“Beginning K9NW Coaching” is an interactive 6-week course where participants will upload videos and receive detailed critique and discussion for various search challenges. Students must have successfully completed their Intro to K9NW class or begun training with their PRIMARY REWARD with the K9 Nose Work® methodology and are now ready to continue progress with more challenges. In this set of classes we will evaluate for each dog when it is appropriate to transition to their first target odor, Birch.
Because we want the dog searching well for their primary reward BEFORE introducing odor, each dog may or may be ready to transition to odor at the end of class. If you have a young dog I STRONGLY urge you to keep your dog on their primary reward and no target odor until at least a year. We want to avoid any negative experiences or fear periods around odor. A repeat of the class may be necessary for the dog to be READY for odor, even for the adult dog. This is not remedial! This is listening to your dog to make sure they’re searching well and ready to go!
Remember, teaching odor is EASY! First teaching the dog to continue searching and leading the way through a variety of environmental challenges is key!
Some of the things we will be discussing or looking at:
* What if your dog no longer “likes” the reward you have?
* It’s always “blind” to the dog – training vs. testing
* Having someone else set your hides
* Odor or no odor YET?
* What is “Pairing?”
* Corners, thresholds and edges (Oh my!) – revisited from those who took the NW101 course
* Additional challenges in the search
* Different search locations – this is ALWAYS in rotation!
You will need a video camera and tripod or a helper to video your searches. You will upload to YouTube and embed the video (3 minutes max.) into your personal thread based on the lessons I will provide. Please wait for my comments before adding the next video. Assignments will be given with instruction specific to you and your dog.
There are no “hours” so you can participate at your leisure and time that suits you best.