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NW190: Training a Thinking Nosework Dog using a Cognitive Approach

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NW190: Training a Thinking Nosework Dog using a Cognitive Approach

Course Details

Did you know that dogs search with WAY more than just their noses?  They will use all of the information available to them in order to find source.  Dogs are thinkers.  We can use an understanding of how they think to help to build, craft, and sculpt an efficient, powerful search dog.  And like humans, each dog has different cognitive strengths.  Effective nosework training is all about setting up hide situations in order to capitalize on their strengths.

Nosework is all about problem solving.  In this class, we will use problem solving scenarios to get your dog REALLY thinking!  When your dog problem solves, communication happens!  By setting up challenges, not only do we educate the dog, but we educate our own eye.

In this class we will explore...

... how the dog thinks and uses cognition in searching

... how we can recognize how our own personal dog processes, stores, and uses information for the purpose of searching

... how we can maintain "balance" in our training so that we don't swing the pendulum too far in influencing our dog's training

... how to recognize when we need to shift our training strategies in order to re-balance our dog's tendencies

... how to set up searches in order to maintain this delicate balance.  (YES!  There will be training setups discussed in depth!)

... how to use hide placement to establish natural patterning with the dog so that the dog is less reliant on handler direction

In short...  this is how Stacy trains her dogs and how she will teach YOU to be a thinking trainer with a thinking search dog!

This class will explore and build on our dog's natural cognitive capabilities....

Drawing1

Teaching Approach

This class will be both conceptual and experiential with lectures that will tell you the WHY and the HOW you can apply the concepts.  Part of the assignments are prescriptive, however the learner will need to draw conclusion from the prescriptive practice in order to apply it to day to day training.  Learners will also complete assignments based on adapting the concepts to their situation.  Learners will be encouraged to experiment with these concepts in order to best help their dogs.  Lectures will be a combination of written text and videos.  Some videos are as short as 30s and up to 3 minutes, with the average between 1-2 minutes long.  There will be on average 3 to 5 lectures per week, however the first week will have more.  Gold students will be allowed 6:00 of video time per week and will be expected to keep track of their time usage in their threads.  This course is best for students who enjoy concepts and adaptation to their situation.

This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook study group to help the Bronze and Silver students! Directions for joining will be in the classroom after you register.

Stacy BarnettInstructor: Stacy Barnett

Stacy Barnett is a top nosework competitor and trainer, with many Summit Level titles in the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW),  (Judd SMTx3, Brava SMTx5, Powder SMTx3). She is also a Wilderness SAR K9 handler with her certified dog, K9 Prize. Stacy has been a faculty member at FDSA since 2015 (Click here for full bio and to view Stacy's upcoming courses)

Syllabus

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In this class we will explore...

... how the dog thinks and uses cognition in searching

... how we can recognize how our own personal dog processes, stores, and uses information for the purpose of searching

... how we can maintain "balance" in our training so that we don't swing the pendulum too far in influencing our dog's training

... how to recognize when we need to shift our training strategies in order to re-balance our dog's tendencies

... how to set up searches in order to maintain this delicate balance.  (YES!  There will be training setups discussed in depth!)

... how to use hide placement to establish natural patterning with the dog so that the dog is less reliant on handler direction

Prerequisites & Supplies

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There are no titling requirements in this class, however all dogs should be confidently searching for target odor in novel locations.  This class is excellent for dogs for NW1 all the way through Summit!

This course is not appropriate for dogs who are not yet fluently searching for target odor (without pairing odor with food) in all elements (interiors, exteriors, containers, at a minimum)

 

Sample Lecture

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What do we mean by searching “in balance”?

When we train a scenting dog using a cognitive approach, we are increasing search efficiency and effectiveness by bringing the dog into balance.  What do we mean by that?

If we think about the four powerful aspects that heavily influence how a dog searches (Memory, Spatial Processing, Sensory Processing, and Contextual Processing), we can start to understand how a dog problem solves.  When a dog is highly effective, all of these aspects work together harmoniously…. Carefully balanced.

Drawing1

Have you ever played the game “Battleship”?  Battleship is a strategy type guessing game for two players. It is played on ruled grids on which each player's fleet of ships are marked. The locations of the fleets are concealed from the other player. Players alternate turns calling "shots" at the other player's ships, and the objective of the game is to destroy the opposing player's fleet.  In case you aren’t familiar, I found a video that will explain!

