First Training Day

We held our first training session today. Elissa and Bodhi, Janet and Pepper, Lisa and Bailey, and Lorril and Dottie participated. We met at a field located at Mission Blvd. and Decoto Rd. The scent pad exercise was taught today. This works best with a dog that hasn't been fed the morning of the training session. (If your dog is ravenous to the point of not being able to concentrate, go ahead and feed him/her a reduced portion of food):

1. Obtain four flags for the corners. Sprinkler system flags sold at home improvement stores work fine.
2. Scuff your feet in a straight line about 5-10 paces long, depending on the size of your dog. Make a right turn; repeat until you have a square. The idea is to make an area large enough for the dog to walk around in without being cramped. Walk into and out of the pad from only one corner, to avoid confusing the dog.
   
3. Within the boundaries of the square, scuff your feet and walk for approximately 3-4 minutes, to deposit your scent within the square.
4. Lay pieces of your dog's favorite treats along the edges of the square. This will teach the dog that reinforcement comes from sniffing the area that you have walked on, and that the area you haven't walked on provides no reinforcement.
5. Let the scent pad age for a few minutes while you prepare your dog (potty break, attaching the tracking line, etc.).
6. Lead your dog onto the scent pad, provide enough slack in the tracking lead to allow the dog to explore and find the treats. If the dog should leave the pad by more than two body lengths (an arbitrary number used to denote a distance) and does not voluntarily return to the scent pad, gently lead the dog back onto the scent pad.
   
7. Stop the exercise after about two minutes, or while the dog is playing (not "working!") intently.
   

There is very little that can go wrong with this exercise. The only things I could think of were making the pad too small, and not using a high enough value treat for reinforcement. If your dog leaves the pad too often, try addressing these two points. I didn't see any problems with any of our trainees. They all did great! I enjoyed training with all of you this morning!

Dave Port