OkcPets Magazine March 2021

March/April 2021 • OKC Pets 19 small, large, three-legged, blind or deaf. Dogs search for cotton swabs saturated with two drops of essential oil. The three common essential oils that most of the national organizations use are birch, anise and clove. Dogs learn and see the world through their keen sense of smell. From birth, a dog uses its nose to search for food. Their instinct is to search for any odor that interests them. The game of Nosework takes advantage of that instinct by adding in reward and praise and building drive in a dog to search for a scented object. The biggest training challenge in Nosework is teaching the human handler. Getting the human to understand and trust what the dog is saying through body language takes time. Though hu- mans like to be in charge, in this sport, the dog is in charge. The human must let the dog lead and learn how to read him or her. Goals for Hopper Adopting a blind and deaf dog is very intimi- dating for many people. Our primary goal was to help Hopper expand her natural abilities, making it easier to function in a home, thus becoming more adoptable. Nosework training would help Hopper expand her communication skills, improve her self-confidence and help her acclimate to new settings. With these skills, and given that she was already playful and fun-loving, the hope was that she would find her forever home sooner. To test her scent-abilities, communication skills and ability to acclimate to new surround- ings, Angie entered Hopper in a local Nosework trial in May after her beginner Nosework train- ing class ended. That gave Angie and Hopper five months to train. At the trial, Hopper would take part in a search-class called Novice Containers, where she would search 10 cardboard boxes to find the one with the scented Q-Tip. We train using more than 10 containers. Hopper’s Introduction to Odor Like humans, dogs have five senses. A human’s primary sense is eyesight. A dog’s primary sense is smell. Their body is a smelling machine; it is how they “see” their world. Like humans, when one or more of a dog’s senses are missing, its remaining senses are even more enhanced. Because Hopper is deaf and blind, we structured her training to take advantage of her remaining senses—in this case, smell and touch. Unlike other puppies, Hopper could not see or hear how the other dogs reacted to her. But, using her nose, she could get a sense of them. Humans and animals emit distinct odors associated with their emotions. In this manner, Hopper learned to discern friend from foe. Her nose enabled her to gauge how safe her environ- ment was. On the first day of class, we introduce dogs to odor by pairing it with food. When the dogs touch their noses to the scent, they’re immedi- ately rewarded with high-value treats. Like most dogs, Hopper got excited when she smelled the treats, and she learned quickly that nose-touches to odor magically made the treats appear! Angie’s role was to continue to be a doggie Pez dispenser, generously treating Hopper for nose-touches to odor. This game quickly turns into a lot of fun for the dogs! In fact, Nosework training works best in positively reinforced training sessions. Old school harsh treatment or corrections are detrimental to progressing in this sport and not allowed in our classes. Touch and Voice Commands Angie was already working with Hopper on touch commands at home. She used various types of touches—a tap on the back meant Sit, a hand brush under the chin might cue Dinner. She also continued talking to Hopper because sounds emit a vibration, which enabled Hopper to “hear” through those vibrations. When Hopper joined the Nosework class, she was a well-acclimated and happy dog, thanks to Angie’s care and early training. Hopper adjusted well to the new class because she “heard” Angie talking, smelled her close by and felt her touch, which provided Hopper with confidence. Using a consistent pattern of taps and rubs, we developed a cue to tell Hopper to “Go Search.” Once Hopper understood that a nose-touch to odor resulted in a treat, we moved the odor farther and farther away from her. Using the touch-cue each time before releasing her to go to the odor, Hopper learned what a Go-Search cue was. Within a month, we could place the odor The scent is in one of these boxes.