Searching for the Target Scent

with Laurie Schwartz and Willow




Willow  (14 weeks 3 days old) is finding a hidden scent sample (open test strip vial-saliva-cotton ball collected today bg 64). Initially we asked that she "find" on command. Currently, there is debate as to whether diabetic scent should be placed anywhere but on a person but at the time for Willow she loved to search and we used that desire to encourage identification of low scent. Although the room where Willow is searching has been used before the scent sample has never been placed in this spot. Willow consistently will first sweep the room areas where samples were placed in recent previous searches and then she will move to areas where saples have not been placed. Our word for Low is "basso". 


This is so not well trained!  Called winging it....She would just search when I asked her to find a "basso" means low in Italian.

We played games around scent to increase her interest.  The spot it is hidden in was never used before... she always checks successful sites then sits and scratches and then searches in new places. 


On Sep 28, 2012, at 3:05 PM, Lynn Shrove wrote:

Excellent example!  (and what a gentle girl!)  THANK YOU!  

NOW, using this example (and the explanation accompanying the video on Youtube) Willow sits to report.  But that's not her actual alerting behavior, is it? Or is it? Or would you call that her "indicator" behavior? 

I am inferring that to alert, Willow uses her paw.....uses a bringsel.....other?  Is that a correct assumption? 

Lily's alert behavior is a firm nudge on my body.  When teaching the chain, I was going to substitute the verbal cue for the nudge with the scent. But I am very uncertain how to incorporate that with scent wheel locating, for example.

On Sept 28, 2012, at 3:08 PM, Laurie Schwartz replied: 

I would say that was not an alert that was crude recognition and much of it assisted... I knew she had found it but she didn't know what to do next.  The pup we have now whines when in the presence of high or low.  It is a response but not an alert really.

On Sept 28, 2012, at 3:15 PM, Lynn Shrove wrote:

Gotcha!  Right now I am just ready to have Lily search but WITHOUT retrieving the scent. 

(One of her trained retrieves is to search for and retrieve my keys)
So.........what would your recommendation be? 

 Since you state that "Currently, there is debate as to whether diabetic scent should be placed anywhere but on a person"

I consider you and Rachel to be my "expert mentors"....... and don't want to reinvent the wheel when you have already created one that works just fine, thank you.