Recently, while traveling, I forgot to pack my hair brush. It was metal barrel shaped one with bristles for blow drying and styling. I’ve had mine for probably 10 years.

While I was away, I picked up a similar brush at a store. It was inexpensive, ceramic instead of metal… and I loved it. It worked so much better than my old ones.

My old brushes were fine… until I tried this new one.

Of course, it got me thinking about dog training and how trying something new isn’t such a bad idea.

I’ve been incorporating location-specific markers in Nosework for a few years now. It’s been challenging to change for my long term students, since we’ve always placed a high value on rewarding at source. It’s been easier to introduce to newer students who don’t have a long history of doing things one way. For others, even when they’re open to it, change can still feel hard.

As part of this training, I covered additional reward cues, like a treat “toss” behind the dog, a different cue for tossing the treat forward, and “scatter.” “Scatter” tells the dog we’re about to toss multiple treats on the ground. It’s incredibly useful, not just marking, but in real life for redirecting a dog away from a potential trigger, when ending a training session or teaching young dogs to drop something they have in their mouth.

Dogs naturally enjoy scavenging and using their nose, and food scatters tap into that. Food scatters also have a calming effect and can help lower arousal.

One of my students recently shared a story about the use of one of these new reward cues.

Her dog had wandered out onto their frozen pond. The ice was weaker near the aerators, and he had made his way dangerously close to that area. His recall, which is normally very reliable, wasn’t working in that moment. So she tried something new. She said, “scatter.” A cue they had been practicing. Her dog immediately turned and ran back to her.

It quite literally prevented what could have been a very bad situation.

I was thrilled, not just that it helped in that moment, but that she had embraced training something new… and was able to apply it when it mattered most!

Here’s a picture of my new brush!

On a side note, we just finished week one of the April 2026 FDSA term. Enrollment stays open until April 15th. Both classes are keeping me busy, and both cover reward-specific markers!

NW225: Rise Above: Resilience in Scentwork Environments