TO REWARD OR NOT REWARD- THAT IS THE QUESTION - GOT THAT ONE !How do we train MOVING ON v REWARD AT SOURCE in training ? Does this change for trial day ? Does our dog have clarity of a prior found hide or prior found odor ? Is this a handler construct to fit our scent detection sport  for effective and efficient trial performance searching ? All these questions and more- in this insightful discussion inspired by a recent trial where as a handler I got "lost" between two mirror hides and thought a not yet found hide or new hide was potentially a prior found hide and later asked myself does that matter ?  Does my dog differentiate found odor from not found odor ? New odor from old odor ? Conundrum or maybe not ?

Topic : TRAIN TO TRIAL and TRIAL TO TRAINREWARD AT SOURCE ! How do we train SOURCE drive for Trial ? How do we reward AT source in training or in trial ? Is it the same or is it different ? Lets chat about Source Reward ! Its a fun topic to gain insight into the concepts of SOURCE REWARD  and what that may mean AND CHANGE in multiple scenarios from training accessible to inaccessible hides,  high hides to ground hides, known location hides vs blind hides, remote reward away from source or training final response reinforcement, dog decision making or rewarding the dog's odor or source indication. ALL with added FUN comments and discussion from our TRIAL HOST family sitting around the table !

Let's explore tips and tricks for training and trial confidence and experience the fun and amazement of team search work, in both training and in trial, as we hit the road in the next months to come in 2024.  We start with self discovery of our current skill sets and where we ARE NOW  and build thoughtful, productive, progressive training plans with measurable skill sets for trial day.  AND just as important, we purposefully explore FUN ways to commemorate, assess and appreciate our trial performance ON trial day, no matter the ups and downs, as an amazing day shared with our scent detection dog companions. K9 Scent Fix Podcast for February explores our Training and Trial Game Plan with tips and tricks to discover our current skill sets, develop those skill sets for measurable  gains and reaching or revamping our dog sport training and trial goals with each training or trial experience in 2024.

In Part 2 we explore the science of odor in the environment and our human perceptions of odor with enlightened odor intelligence gained from hours of observation watching our dogs search the odor environment to find what we are asking them to find when we ask them to find it. Build your Odor Intelligence with observation hours live or from video of any dog searching, any time, any where and with your odor miles build confidence in your dog for your search in training or in trial.

Part One is all about the activity of setting hides and using imagination to meet or measure your search training objectives. We disucss setting hides for carefree quick fixes or using specific categories to help describe and craft your hide setting choice within a progressive training plan of hide complexities including location, anticipation of odor movement and environmental influences. Then adding in the Ds of dog training of duration, distance, difficulty, distraction and more if your a Dwiz, we can easily provide our dogs with an opportunity to experience searching for odor to source in training to broaden our dogs odor memory and build dog and handler search confidence.

Relect, review and revitalize your learning throughout your self learning journey. Its essential to find resources for learning that work for you, that speak to your understanding. that supports' asking questions and ultimately honors your self training self, where you are now and where you may go next.  Find the tools to tighen, loosen or get just right the balance for you and your dog in training.  Be supportive of yourself and of others. Build your training tribe. Train safe, train with clarity and train with kindness.

Self learning in  scent detection dog sport training is vital for every handler to acknowledge and accept and embrace for both ourselves and our dogs. To become the best learners we can be, to provide oursleves and our dogs with the many opportunities to experience and learn,  and to become passionate about training and learning sufficient to build a confident olfaction team,  by developing our Best Self Training self.

Jill and Aleks have a wealth of experience hosting nosework and scentwork trial events and along with a survey share their experience and provide guidance on what the K9 Handlers in this detection dog sport find and value most in the trials they have attended and look for in their future competition trial choices.

