.
DURING…. When I ask my dog to search, I am always observing and responding to their Channeled Motivation and the effectiveness of the Behavior Chain. That is one of my primary responsibilities as a handler. When I see blips, I need to adjust. And as a trainer, I need to think about whether my approaches to fixing problems is counter productive to preserving these two things. Whether you allow those blips to be built into your behavior chain or if you make training decisions that work against a clean behavior chain is a CHOICE.
Examples….
Example #1: You ask your dog to search but before they get down to seeking odor, they stop to sniff dog pee at on a pole. What do you do as their handler and how can you avoid building that into your behavior chain?
Example #2: You are working a high hide and you dog is struggling and losing motivation. Your dog seems to glance up and in a panic you tell them “Yes” and feed them. Did the dog actually find the hide and what are you reinforcing? Does feeding the dog teach the dog or does it just serve to make you feel better?
OUTSIDE…. This is the harder one for people to see and in many cases this DOES come down to the owner’s personal choices and the dogs that they are living with. My own personal dogs, with the exception of my 13 yr old Mini Aussie, need a level of management in order to keep my house from turning into a Mosh Pit (gosh… do they still have those or did I just expose myself as Gen-X?). I teach my dogs to exhibit Self Control as one example, mostly because if they can’t show self control at home, I will never get it at a search. Channeled Motivation can ONLY be achieved through some level of Self Control.
When we teach a dog self control, the dog learns that if they do A and can handle a delay in reinforcement, then they can get access to what they want. For instance… I have taught Brava and Prize to sit at the open slider door while their old-no-rules-Mini Aussie brother bounces at the door and rushes out… Then on their name, Brava and Prize are released to go outdoors. This self control concept is a practice in focused, channeled motivation. When focused, channeled motivation is practiced in one setting, it becomes easier in others.
Granted… the amount of Self Control that I need in Nosework is different than in the woods where chasing or consuming things can get my dog killed… but it’s still important.
In the end, the training decisions that you make both DURING and OUTSIDE the search will impact your searching performance. I am not advocating WHAT you should do but more encouraging you all to think about whether or not your choices are at odds with the elements of Channeled Motivation and Clean Behavior Chain. And if they are…. thinking about how they are at odds can help you to think about alternatives or whether or not you need to make changes.