Now think about the senses that YOU might use playing this game…

Memory… well, in this case you are able to mark your “shots” so that you know which are hits and which are misses.  Spatial Processing… in this case you need to know how long each ship is and you can infer from hits and misses, which direction your opponents ships are facing.  Sensory Processing… you have to be able to listen and process the coordinates that your opponent tells you.  Contextual Processing… you can problem solve (and infer) by knowing what types of ships your opponent has and that they can only face two directions.

Essentially, your dog does something very similar when searching for odor!

Why do we say that the dog needs to be “in balance”?

Let’s use Memory as an example….

In our example, there are two hides on two chairs…. For a dog to solve the puzzle, the dog needs to find one hide then understand that that hide is no longer in play in order to find the second hide.  A while back, I did this exercise with two of my dogs.  Brava very quickly, very efficiently found both hides.  She hadn’t searched much in that room prior.  She has an excellent memory and quickly solves this problem.

I also did the search with Judd.  Judd had been going through chemotherapy at the time and I was using hides and searching as a way to encourage him to eat when his stomach wasn’t feeling good.  As a result, he had done many, many searches in this small room.  When I asked him to do this search, he was feeling quite good at the time.  He easily finds the first hide.  Then he systematically checks places where he had found hides in the past.  He was using his memory for this task, rather than his nose!  Once he ruled out the old locations, he switched back to using his nose, dismissed the first hide location since he had already found it, and found the second hide.

In this example, both searches were lovely, efficient searches.  Both dogs were generally strong in memory.  The setup was more conducive for Brava because she had not experienced the prior search locations.  In fact, in order to make sure that she solves problems using her nose, it’s critical for me to train in many locations (thus helping her to stay “in balance”).

A dog who is strong in memory will be able to work a search area and remember all of the hides that he has found until the search is over.  Judd was uncanny at this and even after finding hide #5, he would remember and not return to hide #1.  A dog who is less strong in memory naturally, is liable to return to hides even with training.  So for a dog who is strong in memory, we want to vary the search environment.  For a dog who is weak in memory, we will want to try to structure our searches in order to help build in efficiency, perhaps using a slightly more structured pattern.  Knowing our dogs can help us to structure our training sessions more efficiently.

For our purposes in searching, we can enhance certain aspects of how a dog thinks through a search in order to help the search to be more efficient….  But knowing HOW our particular dog thinks can also help us to shape HOW we help the dog to enhance his natural capabilities.

For example, I use Concepts to help train nosework dogs advanced skills.  One of these advanced skills is working on elevated hides, or “high hides”.  I usually start the dog pretty early using a visible hide in order to teach the dog that what they are looking for can be found accurately above their heads.  With dogs stronger in memory, I have to be careful with how many of these visible hides are placed in similar areas.  Placing a hide in a same or similar location more than once can create unwanted behaviors!  With a dog weaker in memory, you may want to purposely repeat placements in order to create a stronger understanding.

When a dog searches efficiently, he is balancing his nose, eyes, beliefs, past experiences, and any information that the handler may be giving.  Too much emphasis in any one area will decrease the dog’s efficiency.  That’s what we mean by searching “in balance”!

Testimonials & Reviews

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A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...

I gained more understanding and appreciation of scent thru this one course than I ever have...the cognitive element was huge. I am indebted to Stacy forever for this education.


Thanks Stacy ... this was a brilliant course!     


This course was so jam packed with info but presented in a doable challenging way=learning!       


This course has helped me change the way I see my NW training and has helped me understand the differences between my dogs.


I really enjoy Stacy’s nosework classes. I think she sets up things so it’s easy to understand and learn. I’ve been learning nosework only on Stacy’s online classes and I feel that I and my dog have gotten so much knowledge and experience from it;


Stacy Barnett does a very thorough job at explaining Nosework in all her classes. Her TA Ana Cilursu does a great job helping the Bronze students such as me learn Nosework.

 


Registration

There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please subscribe to our mailing list for notifications.

Registration opens at  12:00noon Pacific Time.

NW190 Subscriptions


Gold

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Tuition $ 260.00 $ 130.00 $ 65.00
Enrollment Limits 12 25 Unlimited
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Watch all posted videos ✔ ✔ ✔
Post general questions to Discussion forum ✔ ✔ ✖
Submit written assignments ✔ ✖ ✖
Post dog specific questions ✔ With video only ✖
Post videos ✔ Up to 2 ✖
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