(Continued from page 14)
different toy- she likes soft,
squeaky toys. It is very important
to have a reward that the dog
loves. When she makes a find, I
throw the toy to her.
She also does "scratch drills".
This is when the scent is hidden
in a wooden box designed for the
scent to flow out of and her toy is
also in the box- she has to
scratch the box with her front
legs and then I open it and she
can get her toy. This is to help in-
crease her drive and to teach her
an "active alert". She typically
does a "passive alert" which is to sit when she finds the scent. Then I say "show me"
and try to get her to scratch the dirt. Because when she is in a boat- she will have to
scratch the boat, although the sit is fine for on land.
Our next step is to get her used to riding in a boat. Once she is comfortable with that, we
will hide the scent in the water- first in very shallow water and then progress to deeper
water.
One problem that we are working on, is that she will do false alerts but this is common
in scent work and you have to work on it. When we dig a hole and hide the scent, we
have to dig several "false holes". She initially alerted on all the holes- apparently the
dogs can tell when dirt and molecules have been rearranged. When she does that, I ig-
nore her and encourage her keep working. Also, she has to work off leash...... and I have
had to teach her to work in a certain area- called a grid. I use the word "turn"- so that
she knows to turn back and keep looking in the grid. That has to be taught on lead.
The biggest problem for the handler, besides being quick to throw the toy, is knowing
how to move. A dog will key into how the handler is moving. I have to always keep my
feet moving....and that helps prevent the false alerts. She kind of tries to "cheat" by
reading my body language and when I stop, she thinks I am trying to tell her that its a
find. When I first started, I moved very slowly and her drive would go down. This falls
back on her not having a naturally high drive. If she had a high drive, she would stay
more focused on searching regardless of what I did. So, I have had to learn a lot about
reading her. I tried to work her on leash at first- but because I am learning- I would actu-
(Continued on page 16)
SPOTLIGHT on Dogs with Jobs
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