Janet Morrison

Hi,

Just wondering how you are going with your scent discrimination now, is your dog

doing all the scents right??

Regards

Janet

www.obedienceproducts.com

Can anyone please help me with a scent discrimination problem?

I've never taught this before so pretty clueless, but thought it would be fun to teach something new to keep training interesting (for both me and the dog!) I am following the guidelines for teaching it from Dog Scout http://www.dogscouts1.com/Dog_Activ-_Scent_Discrim.html

I progressed to 2 metal articles down (one scented and one not) and at first I thought my girl was surprisngly brilliant she'd sniff one, sniff the other, then sniff the first and pick that up and that was the scented one. She did this two maybe three times and I was ecstatic! It seemed she was catching on. Or so I thought. She started bringing me the wrong one and here is where I am getting confused - what to do when she brings the wrong one.

Dog Scout says to ignore the dog, do not tell them they are wrong and if they then go back and bring you the correct one to praise and reward. But my dog thought she was doing it right and didn't understand to go back! My heart was breaking ignoring her, she was looking up at me so proud that she had brought it back and even after asking her go find it again with the scented article still out there, she just looked confused as if to say she already has it! I'm worried I'm crushing her confidence and understanding of what I am asking her to do and risking her not wanting to go find anything if she thinks I am just going to ignore her and not reward her each time she tries to do what she thinks I'm asking.

So what do I do when she won't attempt to go back and get the right one and to avoid crushing her confidence?

Thanks to anyone who can help! :p

Can anyone please help me with a scent discrimination problem?

I've never taught this before so pretty clueless, but thought it would be fun to teach something new to keep training interesting (for both me and the dog!) I am following the guidelines for teaching it from Dog Scout http://www.dogscouts1.com/Dog_Activ-_Scent_Discrim.html

I progressed to 2 metal articles down (one scented and one not) and at first I thought my girl was surprisngly brilliant she'd sniff one, sniff the other, then sniff the first and pick that up and that was the scented one. She did this two maybe three times and I was ecstatic! It seemed she was catching on. Or so I thought. She started bringing me the wrong one and here is where I am getting confused - what to do when she brings the wrong one.

Dog Scout says to ignore the dog, do not tell them they are wrong and if they then go back and bring you the correct one to praise and reward. But my dog thought she was doing it right and didn't understand to go back! My heart was breaking ignoring her, she was looking up at me so proud that she had brought it back and even after asking her go find it again with the scented article still out there, she just looked confused as if to say she already has it! I'm worried I'm crushing her confidence and understanding of what I am asking her to do and risking her not wanting to go find anything if she thinks I am just going to ignore her and not reward her each time she tries to do what she thinks I'm asking.

So what do I do when she won't attempt to go back and get the right one and to avoid crushing her confidence?

Thanks to anyone who can help! :p