Friday, August 19, 2011

Bitch better have my money....

In my last post I discussed the important but often overlooked element of reward placement. With  many years of detection training experience, working a great many dogs, I have rewarded dogs for finding things A LOT. However it wasn't until training with Randy Hare that I learned the difference between rewarding the dog at source and AT SOURCE. The dog should always be rewarded not just when it is near the odor but when his nose is as close as possible to the source.  This may seem like a minor point and a fussy technicality but it is amazing how much clearer the whole process is to the dog. It is as if I told you to go into your living room vs "go into your living room and sit on the far end of the sofa, place your hands on your knees and look at the TV". The communication is clear and the dogs understand their task so much better. As a result they are more confident, happier and better able to maintain high drive for the work. The clarity also eliminates the necessity of certain behaviors on the part of the handler - such as "detailing", directing the dog into every nook and cranny and other traditional behaviors that are believed to either help or avoid cuing the dog.

Below are a group of dogs following a 2 week detection trainer's school demonstrating that they have clarity in their task (some of these dogs had no odor exposure at the beginning of the class). They KNOW they are in the exact correct spot and expect the reward to be paid there.  Sometimes the look on their faces is priceless and you can imagine them telling us to bring them the reward.

Or as Randy says:
"Bitch better have my money" (said in a southern accent of course)



6 month old Shorty - bed bug detection


Caine- bedbug detection


Hugo - human remains detection


Coverboy Kaycee - drug detection


Shelter prodigy Cali (aka Ziva) - firearms detection


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