Recently I [Ryan Cartlidge] shared a blog post containing some scent work training Fibi-dog, and I did together back in 2019. If you missed that post, you can see it here >>> https://tinyurl.com/Fibi-scent
Therefore, this blog is part 2 of that 2019 training project. Our next step being; Fibi & I proofing her indication behaviour – adding all sorts of variation into our training (including me lying down)! And like part 1, I have included five videos below;
As always, many thanks to the fantastic teachers I had back then – Sarah Owings & Helix Fairweather – and the fantastic Cyber Scent community where I learned all about the wonderful world of nose work!
In this first video, we enjoyed the process of adding as much variety to our indication behavior as possible. This is with what I am doing and the containers the scent article is concealed within.
Note: this was potentially the first time I ever lied down intentionally to cue a behavior lol … & you will see on the first one I couldn’t get up fast enough to reinforce Feebs!
We had a go at doing some indications in different rooms of our house and practising timing of our ‘eyes on” cue to the moment Fibi surged ahead of me, helping to build her independence in the search.
Here we added different words – whilst Fibi was targeting and additionally when she was on her way to the odour. She shifted her body weight slightly in response to some of the words, but you can see her stay on target.
In this video you can see me staring to add pressure to the leash whilst Fibi is targeting and Fibi hardly even flinches;
Finally, we worked on discrimination and Fibi, learning it really is all about the scent. She is quickly passing over the containers with no scent in them and indicating on the “hot one”.
We hope you have enjoyed reminiscing with us on this 2019 training project! … & if you want to geek out with us even more on absolutely everything animal training & behaviour then you would love our full Animal Training Academy membership experience.
Registration for full membership is unfortunately currently closed though, however you can be the first to know when we re-open our doors [during our limited enrolment periods] by joining the waitlist >>> HERE
We look forward to seeing you on the inside!
Best Regards
Ryan Cartlidge
Animal Training Academy