In Part Two of our focused conversation on Arousal and the Engaged Search Dog we explore the multiple and variable training tips and tricks to provide your dog with an opportunity to experience and learn about self-regulating arousal in and out of search, how to better understand the complexity of arousal and search/source drive and how to self manage our handler selves as well.Some Resources we discussed in this episode:Leslie McDevitt Pattern Games (Link to her course on Clean Run)Nosework Camp (Link to DogsofCourse)The podcast from Hannah Brannigan that discusses arousal (Drinking from the Toilet)Dr Kathy Murphy: Behavior Vets- Neurobiology of Arousal: The Yerkes Dodson Law (behaviorvets.com)

In this jam packed Episode with take a deep dive into canine and handler arousal, its innate attributes and answer with conversation many questions we all have about arousal in our scent detection sport canines and how arousal affects our team success. What is dog arousal ?What is optimum arousal for learning, training and performance ?How to identify low- medium or high arousal ?How to increase arousal if needed?How to decrease arousal if needed ?How to train an engaged or focused search ?How to refocus a search with increasing or decreasing arousal ?Pros and cons of high or low Optimizing arousal for an engaged search in trainingTrial strategies for an engaged search

Part Two- In this podcast we continue our coversation about developing and utilizing a growth mindest to train for trial and trial to train.  First we finish our ideas on use of a body cam and other trial video to facilitate trial learning, then discuss odor and hide challenges in trial including pooling and trapping and handler search teamwork, all with a growth mindset as our primary learning goal.  Finally we conclude with a list of future podcase topics includings Arousal and the Engaged Search Dog; Training the Elements; Places to Train; The Vehicle Search and  Containers with Distractors.We hope you enjoy the podcast and we look forward to having you tune in for another great Episode either live on November 16 2023 at 4 pm MT (sign up online at mountaindogs.org to catch the Podcast live via zoom) OR check back the week of November 16 2023 for the recorded podcast posted and available for your listening pleasure, anytime, anywhere. Keep on Sniffin- from Jill and Aleks - Podcast Hosts

Welcome Everyone to the Mountain Dogs Coaching Call & Podcast. Im Jill Kovacevich from Mountain Dogs and am excited to launch a new format for our monthly live-zoom coaching calls. We will be recording the audio from our live zoomcast and uploading a link to the Mountain Dogs and Release Canine websites, and onto our Podcast Hosted page,  as an On-Deman Podcast available to a broader audience as a scent detection sport dog training and trialing resource. Getting to Know Our Podcast1- Format Change- We have had great success with our coaching calls covering training and trialing topics, that are invaluable, with input from all those that attend. But rather than offering the live cast to only those who attend live via zoom, offering our discussions as a valued training resource has great merit , so we can reach a broader audience via a recorded PODCAST with published links on the Mountain Dogs and Release Canine websites. 2. More Expertise - We are adding Aleks Woodroffe from Release Canine as a co-host/ co-coach to broaden the discussions and provide added perspectives to nose work and scent work training and trialing.3- Guest Speakers- We look forward to adding Guest Speakers to discuss hot topics again with the added benefit of posting the coaching sessions as an available on demand PODCAST and important resource for training.Host and Co- Host IntroductionsIntroductions- Jill and Aleks; Jill Kovacevich from Mountian Dogs in Colorado  is our moderator and co-host with over 13 years of nose work coaching, training and trial experience and as a trial event host and official with NACSW;Aleks Woodroffe from Release Canine joins us from Arizona and brings another perspective for coaching on all things nose work and scent work. Aleks has extensive experice in multiple nose work trial venues as a compeitior, trial host, AKC Judge and highly experienced coach including NACSW and AKC Scent Work.Aleks- give us your background in nosework and scentworks,  how you got started and where you see yourself today with all the numerous nosework and scentwork hats you wear.Our Podcast- Your Training ResourceResources -We aim to provide you with training resources- Tips and Tricks to Fix- discussing how  we,  Jill and Aleks,  are available as a fundamental resource to your nose work dog training. We will detail specific methods and chat about whether those methods are inclusive or exclusive, pros and cons of each, the impact of a result focused training versus a  growth mindset with a goal to develop a balanced skill set for your  nose work team success.Inclusive- Open Minded ApproachOffering open minded discussions on multiple and variable training methods and techniques cationing as best we can to avoid the "Never" and " Always" training regminens to support an open inclusive dog training development that is so important in nose work, no matter which event venue you or we choose to enter or have available for competition or trials.Future Topics- -Distractions- Environment and More -Engaged Dog- High and Low Arousal and the Engaged Dog-Running the Elements- Setting up training for all elements- NACSW and AKC and more-The Box Search and Intentional container distractions- How to Train for success-+R Nose work- using food or toy as primary reinforer for Intro to Elite and Summit beyond