Sport detection trials are never held in pristine environments. Distractions are present in every search area - intentional distractions like food or toys in the higher level classes, and unintentional distractions like handlers crowding the dog, strangers (judge, steward, timer) in your search, the smells of other dogs, traces of food on the ground, or the squirrel in your exterior. By systematically working a wide variety of distractions in training, we can prepare the dogs for the intentional and unintentional things that distract from finding odor.
In class this week, I gave handlers 10 cards with various distractions listed, and asked them to choose three "easy" distraction challenges, and one that they thought their dog might struggle with. Why? The purpose of this was to encourage handlers to LIST and RANK their distraction challenges to help train through them systematically.
Every dog's challenges are unique! Your dog might struggle with a bouncing ball in the search, but another dog might not even notice it. My dog might not be able to think straight if there's a nice person sitting near the hide, but your dog might ignore the person.
My goal for every distraction in training is that the dog can notice it but continue to work. I don't want my dog to fail the challenge. That will erode confidence and suck the joy out of the game. Every time the dog works a challenge successfully, her understanding of the game is reinforced. If a distraction is too hard IN the search area, can you take it outside the search area? Sometimes increasing the distance from the diversion allows the dog to work.
We worked the easy challenges (as chosen by the handlers) in class. If we started with high-level distractions we risk eroding the dog's confidence. By starting easy and gradually building difficulty, we help the dog become more competent around distractions and maintain enthusiasm for work. Rank your challenges and work from easiest to hardest. You might be surprised by what's "easy" and what's "hard."
But what if you guess wrong and the dog can't work through the distraction you chose? This happened in class, when a toad appeared in a search area. That was certainly an unintentional distraction! No problem, we walked away from that search as soon as it became clear that a toad was just too much for this dog to work with. You can end a search or skip a hide if it's too hard!
Here's the list of distractions used this week, in no particular order:
- tennis ball bouncing in the search area
- someone using a broom in the search area
- squeak toy making noise during the search
- unusual toy in the search area
- someone sitting near a hide
- handler sits during the search
- handler crowds the dog when he is detailing
- another person crowds the dog when he is detailing
- handler puts her hand in her treat pouch during the search
- radio playing near a hide
