Nosework was originally developed as an enrichment activity and quickly grew into one of the fastest growing dog sports. While therapeutic in nature, it also requires skillful training and handling.
Training with clarity is a goal for any sports training and it’s no different for Nosework! It’s important we have clear criteria for behavior at source and provide consistency with our criteria, mechanics and communication.
Let’s consider how we can use contrasts to provide clarity. Will odor always be in a container? Will odor always be accessible? What about that distractor? Will there always be odor? Nosework is not only about finding target odor, but clearing cold areas, working through pooling odor, dismissing novel odors and more. By structuring our training to include contrasts, dogs learn to understand more clearly the essential elements of the task
Nosework struggles are often a lack of understanding. Contrasts highlight those struggles and provide a path of understanding for the dog and handler. We can then tweak the training to bring clarity to the game.
In this presentation, Julie will share many ways to strengthen your dog’s understanding using the thoughtful applications of contrasts!
