Helfers NW Seminar, part 4

The last part of the seminar talked about training.  Fred has a four step approach to each training experience to ensure the dog has a successful and positive experience.

• Develop a Plan - You get greater consistency if you have a plan, short, medium and long range.  Still, be prepared to be flexible when things don't go according to plan.
• Conduct a Safety Check - Check all areas/equipment/etc for hazards to both dog and person.  
• Each environment has a potential to contain hazards, usually sharp or protruding objects.  Also watch for things that could tip over.  Remember vehicles could be dripping unsafe fluids, such as antifreeze.
• Also be aware that you don't put hides in places that will cause the dog discomfort, such as on a hot metal surface they might touch with the nose.
• Check the Environment - Check for air flow throughout the environment, air conditioning, temperature, distractions... which all combine to tell you what to do to make sure the search/training is successful.
• Air is always moving, even in interiors - kitchen & bathroom vents, doorways, windows, a/c, sun shining through windows, duct work, even switch plates and electrical outlets.  Know the wind direction and strength so you can estimate how the odor will flow around buildings and other items during exteriors and how it will flow under and around vehicles.  Whenever possible start from the downwind side - even if that means quickly passing straight through the search area to get there, though be prepared to follow the dog's lead.
• Temperature affects how much scent molecules disperse, humidity levels and how much water your dog needs before and after searches.
• Distractions are everywhere and not just for the dog - verbal and physical from other people, food, other animals, and new environments.  Handlers can be distracted by their own dog and forget to cover all the things they identified in their plan.
• Have a Plan "B" - Fred says that training and testing are two distinctly different things.  Always have a plan so that your training challenges don't unintentionally turn into testing.  Always end on with success.

 Make sure your training plan covers all the contingencies you can think of, such as:

• hot vs. cold
• dry conditions vs. humidity
• different floor/ground surfaces
• food distractions
• use of heat from a wall heater to convect air up to curtains (like in a hotel room)
• in the rain and snow
• high wind, low wind and no wind
• buried source odor
• low quantities of odor, normal and super saturated odor
• on and off leash
• be aware of even tiny amounts of scent transfer
• NOTE:  I often see this in practices where I try to stick a tin somewhere and it doesn't attach, so I place it elsewhere.  Still even though the odor/oil is safely contained in the tin, the dogs ALWAYS pay extra attention to those spots.
• odor may be intensified when placed in a patch of sunlight
• odor pools in cool spots

Distractions in Training - always know the answers to the following:

• What are you trying to accomplish?
• Are you trying to fool the dog? 
• Are you setting up challenge proofing?
• Are you conducting a test?
• Are you teaching the dog to work unfamiliar smells?
• ESSENTIAL - Are you training or are you testing?

Change of Behavior - Your job is to be able to tell when the dog is IN or OUT of odor.  You must learn to identify what your dog's "tells" are for when he is in odor.  There will be some change of behavior (COB).  The COB occurs when the dog first gets in the area of odor, but is distinctly different from his detailing behavior to get to source.  Some are readily observable, such as snap backs (don't we all love those easy ones).  Some body language indications include: tail flag, tail wagging faster, tail stiffening, body stiffening, change in body carriage/posture, change in mouth (closed vs open).  Know your own dog. 

Handler Error - is defined as "verbal or physical communication by the handler which when interpreted by the canine will lead it to manipulate or not detect the odors for which it was trained".  He gave numerous examples, including but not limited to:

• over detailing - guiding the dog too much so it learns to become handler dependent and only sniffs where the handler indicates
• handler belief creates subtle handler behavior that "sells" the dog
• insistence on working to a pattern and ignoring the dog's vote
• failure to work the pattern 
• cuing the dog
• poor detailing/guiding skills
• unable to read the dog properly
• little to no search pattern
• belief that the dog should do all the work
• poor leash handling skills
• lack of knowledge of odor movement
• handler doesn't hold dog accountable
• preconceived idea that odor is or is not present
• preconceived idea that odor is or is not in a specific place in search area

REMEMBER ALWAYS - the dog is the EXPERT. 

