I am not sure where I made my error in judgment but before I move forward or backwards I thought I would ask for some help.

This is about the 5th drug dog I have trained over the last 40 years, I would fine a dog to train and then use it at the department until they passed on and then would find and train another one and then another.

But this is the first time I have used the Randy Hare method and I do not know if I am missing something or I have created a problem.

The problem is that in proofing my dog to ensure that it is hitting on just drug odor, I have the drugs placed in a glass or metal container then have someone hid it some where in a room where the dog cannot make physical contact with it. After thirty minutes I bring the dog to the room, I stand in the doorway and tell the dog to find their dope.

Each time the dog would find the dope give its indication, but when the reward was thrown or dropped in front of her, she would not even give it a second look and would keep on scratching or biting at where the drugs were.

When she was on the box and the reward was dropped in or dropped in front she would grab it no problem. When using the drug bags, she would make contact with the bags and then give them up for her reward.

But I have to tease her with the reward to get her to grab it when proofing her, I even have used a scented reward to see if that would make a difference and it does not.

Help

John

Her reward is a ball on a rope? Do you think she is viewing the ball dropping in front of her as a distraction and not her reward? Are you right there with her when you initially deliver the reward? How did she respond to the reward during the oral game part of Randy's method?

I use Randy's method to train HRD dogs.

She loves a rolled up towel, I tested her to see what she liked the best, T Ball, kong on a rope, Tug, PVC tube each time when given the choice she would choose the rolled up towel. I Retested her after this popped up and she still made the same choice.

I did use a ball on a rope at first, but if given the chance she would make contact with the rope and not the ball. But take the ball off the rope and she would work for the ball but I lost the chance to play the game with her.


When her towel is dropped in front of her on the scratch box, she goes for it. When she pulled the drug bag out and saw the towel she would shake the bag a few times and then go for the towel.

I am behind her most of the time but not always, I have worked her off lead 80% of the time in training, I do work her on lead and can direct her when needed to check high and low.

I did not feel she was far enough to start Distraction training on the rolled up towel yet, but have checked to see if she was hitting on just the towel or the different tapes.

But that is what it looks like, when I throw the towel, she could careless. But if I take her back to the scratch box on the wall she goes for the towel when it is dropped in front of it.

I did notice on one of the self rewarding boxes when I placed a rolled towel next to a bag of drugs. When she popped the box open she went for the bag of drugs and not the towel.

Before I started her on Randy's method I use to place the drugs in her ball or a rolled up towel. When I went to Randy's method I placed the drugs in the box and used a blank towel and ball for the reward.
Thanks
John

It's really tough for me to tell what is going on with her without seeing what you're talking about first hand. However, I have a couple of thoughts. Based on what you wrote, you've modified Randy's method a bit. I'm not sure that has anything to do with the issue you're describing though.

It sounds to me like she's getting some sort of self-satisfaction from her alert behavior, which is preventing her from immediately needing the satisfaction of the reward towel. So, you can either live with the fact that you have to do some prompting to get her to take the reward (and maybe it will improve with repetition), or find out what that self-satisfaction is and attempt to interrupt it.

If she's finding and alerting on the target odor without any issues, I'd probably just leave well enough alone.

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I did use a ball on a rope at first, but if given the chance she would make contact with the rope and not the ball. But take the ball off the rope and she would work for the ball but I lost the chance to play the game with her.

I like to use the ball on the rope as a reward. I would have spent time teaching her to target the ball instead of the rope and would have used that instead of the towel, despite her preference. Dropping the ball down the tube and tugging with the dog through the box is a big part of Randy's method.

 Quote:

I did not feel she was far enough to start Distraction training on the rolled up towel yet, but have checked to see if she was hitting on just the towel or the different tapes.

In Randy's method, distraction training starts at the beginning. I would have put the towel in one of the non-target boxes as a distraction right from the start.

Just my two cents. Maybe David Frost (our resident PSD detection training expert) will chime in with some thoughts.

Thank you for your help, I was dropping the towel down the tube and playing tug with her.

Self-satisfaction and repetition sounds like a good place to start. I will let you know how it goes

Thanks Again

John