TO REWARD OR NOT REWARD- THAT IS THE QUESTION - GOT THAT ONE !How do we train MOVING ON v REWARD AT SOURCE in training ? Does this change for trial day ? Does our dog have clarity of a prior found hide or prior found odor ? Is this a handler construct to fit our scent detection sport for effective and efficient trial performance searching ? All these questions and more- in this insightful discussion inspired by a recent trial where as a handler I got "lost" between two mirror hides and ...
Topic : TRAIN TO TRIAL and TRIAL TO TRAINREWARD AT SOURCE ! How do we train SOURCE drive for Trial ? How do we reward AT source in training or in trial ? Is it the same or is it different ? Lets chat about Source Reward ! Its a fun topic to gain insight into the concepts of SOURCE REWARD and what that may mean AND CHANGE in multiple scenarios from training accessible to inaccessible hides, high hides to ground hides, known location hides vs blind hides, remote reward away from sou...
Let's explore tips and tricks for training and trial confidence and experience the fun and amazement of team search work, in both training and in trial, as we hit the road in the next months to come in 2024. We start with self discovery of our current skill sets and where we ARE NOW and build thoughtful, productive, progressive training plans with measurable skill sets for trial day. AND just as important, we purposefully explore FUN ways to commemorate, assess and appreciat...
In Part 2 we explore the science of odor in the environment and our human perceptions of odor with enlightened odor intelligence gained from hours of observation watching our dogs search the odor environment to find what we are asking them to find when we ask them to find it. Build your Odor Intelligence with observation hours live or from video of any dog searching, any time, any where and with your odor miles build confidence in your dog for your search in training or in trial.
Part One is all about the activity of setting hides and using imagination to meet or measure your search training objectives. We disucss setting hides for carefree quick fixes or using specific categories to help describe and craft your hide setting choice within a progressive training plan of hide complexities including location, anticipation of odor movement and environmental influences. Then adding in the Ds of dog training of duration, distance, difficulty, distraction and more if your a ...
Relect, review and revitalize your learning throughout your self learning journey. Its essential to find resources for learning that work for you, that speak to your understanding. that supports' asking questions and ultimately honors your self training self, where you are now and where you may go next. Find the tools to tighen, loosen or get just right the balance for you and your dog in training. Be supportive of yourself and of others. Build your training tribe. Train safe, tra...
Self learning in scent detection dog sport training is vital for every handler to acknowledge and accept and embrace for both ourselves and our dogs. To become the best learners we can be, to provide oursleves and our dogs with the many opportunities to experience and learn, and to become passionate about training and learning sufficient to build a confident olfaction team, by developing our Best Self Training self.
Jill and Aleks have a wealth of experience hosting nosework and scentwork trial events and along with a survey share their experience and provide guidance on what the K9 Handlers in this detection dog sport find and value most in the trials they have attended and look for in their future competition trial choices.
In Part Two of our focused conversation on Arousal and the Engaged Search Dog we explore the multiple and variable training tips and tricks to provide your dog with an opportunity to experience and learn about self-regulating arousal in and out of search, how to better understand the complexity of arousal and search/source drive and how to self manage our handler selves as well.Some Resources we discussed in this episode:Leslie McDevitt Pattern Games (Link to her course on Clean Run)Nosework ...
In this jam packed Episode with take a deep dive into canine and handler arousal, its innate attributes and answer with conversation many questions we all have about arousal in our scent detection sport canines and how arousal affects our team success. What is dog arousal ?What is optimum arousal for learning, training and performance ?How to identify low- medium or high arousal ?How to increase arousal if needed?How to decrease arousal if needed ?How to train an engaged or focused searc...
Part Two- In this podcast we continue our coversation about developing and utilizing a growth mindest to train for trial and trial to train. First we finish our ideas on use of a body cam and other trial video to facilitate trial learning, then discuss odor and hide challenges in trial including pooling and trapping and handler search teamwork, all with a growth mindset as our primary learning goal. Finally we conclude with a list of future podcase topics includings Arousal and th...
Welcome Everyone to the Mountain Dogs Coaching Call & Podcast. Im Jill Kovacevich from Mountain Dogs and am excited to launch a new format for our monthly live-zoom coaching calls. We will be recording the audio from our live zoomcast and uploading a link to the Mountain Dogs and Release Canine websites, and onto our Podcast Hosted page, as an On-Deman Podcast available to a broader audience as a scent detection sport dog training and trialing resource. Getting to Know Our Podc...