Helfers NW Seminar, part 3

First a little update on our project to moderate Gimme's paw indicator.  I have been working on it away from nosework - focusing on clearly defining the desired "paw" behavior... using the nearest paw, place it on the object (one paw only) and hold it there.  We are having to weed out Gimme's creative embellishments.  I just came home from NW practice with Mary and Susan and they both commented that Gimme's paw indicator is a noticeably lighter touch.  So the training is already affecting her indicator and we are nowhere near pairing it to the indicator cue and/or working with odor.  How cool is that?

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Scent discrimination describes a dogs ability to match one odor from the overall scent picture he's presented with to the one he's looking for.  Dogs have a far superior ability in this respect.  If you were trying to find the source of an icky smell in your house, you'd go sniffing all around moving your whole nose from place to place to try and find where the smell is stronger.  Dogs can actually tell which way the odor is stronger based on the difference in concentration of scent molecules between one nostril and the other... the difference in location might only be one-quarter inch, but they can tell.  Dogs can control the little flaps at the side of their nostrils to let in more or less air.

Comparing scenting capability between dogs and humans.  Dogs have 25 to 60 times more scent receptors (depending on breed) than humans.  The dog's devotes 40 times more of its brain to scenting than humans do.  The area inside the nose that is devoted to turbinates is 60 times larger for a dog.  Dogs can detect smells at 100 million times lower concentration than a human.  Add to those physiological differences the way a dog's nose can move and process scent and the difference goes up as much as a dog being able to smell a million times better than you and I.  Fred talked about a dog he'd trained that could find a gas pipeline leak, that was buried 20 feet underground and when analyzed by a mechanical sniffer at source was only 2 parts per million!  That sounds amazing enough, but we now have evidence that dogs can detect odor in parts per TRILLION!

Different environmental conditions affect how odor molecules behave.  You need to take these into account to train all the different conditions and remember they may increase or decrease the setup time.

• Temperature - Warmth expands the scent cone and causes the release of more molecules.  Cold causes a reduction in the release of odor molecules.
• Organic vs. Synthetic - Generally organic sources respond more to warmth, with some notable exceptions (such as ether).
• Buried Sources - Soil conditions affect the release of odor.  The ground is warmer than the air in the early evening, so more is released, but once it reaches the surface it stays close to the ground and may attach to dew or other moisture.
• Air Movement - Strong breeze creates a narrower, but longer scent cone.  Slight breezes create shorter and wider scent cones.  Air movement can channel odor, such as through cracks in the body or under a vehicle to the other side.  Air conditioning units move air, as do heaters and fans.
• Air conditioners also dry the air reducing a dog's scenting ability - remember that need for moisture.  So a dog kept in a running vehicle with the a/c running will have less capability as their noses dry out, unless the handler takes care to rehydrate the dogs nose.
• Quality and Quantity of Source - Higher concentration source will clearly put out more odor molecules.  Don't assume that its easier to find source with a higher quantity of odor.  Dogs have to learn to work through a super saturation of odor, just as they do for a miniscule amount.
• Packaging and Concealment - Be sure to vary the type of packaging you use.
• Humidity - High humidity means more molecules in the air and low humidity means less.
• Moisture - More moisture means more odor, lower moisture means less odor.
• OPTIMAL is Moderate Temperature and High Humidity... we are so blessed here in Washington state to have ideal scenting conditions most of the time.

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During our practice today I buried an odor container in the ground - about six inches under.  I arrived early to bury it so it had about 90 minutes setup time.  There was a light rain, so plenty of moisture and humidity.  It was evening, so the ground was warmer than the ambient air temperature.  Birch is an organic source and there were 4 q-tips in a very open plastic package.

All three dogs found it quickly.  Tucker was faster than Gimme, but he's more methodical and slower.  Gimme blew by it numerous times.  Grafton found it, paired with cheese, plus the ground had been disturbed by both Tucker and Gimme, releasing lots of odors and causing him to focus on the area sooner.

More to come...

Helfers NW Seminar, part 2

Our dogs have a wonderful ability to identify and discriminate different odors.  While humans smell in fruit salad style (all smells lumped together), dogs smell and recognize each smell individually even though they are presented together.

The other analogy he shared was that of entering a flower shop.  Humans walk in and are overwhelmed by sweetness, a combination of all the flowers there.  As we decide to buy one kind, such as roses, we hold it up to our nose to focus on that one flower.  A dog would smell each of the flowers individually, as well as leaves, plastic basins, wood of the door, linoleum, the shop owner's clothes... and everything else that is present.  If searching for one particular odor, dogs can focus and separate that one out of the potpourri.

