Keegan, my Aussie looses himself (and his hearing) when he sniffs out something delicious, or disgusting or just for the sake of it being something NOT yet in his library of scents...really doesn't matter what, he LOVES to use his nose.
First time today where he couldn't help but succumb to what his nose was so urgently requesting his attention to, was in agility at Dogsmart.
We sped around the obstacles then all of a sudden he decided it was time for a break so he trotted right over to my chair and nosed under my coat. He didn't grab anything, he just nosed underneath then backed away at my request.
I could have yelled "zoom" to recall him back to me but it was such an interesting way he trotted off. There wasn't a safety issue that required him back by my side, so I just stood there and watched to see what he was up to.
I had put him in the car to rest after having bombed around while I was setting up equipment for agility. He wasn't in the room when I put my coat down. Some how on our way in for his turn in agility he smelled my treat bag, underneath my coat. Wow, out of all the smelly stuff in the room that day. There were other dog treats and bags of food, toys, he went right for the fish and kibble I had in my treat bag buried under my coat.
I'm fascinated by the things that catch a dog's attention, the things that I miss. I love watching the way they communicate to us when you give them the opportunity, especially when it's to share what's important to them.
He wasn't pushy or rude, he was so nonchalant about it. He just wanted to let me know that it was time to kick back and enjoy a little treat or two after racing around.
It's nice to be reminded that it's not all about me and my grand ideas of how to communicate my wishes.
I've found if I acknowledge their discoveries from time to time when it's appropriate, they appreciate it. Even the disgusting dead carcasses or when Keegan as a puppy brought me what I thought was an odd looking stick and it ended up being a cat leg! I didn't "punish" him for it or get all freaked out and yell over and over to "drop" as I hear some people do when they get caught up in the "ick" or "dog must obey" factor.
I did ask him to give it to me, in trade of some treats, got him to do some fun tricks to take his focus off what he'd found, then found a stick for him to chase to replace the furry one he brought me.
The Second time that day at Dogsmart however was a little embarrassing. He actually dove into Terrie's training bag and after my first request to remove himself from it, he remained head first in the bag. It was clear signal to me we need a refresher of when I do asked him to disengage from sniffing, please do. I was a little surprised that he didn't right away.
We'll just work on some fun games to play which will reinforce that disengaging from having his head in a bag, no matter what's in the bag. We've done demos of recalling past steak, but we haven't practiced head out of the bag. The steak demo we did at Dogfest in Whistler in front of a crowd. Talk about pressure! You can view at the 30-56sec point. I teamed up with Maren @ Paw In Hand,Sarah Dykes the anncr of Bad Dogs Gone Good. We were at Dogfest to represent Positive Reinforcement training (not the "choose" when to be positive type of training and use intimidation or force otherwise that I've witnessed out here in Squamish) we did a little skit on everyday training and how you can train without intimidation or force and achieve "obedience". I'm the one in the distance with the Aussie. I look like a ninja turtle :)
Dogs aren't great at generalizing so proofing cues takes time, creative thinking to cover as many different possibilities, and loads of set ups before a cue is established and deemed somewhat reliable. Even once it's reliable, it's always smart to do a little refresher on the things that your dog has a tough time with. That way it's always fresh in their minds.
Here's us practicing with a bowl of popcorn on the ground.
*note...I say "yes" a lot...sounds like soft porn...technically I prefer to use an Event Marker, only when teaching new behaviours. I SHOULD have used praise place of "yes" as this default behaviour was pretty much established...but being human and a fan of keeping videos real, you can see I'm not perfect BUT I am successful.
Back to the head in the bag...good news is that he didn't try to unwrap anything when his head was buried in Terrie's bag, he was just soaking in the heavenly aromas.
I'm sure it could have been worst, putting his nose somewhere it doesn't belong sniffing out a person. It's just information for me, that I need to keep a closer eye on him and his nose. Interrupt earlier and proof his "leave it" around bags.
If you're interested in the biology of their senses, Alexandra Horowitz does such an amazing job in her book "Inside Of A Dog". Here's a book review of it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/books/review/Schine-t.html
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