Your Dog is a MASTER at Reading YOU!
Our dogs are MASTERS at reading us. That’s kind of their whole thing!! Your dog has been studying you since the day you brought them home. They know what your face does when dinner is coming and what your shoulders do right before you grab the car keys. Most of us couldn’t name half the little things we do that they’ve already picked up on.
So of course they’re watching you in a search area. If our body, our leash or our timing has been giving them answers, they’ll use them! Why wouldn’t they? Reading you is easy. Working odor in a tight spot with wicked airflow is hard.
Here’s the part that surprises people… it goes both ways. While our dogs are reading us, they’re also training US. Think about it. Your dog gets close, looks back at you, you lean toward the hide, they find it, and they get paid. Next time they look back a little sooner… and you help a little sooner. Nobody planned it, but you’ve BOTH been trained! The dog learned that the look gets an answer, and you learned that helping gets a find.
It feels like teamwork, and in a way it is. But that kind of teamwork falls apart the minute you’re on a blind hide and don’t have the answer to give.