This reminded me of something I had learned about watching/listening to an orchestra or band with singers.  As humans, we mostly listen to the music and voices as a whole.  What some people don't realize, is that if you focus your visual attention on one singer or one instrument, you will hear that singer or instrument over the rest of the performers.  Likewise most people can pick one voice out of a melange of voices and background noise to listen to that person (this ability is lost with hearing aids).

Everything gives off molecules and in order for that thing to be smelled, the molecules must make it to the nose.  Molecules come in three types:

• lightweight - move in the air
• volatile - evaporate easily
• soluble - broken down by moisture

Moisture and heat are necessary for scent to be processed.  Moisture from the mucous membranes combines with warmth, is passed over two types of turbinates (bony ridges covered in mucous that control air movement) and then information from the olfactory cells (receptors) pass information to the olfactory lobe of the brain.  The vomeronasal organ is located in the roof of the mouth and has basic scenting ability.  This is why your dog sometimes appears to be "tasting" smells.

As I mentioned yesterday, dogs process air in two ways, directly through the olfactory structures for scenting or in a curved path for simple breathing.  Dogs actually have the ability to re-process air through the olfactory structures!  Dogs often sniff more forcefully when they are focusing to find an odor and you can sometimes hear the difference.  There are times that I can really hear Gimme make a huffing noise as she is searching, which sounds like a tiny cough to me.

Fred told us that scent memory is the strongest memory of all for dogs.  This likely explains why imprinting a scent associated with feelings of calm and safety is so powerful.  Gimme and I both sleep on large flat sachets of lavender, so I'll have that available as a scent cue for her to feel calm and safe in challenging environments.  I asked about the practice of some handlers to re-scent a dog while tracking and he believes its completely unnecessary. 

He also cautioned against the practice of some trainers to whack their dogs across the nose with the leash or cuff them on the side of the head by hand.  The olfactory structures are located in the top part of the nose and any blows can damage those structures.

We watched a LOT of videos of dogs doing scent work (mostly from his time as a police canine trainer).  Fred told us to watch the dogs' mouth and note when it is open and when it is closed.  A dog with an open mouth is still taking in some scent information through the vomeronasal organ, but when they sense a smell that interests them, they will close the mouth (or partially close it) and start using the nose.  Some of the videos were shown at regular speed and again at half speed.  Once I understood about the importance of whether the mouth was open or closed, It was fascinating to see it in action. 

In tracking and nosework, we are mostly behind our dogs and not able to really see this.  One advantage to nosework is that we can move alongside or around the dog to take advantage of seeing the working end more clearly. This is an obvious clue as to when a dog is scanning versus when they've started detailing.

Our dogs are looking for a scent picture... that is "the combination of odors which are present that a detector dog identifies as a trained odor."  He touched on the importance of making sure that we use many different types of odor containers in training, so we don't unintentionally teach our dogs that they are searching for birch+plastic or anise+tin.  We need to vary the container so the dog understands its birch, anise or clove that is the odor picture they are looking for.

More to come...

Scenting

Here is an interesting article I just read...  it's not nosework, rather its a Smithsonian article about bomb detection dogs, their training and related topics.

Check out this picture -->
To think we nosework training fans get a bit panicky if there are more than 25 containers and yet the professional dogs deal with whole hangars full of them.

Another article about  Scent and How Airflow Works with lots of interesting diagrams.  Of course all this is theory based on what we deduce by the dogs' behavior.  We humans with our puny noses haven't a clue.  Not really...

Did you know that your dog's scenting ability could be affected by Dental Disease? 

If you are as fascinated by this topic as I am... check out the following books:

Inside of a Dog, by Alexandra Horowitz.  She provides an analogy between a human's scenting ability and that of a dog, saying "We might smell a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of coffee. A dog could detect a teaspoon in a million gallons of water—nearly enough to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools."  The book discusses the senses of a dog and gives you a good idea of how your dog experiences the world.

Scent and the Scenting, Dog by William G Syrotuck.

Soldier dogs: the untold story of America's canine heroes, by Maria Goodavage.

Red Dog Rising, by Jeff Schettler.

K-9 Trailing: The Straightest Path, by Jeff Schettler

There are also any number of good books about tracking...