Jill Marie O Brien's blog

Recently, I made a major change in my professional life.  With that, I am engaging clients more independently and getting back to what I love, working with people and their dogs directly.  However, as time has moved on and I have developed professionally, I have on occasion lost what it is like to be a new dog or puppy owner. 

This can be dangerous at times and unfair to people who don’t share the years of experience I do, nor have chosen the path of a professional dog trainer or behavior specialist.  Many of my clients, like those of my colleagues have other priorities in their lives beyond their furry friend; which brings me to the point of this conversation, empathy. 

Recently I was at a training field in which folks train dogs for schutzhund and other working dog sports.  I am fascinated by many activities folks get involved in with their pets.  Some are simple like hikiing and ball playing others require immense dedication and skill, both on the dog's part and the handler's. 

However, something struck me while I was there watching some folks work the "protection" portion of their training. That is the bite work element of the sport for those that are not familiar with many of the protection sports.  There was an amazing young dog on the field with so much drive you could power a porsche. 

In my dog training life I have the opportunity to meet a variety of dog enthusiasts and pet owners.  I have learned to adjust to the varying personalities that one comes across in the dog training world.  There is one type of dog owner that still fascinates me… it is the person that selects a breed with a negative reputation in the public mind, not because the dog makes them feel tough, but because the dog is misunderstood and needs an advocate. They become a one person ACLU for their dog.

These folks are so entrenched in their need to have something to advocate for that they can no longer see their dog as the individual they are and become irate at any suggestion that they as the dog’s owner, may need to maintain a high level of training and management for their chosen breed.

Today I was at a moving sale for a fellow dog trainer and a couple of things popped into my head. One was that I was incredibly lazy and why do I expect more from my clients then I am often willing to do myself. Too many irons in the fire, but a lot of grand plans none the less and 2) keeping access to training simple, along with the exercises we give to our students and clients can go a long way to compliance.

The lazy thing is a completely different blog and I need to come to some self realization before writing more on that. However, the keeping it simple part I can write about since it is so fresh in my brain.

While at my colleague's house I see this silver contraption folded up on the floor of her dining room as I was rifling through her for sale items and I asked her what it was. She proceeded to inform me that it was an exercise contraption for which I have already forgotten its name.

Well, another successful K9 Nose Work trial has come and gone. With each event I work on I am amazed by the people and dogs that are participating. Unlike so many other events nose work is an open field. Anyone can shine at any time. As with many other dog sports, there isn’t any one breed that the rest of the competitors dread competing against. Border collies, Golden Retrievers and even shepherds aren’t necessarily a shoe in.
Success, in the end, comes down to training and good handler/dog communication. I am so humbled by the folks that have contributed to the success of this sport. It is the camaraderie of the competitors that makes nose work such an amazing experience. Not just for the competitors, but for the organizers as well.
With each event that passes, my enthusiasm for the next event grows. I want to personally congratulate all those competitors that earned titles this past weekend and I can’t wait to see everyone again at the next K9 Nose Work trial.

It has been a while since I chimed in about nose work hoping that people would spend some time allowing their dogs to build their natural desire to hunt and search, while being brave enough to put the formal obedience aside.

Often in the beginning phases of training, students ask about the end results of the process and about teaching their dog a "final response" or “how do I get my dog sit when they’ve found their hidden treasure”. Since the ultimate goal for many of our students is to try their hand at K9 Nose Work competition they become focused on the end of the journey and not the journey itself.

The goal in developing K9 Nose Work as an activity (based in part on the concept of detection style training), was to offer dog enthusiasts and casual pet owners an opportunity to allow their dogs to explore their natural ability in a safe environment while offering their people the chance to truly learn their dog’s individual communication style.

One of the great things about doing K9 Nose Work is that it is mobile and eventually encompasses any environment you may find yourself. However, there is very important foundation work that is the key to you and your dog finding long-term success and helping your dog build stamina and interest in the search.

After following the steps in the first part of this saga (Getting Started in Nose Work) and if your dog’s eyes pop out of their head at the sight of any container or cardboard box your dog may be ready to expand the search and increase the challenge.

I have written about K9 Nose Work and folks have been asking me about what is needed to get started and the best way to introduce their dogs to a more formal nose work routine. The greatest thing about doing K9 Nose Work is how easy it is and portable it can be. Your dog’s nose goes everywhere and the world is an adventure.

My training partners and I generally start all dogs in class using cardboard boxes for searching. You can use any type of container such as shoe boxes, Tupperware with holes punched in the top, flower pots, etc. You’ll want to contain the odor, yet leave enough ventilation for it to be accessible to the dog. The greener the dog the more accessible the odor should be. We have found card board boxes to be the easiest and most cost effective. We start with 5 or 6 and the number and difficulty grows with time and experience.

Over the years I have traveled in many a dog circle. One of the biggest complaints that I have heard from urban dog enthusiasts is the lack of tracking fields available for training. For many of our rural dog owning friends this seems unheard of; no place to track, why that is silly. However, for many of us city types a drive over an hour, sometimes many hours to go tracking is the norm.

Along with my training partners Amy and Ron we developed a structured class curriculum that brings detection style training to those folks looking for something different to do with their four legged companions. We tested our first class in Long Beach in the summer of 2006. At that point, we didn’t realize how quickly folks would get hooked.

I thought as my first adventure into the world of blogs I would combine two of my favorite subjects; changing the word "pet" dog to "working companion dog" and detection dog training.

After my many years of working with clients and running a large city behavior and training department, I learned that being a "pet" dog can be the most difficult and risky job a dog is given and that many a detection dog are some of the most satisfied doggies out there. So, along with my colleagues with whom I train my own detection dogs we worked to bring the two together.

The goal was to give companion dogs a more focused task that encourages them to develop their most natural instincts; scenting and hunting. However, we wanted to go beyond nose games to actual focused nose work training based on the fundamentals of detection dog training. On January 25th we'll be holding our first sanctioned K9 Nose Work competition in Southern California.