04/05/2024
All of our skills in K9 Nose Work should be built on a solid foundation!
We don't ever try to rush past laying a solid foundation for dogs or their handlers and so we start every team with "primary searches" where both our dogs and their humans can learn the fundamental skills they need before we move onto introducing target odor.
We find this approach is invaluable for preventing a lot of "growing pains" that can come up for teams that rush to "ALERT!" without first laying down the supporting structure to set them up for success.
Image Description:
Graphic titled "Nosework Skills Pyramid"
There is a picture of a pyramid graph with 4 layers.
The bottom layer is titled "1 Fundamentals" and includes 4 icons labelled "Independent Hunting", "Value for Source", "Enthusiasm & Confidence", and "Handler Observation Skills". A short description reads: "Enthusiasm & confidence can look different in different dogs; enthusiasm =/= [does not equal] speed"
The second layer from the bottom is titled "2 Problem Solving" and includes the words "Threshold", "Tight", "Pooling", "Converging", "Deep", "Elevation", "Corners", and "Channeling". A short description reads: "Dogs should be able to solve odor puzzles independently; handlers support their dog but do not take the lead".
A third layer up from the bottom is titled "3 Environments" and includes 3 icons. The first is a snow flake and sun labelled "Weather/Temperature", next an icon of wind labelled "Air Flow", and last a squirrel and pizza icon labelled "Distractions". A short description reads: "Both dog and handler should feel comfortable searching a variety of environments, inside and outside regardless of weather; dogs should learn to work through both naturally occurring and intentional distractions"
The top (and fourth) layer of the pyramid it titled "4 Alert!" and simply shows a star and the words "Found It". A short description reads: "Handler recognizes the dog’s change of behaviour in response to odor and understands when their dog is at source as the result of excellent fundamental training and the dog’s expectation of reinforcement"
Off to one side of the pyramid are the words "all other skills should be built on solid foundations" with an arrow pointing to the bottom "Fundamentals" layer.