Well, did you have fun? Last weekend I attended the Im-PECK-able Training Seminar hosted by Craig Schultz and Sally Dickinson. K9 Behavioral Consortium Manassas, Virginia. I went there mainly to learn about detection dogs for my next mystery novel (yay!), but also enjoyed hanging out with some great dogs and some really cool, interesting people, including Merrill Pepys. And some chickens.
Bonus: We actually met With a great writer and dog handler, Cat Warrena New York Times bestselling book, What dogs know(You’ve read that, right?) Kat and I have worked together over the past five years, each on our own first forays into the world of fiction, and I consider her a dear friend, even though we’ve never met. It’s been such a joy to discover she is just as warm, funny, knowledgeable, and lovely as she is on Facetime.
The seminar itself had many benefits. Some of it was familiar, like an in-depth discussion of operant conditioning, but handler and dog teams with various levels of expertise were learning how to apply those principles and improve timing and precision. Most of the teams worked with police or FEMA at disaster sites or were training to do so. I figured there would be some dogs trained for drugs or bombs, but there were none at this seminar. (Incidentally, this seminar had the same demographic as any dog training seminar I’ve ever attended, over 90% female. There’s a lot to say about this, but if you can buy me a couple of bottles of Cosmos and convince me I can still drink, I’ll listen.)
Basic training for this type of scent work This includes the initial formation of “TFR,” which stands for Trained Final Response, and is what dogs are trained to do when they find the source of a scent, be it drugs, a bomb, a living organism, human remains, etc. (As an aside, there is an unusual fetishization of acronyms in the world of olfactory work, no doubt a law enforcement and military influence; TFR was previously called “Alert.”) [I think? Correct me?] Dogs that search for bodies of victims at disaster sites or buried in forests used to be called “cadaver dogs.” Now they are called HRDs (Human Remains Detection), which I think sounds a bit more respectful and accurate.
TRFs vary, but most dogs are trained Once a dog finds a scent, it sits or lies down, but FEMA requires that they bark, as dogs often operate out of sight of their owners. Some dogs trained to “find live animals” are instructed to run back to their owners at a distance, then run back to the victim. Lassie would approve.
Meet seminar participant Wick. and Parson Russell Terrier He is owned by Jennifer Jordan, who mainly works in the archaeological field. Wick is a 3-year-old dog who is both cute and passionate, and he captured my heart the moment I met him. (As expected, the dogs who participated in the seminar were a fun variety of dogs, including German shepherds, Malinois, and Labrador retrievers, as well as golden retrievers, GS pointers, and terriers Wick and McNab. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few, so I’m sorry.
The seminar saw detailed discussions. About the use of operant conditioning and its practical application when working with handlers’ dogs. For example, here is Wick and presenter/trainer Greg Strickland doing an exercise to help handlers learn exactly which tug toys are most reinforcing for their dogs: As far as I can remember, every dog, without exception, got an R+ in the tug game.
Greg and Craig urged the dogs to hold on. One of the toys is so loud and energetic that it would make my Border Collie run out of the building. It’s a testament to how solid these dogs are and of course you have to be solid for this task. I thought this was an interesting example to include in the lecture. Is your R+ really an R+ or is it a punishment? Of course it depends on the dog, but it’s fun to watch the dogs chosen for this type of task not realize the level of noise that would make my dog run away.
The next day, in practice, each dog Find the scent it was trained to and give a TFR. The question was not just whether it could find the scent (on a ridiculously windy day), but whether it could give a quick and clear TFR. (Fun fact: a dog trained to find a lost person by sniffing a person’s T-shirt, for example, must be trained to ignore everyone else standing around during the search. One dog in an early training seminar spent a lot of time “alerting” observers.)
If the dog is successful, This was reinforced with a game of tug-of-war. If I remember correctly, all the dogs at the seminar were crazy about the tug toy. Here’s a picture of Wick having fun:
The next day, the dogs were given a mission. An ingenious “scent box” was set up inside a semi-open barn used at county fairs, allowing the target scent to be distinguished from other scents.
