Sniffing is one of those things that is awesome when tracking — and less awesome in other dogs events. Some members of our online community have dogs that are mixing up their events, and sniffing when a different skill set is required; it is, after all, hard to sniff AND heel.
I decided to consult with Elizabethanne on this one as I was certain she would have some grand ideas to share, and I was right. Some of you know Elizabethanne but scroll down HERE for her dog training bio in case you don’t.
With no further ado, here are her thoughts:
Here are some suggestions for dogs who sniff in a training session because they find sniffing to be an enjoyable behavior. If a dog is sniffing as a displacement behavior, I would address the stress component first.
First, have very clear cues that mean “now we are training” and “now we are done.” It is unfair to make our dogs guess when we want their focus.
Second, start every session with five easy behaviors and mark and reward each one. No cheating. One behavior, one reinforcer. Pick things they enjoy doing — ideally active behaviors like touch, spin, back up, bow. If you must use sit or down, please do so only once! (Because it’s static and not terribly exciting.) If you are not getting focus and attention after giving your “now we are training” cue and starting your “five things” cues, then work on building your go to work cue before proceeding. (Sometimes people are reluctant to take a step back and work on the foundation pieces, but if that is what your dog needs, there is no point beating your head against the wall by trying to do the competition behaviors that are your goals.).
The reasons for “five things”? You are getting your dog in the game and building up your rate of reinforcement for that session by giving 5 reinforcers for easy behaviors before you start any of the harder stuff. Also, you are going to have five VERY solid behaviors that you can use as reinforcers themselves in the ring, where you can’t bring food and toys. And you are giving your dog a very clear sign that this is a training session because you use the same routine every time he comes out of his crate or off his mat to start work.
Three, dogs who are sniffing probably haven’t been effectively taught how to filter out the things in the environment that we would like them to ignore while we are training. Some dogs just need more of this training than others. No big thing. We can teach this. A couple of games to teach them how to filter:
A. Put an open container of treats on a counter. Will your dog properly and promptly respond to cues in the presence of the open food container? Cool. Make it harder, then. Put the container on a chair. On a stool. On the floor. If it’s too hard, put the container farther away. Put a lid on it, if you have to. Help the dog be successful! This is not a place to be saying “leave it.” We are teaching our dog to respond to cues in the presence of (accessible) food without our nagging him to leave it alone. Don’t make it so hard in the beginning that your dog can’t succeed. Work up to open containers on the floor slowly. Can you heel around those food bowls? Recall past the bowl? Don’t try it unless you are willing to bet $500 your dog can do it.
Once they get the idea, you can use this game in a lot of fun ways. Put a food bowl (probably covered with plastic wrap the first time) on an agility table. Can you send your dog to the table and have him down? Can you do a drop on recall between food bowls? (You can use empty bowls to start.). Can you have a friend hold your dog’s favorite toy or a cheeseburger right next to the weave poles? Can your boy dog do figure 8s around mats that bitches in season have laid down on? Just a caution, though. This is about building up the filtering muscle systematically and successfully. Don’t do too much too soon. Assess how your dog feels about this game. If it is too hard, back off.
B. Dogs need to learn to come off a good sniff and engage with us. We can teach that. Start by tossing a treat (bowling style) on the ground, so that it rolls across the floor. (Use a treat that is easy to see against the floor and that will not break up on impact.) Tell your dog to get it. As soon as they turn their head back to you, say “yes” and toss a treat in the opposite direction and tell them to get it. As soon as they turn their head back to you, repeat. There is no nagging during this game. If they do not immediately turn back to you, go to your zen place and wait. They are learning that disengaging from the floor pays with a fun game with you, but they must be given the freedom to make that choice. You can also vary the game by sometimes just dropping the treat between your feet and then marking and dropping another as soon as your dog looks up at you. This is a good variation in close quarters, but it is probably not as much fun as the chasing version of it.
C. When you dog is good at the game in B, start using remote reinforcement stations. Have food on a low table or chair (covered, if you think they will help themselves). Toss a treat away, when your dog re-engages after eating the treat, cue a behavior. When the dog does the behavior, mark it (“yes” or a click) and use a word or phrase that means you are going to go collect the reinforcer together. (I use “let’s get a cookie” or “let’s get your toy.”). Travel to the reinforcer station with your dog and reinforce there. Drop some food on the floor around the reinforcer station and move away. When your dog comes back to you and re-engages, mark, give your cue for traveling and go back to the reinforcement station together. Do this several times.
Sometimes, you ask for a behavior to mark and sometimes you just mark the coming back and re-engaging. Here again, you must wait for your dog to make the choice to leave the reinforcement station and come back to you. This is about choice. Not micromanaging. It might feel uncomfortable if you are used to controlling and managing, but give it a try. Let your dog learn that choosing to leave the smells on the ground gets them even better stuff — you AND a trip back to the reinforcement station for more goodies. Caution: be really clear that you are marking the behavior and then cuing the “we go together to get stuff” behavior. If your dog decides to head to the reinforcement station without having heard the cue, don’t say anything, but don’t go with him either. Let him figure it out. Build up to asking for several behaviors before you give the cue to travel to the reinforcement station.
D. Use sniffing as a reinforcer. Ask for a behavior, mark, and then tell your dog, “Sniff!” Point to the ground and encourage him. “Is that that the best smell ever? Wow!” When he re-engages with you (and yes, go to your zen place and wait), ask for another behavior, mark , and cue “Sniff.” Vary whether the reinforcer is sniffing, or a game, or a toy, or food.
Be mindful of not calling your dog away from practicing a behavior you find undesirable by cuing a different behavior he enjoys. The cues for behaviors that have been positively trained function as both markers and reinforcers.
Here’s the downside to cues as reinforcers. If your dog is sniffing in a training session and you don’t want him to, but you cue a favorite behavior like “front” while he is sniffing, you have now positively reinforced sniffing. And that means sniffing will increase. Yikes.
So, if your dog breaks off and sniffs during a training session, you have a couple options. You can wait it out and, when he re-engages with you, you THEN ask for the front, and reinforce that. Or you can go to him while he is sniffing, leash him up, and give him a break in his crate. Basically, you are between a rock and a hard place, so try not to have a training session go so long that he decides to go off and sniff. My preferred method is wait for re-engagement and take note of that super good smelling area and use that area as the place to run over and give him his “sniff” cue. Also, if it’s a place he always finds aromatic and delightful, you can cue him to sniff that spot before you train.
I felt like this post needed a photo — so I picked this one because Elizabethanne took this amazing photo of Sparkle. She (Elizabethanne, not Sparkle) is also an incredibly talented photographer.
WOWZA! Great ideas. THANK YOU, Elizabethanne!