I started Drac on Nosework last week. He was 12 weeks old. There was no reason to start at that age, I just knew I wanted to start him soon! The first month of having a new puppy is filled with so much change, adjustment, relationship building, lack of sleep and poop! That took precedence!

I finally felt we were ready and we dived in! One thing you have to remember about puppies is that they don’t have the best coordination with taking treats or finding them in your hand. You have to be more deliberate and patient with them when delivering the treats. For that reason, I got the tin out of my hands quickly and onto the floor which made it easier to deliver the treats. It also helps if they can find a tossed treat so that you can reset between sessions. So work that separately. Big visible pieces that you show them from nose to tossing a few inches and then a little further showing where the treat went.

Before I started an actual NW session, I first fed him a few times in a metal pie dish with an odor tin in the middle to condition him that odor is associated with good things! (Use magnet inside tin to keep it in the middle). What I love about training a new dog is experimenting with new ideas! There was no disadvantage to doing this and possibly it helped!! If you feed raw, you can put the tin on the side of the dish (magnet in tin) so that it is above the raw food.

Having worked on Susan Garrett’s ItsYerChoice games a few weeks back to build some impulse control, I wanted to mix in a variety of those games into the first sessions of NW.  After our first session with a choice between food and odor in my hands, I decided to work impulse control on just a bowl of food – no odor. Already he knew the game and had great control. What a good boy!

I brought the odor back out and used the food bowl as the other choice – placing them both on the floor.  I was very happy with the results. Having that recent impulse control history we were able to progress pretty fast. With my experience starting other dogs I was able to push a little more here and there – the food bowl used for impulse control now acts as a proof, which strengthened his choice for odor.

I also asked for a little more criteria – stay at source as I bring in reinforcement – if he pulls off, I freeze. Some people struggle with this concept – they worry their dog won’t go back to source. They want to give reinforcement right away, concerned their dog will get confused or demotivated and miss an opportunity to reward! It’s just another layer of asking your dog to make a choice. If you never push a little you will never know and your progress will come more slowly. If you do see confusion/reduced behavior, then it was just too soon to push so go back to getting that treat in right away. No harm done! What I found was that he continued to make the right choice! He’s learning what’s reinforcing! I also fed immediately more than I froze … kept rate of reinforcement high and did lots of rapid feeding.

I also treated the impulse control games differently from choosing odor. For impulse control, reinforcement comes from where they are showing good restraint from “stealing” a treat. For the choice of odor, reward any way you can! Reinforcement doesn’t have to come from the food source they choose not to go to. Once I had the tin on the floor, whether I fed from the food bowl or my other hand, it wasn’t relevant as it is with the impulse control games. I found it simplified the mechanics, got reinforcement in quicker and managed keeping him at source for longer periods of time by not drawing attention to the food “distraction”.

I followed on from these sessions with the standard introduction games with food in one hand and odor in the other. I also placed treats right on the floor as he made his choice. I tried a little duration, but found that was too early to try. I brought out a cold tin as another choice and also used non-tin qtip holders.  I also worked in another room in my house. I was successful in adding variety/generalization early on but building value for odor is the name of the game in your initial sessions.

So remember, push a little as your train your dog … use your experience to experiment. There is no wrong or right way, you just need to find the path that leads to growth and progress. Take that next step and see what they’ve got! And don’t worry about going back a step if needed!