The lineup is as follows:– The handler walks the dog through a row of boxes with different scents and waits for the dog to give a TFR if the target scent is found. (In some trials there was no target scent and the dog walked past unguarded and unfocused and was an enthusiastic R+. Asking if one of the scents is wet cat food is no small thing.)
Wick showed off his skills. By concentrating on the right smell and lying down in that area,
A few random things I learned and enjoyed:
Chicken training, Hosted by Sally Dickinson Fully Involved K9 Academyis a great way to practice timing and accuracy. Meryl Peeps is waiting her turn to run faster than her trainer.
Nothing beats chicken It teaches you good timing. Or it doesn’t. This trainer is amazing. In no time, the chickens were pecking at the yellow discs. We are all very grateful to this trainer. Bailey & Breland Thank you for starting Chicken Camp, I’m glad it’s still going!
In addition, the legal system We are assuming that dogs are perfect: “If the dog looks and finds nothing, then there’s nothing there.” But of course dogs are not machines (and machines are not perfect). And we have been warned that there are various forces that lead to false negatives. Metronidazole Dogs may lose their sense of smell for up to 10 days.
I like the points Craig made. He literally meant the importance of providing thousands of R+ chances. Most people rush too hard, asking their dogs to make distinctions they’re not ready for. (And isn’t that true of all training, regardless of species? Basics, basics, basics!)
Craig also has a wealth of experience. I remembered that R+ applies to research involving marine mammals. ActionsNot the dog. I’ve thought about that a lot. It’s easy to lose track of things and get the timing off. I’m going to be writing a blog about that very thing in the future.
I learned a lot about smell detection. But there were plenty of great examples that reminded us that animal training crosses boundaries. With sheepdogs, for example, the behavior of the handler has a big impact on the dog. Context also comes into play: is a dog trained to find lost kids used to its handler searching with different equipment? An urban environment rather than a forest? Has the sheepdog taken sheep off the farm and worked them in different fields, barns or arenas? How much of a flop has it been tossed around by goats inside a sheep’s body? (Maggie answers this question in the section below, but doesn’t really seem to want to talk about it.)
Overall it was a very enjoyable time. And thanks to Craig, Sally, Greg and the many others who have welcomed me into their family. I’ve been telling Maggie that now that she’s getting older and retiring from trials, she and I need to do more olfactory work. Maggie replied that we should stop sitting and touching those stupid ticking things and get her outside.
Meanwhile on the farm: Well, I couldn’t help but introduce the place where I stayed in Manassas, Virginia for the seminar. This is Nelson Cottage. Mansassas Junction B n BIt was heaven! A perfect, cosy place, tucked away in a beautiful garden, surrounded by spring birds and only a few steps away from a delicious breakfast prepared by the charming owner – it was definitely the perfect place for us.
I had a great time after I got home We brought Skip and Maggie to the farm so they could work in their new environment, with goats, sheep or calves – whatever they wanted. We put Skip in with them because we were sure the goats would be awake and not run over by the dogs like the other goats. Skip was over the moon.
Goats are super “sticky” The sheep clung to our legs and would not let go, so Skip had to be very focused and determined to get them off. He never lost his cool and I was pleased with how well he worked with the sheep. The best part was that they didn’t herd together like sheep do, so it took Skip a lot of work to keep them together. It was great practice for him to work his sheep without me having to say anything.
Meanwhile, Maggie After trying for a while, she looked at me with pleading eyes and asked me to get her out of there immediately, which of course I did and promised not to keep goats in the future.
I had the opportunity to create a new appetizer. Last week I made a Turkish pastry-based filling called Kol Boregi (from Cooks Illustrated) with feta, spinach, and onion. Playing with phyllo “dough” is an adventure in itself (how can you call it “dough” when it’s the thickness of a human hair?), but I just relaxed into it and it came out great.
The garden and the dogs are calling me I’m running out of fuel so that’s it for this week. I’m still overjoyed to see hundreds of daffodils still waving at us in the garden. Let me know what makes you overjoyed too.
