Is Your Training Helping or Hurting Your Scentwork Goals?

When you train outside of class, do you just throw out some hides and go get your dog? Here are some suggestions to plan your training to help you reach your goals.

1) Have an objective for each search. Can't think of an objective? Check out the NACSW debrief videos at https://walkthrough.nacsw.net/. Each search is debriefed by the CO (Certifying Official) who set those hides. The CO will almost always outline the planned challenges for that  search. Set up some challenges! Some challenged mentioned recently in debrief videos including working through converging odor, identifying a large blank space, and working an elevated hide in an alcove. Did your dog struggle with a particular issue at the last trial? Set some hides to work on that issue.  

2) Age your hides in training. In trialing, you probably will never run a search with hides aged less than 30 minutes. I try to age my training hides several hours. For class, I try to age them at least 30 minutes. the longer the hide sits out, the more complex the odor plume becomes. If your dog is accustomed to working hides that are 5 minutes old, they may struggle with a hide that is 6 hours old.

3) Don't always set challenging/difficult hides. First, it's demotivating to your dog. I try to set one or two challenges every week, the rest of my training hides are building foundation skills, building confidence, and brushing up on common scenarios.

4) Video your training! Watch the video at least three times - once focusing on the dog, once focusing on the handler, and once focusing on the overall teamwork.

5) Document your training. Use an online journal, keep a notebook, or use Fred Helfers' Nosework Performance Journal (available at Dogwise). When you run into challenges, looking back over your training journal could really help identify weaknesses.

6) Document your trials. After each search, I take a few minutes and write down what seemed to go well, and what didn't go so well. I write down challenges to train. Buy videos if they are offered. 

Enjoy your dog!