Reply To: Best of ?Lola?

[Alana McGee]

TDC:
FUN! Just love watching her happy attitude!!! You are both doing great! Keep this up with just a few modifications. And, yes, it is pretty normal for them to still be guessing at this point. She hasn’t figured out how to discriminate between odor and visual cues. That’s ok. It will come. This is typical. 47sec was an AWESOME learning moment!! She had recognized why those two pots were different!!! Great.

1. Leave Lola behind a gate, in a crate or somewhere while you place the truffle scent. She doesn’t have to be far but not on the other end of a leash as this allows her to practice not alerting when near a truffle. We want her wild for finding the source of the scent and not having to wait for you to ask. You can even practice sit stays if they are solid enough.
2. Let her have the opportunity to check all of the pots. Even if she finds the scent under the first pot, have a party and then as you “exit” the training space for that attempt, continue along the line. Why? Because there MIGHT be another And eventually, there will be another scent to target. What we want is for her to get rewarded and and then be ready to go right back to searching since eventually you will want her to alert repeatedly (always rewarding). The game doesn’t end with the first find. If you are going to walk away after a success, continue the party as you leave so there is no question in her mind if she is being rewarded or if you are wanting her to work/ wait for a working cue. Does that make sense?
3. Reinforce your truffle cue during the party. Just a simple thing to reinforce the word.

I think 3 scents might be too much at the early stage…unless, Alana thinks the morel scent and truffle scent could be used together. I’ll let her comment on that.

Great job!!!