tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2958112649912191833.post6470691456222157322..comments2023-07-22T01:06:05.554-07:00Comments on K9 Nose Work®: Primary Reward: The K9 Nose Work® WayJeff McMahonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17634038342280050377noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2958112649912191833.post-62095814373249651632017-08-26T15:47:52.443-07:002017-08-26T15:47:52.443-07:00Kathy Holbert from Philippi, WV taught me this met...Kathy Holbert from Philippi, WV taught me this method of training during my very first training session. Kathy Holbert has a wealth of knowledge under her belt. I would like to take a moment to recognize and thank Kathy CHIODO Holbert for all the time and commitment she does for all of us in the SAR world. Thank-you Kathy Chiodo Holbert. You have given so much back to the community. What a cool great person you are. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16548144364513134066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2958112649912191833.post-85244324125289399462013-05-12T22:55:49.907-07:002013-05-12T22:55:49.907-07:00part two:
I have to make an assumption that by re...part two:<br /><br />I have to make an assumption that by reporting, you mean a trained response to the odor. If that is the case, the idea that you would train that first is a traditional idea, however, it is not the most current thinking out there. The California Narcotic Canine Association had some speakers at their annual conference in January this year that were advocating for a re-assessment of the importance of the trained response. There are also some well-known detection trainers beginning to evaluate the benefits of starting a dog on primary and developing the independent hunt drive before moving onto searching for a target odor and training a final response. These shifts in the scent detection world are very much in line with the philosophy espoused by K9 Nose Work. I won't go into detail, but there are innumerable pitfalls waiting for the pet dog & handler who begin with a trained response to a target odor. I am not saying the method can't work or can't be effective, but, in my opinion, it will not as likely lead to the kind of independence and reliability you'll get from a K9 Nose Work dog.<br /><br />The last thing I'll comment on is the speeding of the training process as inherently good. In the early days of the activity of K9 Nose Work, we moved very quickly to learning a target odor and training a final response. Due to the endless variety of search problems we can set for the dogs, we encountered unforeseen issues with the reliability of the trained response, and even the reliability of some of the dogs to find source odor - something that would have been easily avoided through a longer period of searching for primary reward and developing a strong search & find behavior with a perfectly timed reward. As a result of moving quickly through the training process, some of us had to slow our training to fix the issues and to strengthen our dogs. Today, with the benefit of experience, we give K9 Nose Work dogs a great foundation and plenty of time to become strong, reliable searchers through the use of primary reward. When training, it's not the speed you move at, but the distance you cover.<br /><br />I'm very much in favor of discussion as a catalyst for evolving our thinking and improving our understanding of things and I value every opportunity to learn something different or new. Two reasons I love the K9 Nose Work methodology & philosophy and choose to write about it are the phrases: "It depends" and "It's all about the dogs". K9 Nose Work is dedicated to evolving and improving so our dogs have the most fun and can be the most successful at this great activity!<br /><br />Happy Sniffing!Jeff McMahonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17634038342280050377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2958112649912191833.post-53412414689779980462013-05-12T22:54:45.610-07:002013-05-12T22:54:45.610-07:00Thanks for reading & commenting, Clyde! This r...Thanks for reading & commenting, Clyde! This reply has to be split into two replies due to length, so here's part one:<br /><br />I believe it's important to separate K9 Nose Work the activity and the sport of K9 Nose Work. The sport as governed by the National Association of Canine Scent Work welcomes dog & handler teams from any training methodology. The only barrier to entry in the sport of K9 Nose Work is the Odor Recognition Test. As long as a dog & handler team can show an ability on the part of the dog to find odor and an ability on the part of the handler to correctly recognize the dog's find, that team can play in the sport of K9 Nose Work. The sport is definitely in support of the exhibition of nose work teams from any and all training backgrounds - that's a pretty good place to be in terms of betterment of the sport.<br /><br />The activity of K9 Nose Work (as opposed to a general description of the game like scent work or nose work) is based on a specific training methodology and philosophy. Philosophically, I don't think we see the activity of K9 Nose Work as a chain of behaviors like we might see certain other tasks we teach a dog, like a retrieve or a go out. It's a bit more organic in the sense that hunting is natural to a dog's survival and we are not taking a directorial (commanding) role in the dog's learning of the game.<br /><br />Your idea that the game is segmented into three parts is interesting. To think of searching and finding (locating) as separate in the sense that we teach the dog one and then the other presumes they're separate in the dog's mind. When presented with food or toy that the dog wants, the dog will search for it and find or locate it as one action (he's locating it all along, just to greater degrees of specificity until he finds source). Even when we look at certain things like teaching dogs to employ patterns in searches, the pattern isn't taught separate from the finding of the source odor, it's taught through the finding of the source odor. So the search and find behavior is not really distinguished as links in a chain - it's more like braided rope. Even the behavior exhibited by the dog at source - the final response - is not a wholly separate action, it is behavior that naturally occurs when the dog is at the source or finding, and it is behavior that handlers should learn to observe and interpret. <br /><br />part two continued in separate reply...Jeff McMahonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17634038342280050377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2958112649912191833.post-70428408505292834512013-05-12T12:45:01.349-07:002013-05-12T12:45:01.349-07:00This game only has 3 basic parts:
The Search, the...This game only has 3 basic parts: <br />The Search, the Locate, and the Report. <br /><br />The difference between your approach and one of the others is how you have the dog see the game. You train the game from the middle outward; Locating then Reporting, then Searching. In my opinion this puts the dog at a disadvantage down the road.<br /><br />Studies show to to link behaviors in a chain, such as this, the behavior chain should be trained from the last behavior back to the first one. This is called back chaining. It increases the probability the dog will be successful. It makes the last behavior (Reporting) the strongest which is what you need. Also it speeds up the training process which is good for both handler and the dog.<br /><br />In this approach you train the scent to be a Cue for the Report behavior first. Then you work on the locate to the scent, and finally searching. <br /><br />I would love to hear a discussion to the other approaches that are out there too. This can only make the sport better.<br /><br />dtAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17370516742571986528noreply@blogger.com