Bella the Frenchie Learning the Game of Search

Bella is a 3 year old, spunky French Bulldog who is quite playful and loves games. She gets over aroused at times and needs a constructive outlet for her energy. She is very willing to work, so I thought I ‘d test her out on a search game using scent pans as training aids. On day one, I hid a few treats under the pans and let her curiosity do the rest. She was pleased to encounter scrumptious treat smells and showed interest in the “loaded” pans, a very successful introduction to the game.

On day 2, I added a couple additional pans since she had done so well before. She recognized the game and went to work. We ran 3 quick drills, as 3 reps is the magic number. The trick here is to be patient and allow the dog to discover and commit to the enticing scent on their own or with minimal assistance.

Bella’s really getting into the game here, pawing at the pans with the treat smell all on her own. This is the type of commitment we are working towards. Once she learns to search for treats and indicate reliably, we can start incorporating other objects we would like her to find. They can be taught to find anything, such as a cell phone, keys, deer sheds, toys, medications, drugs, tobacco (have a teenager?), electronic storage devices, contraband, etc. The list is endless as are the uses.

Search games are a great way to interact with your dog and build a healthy working relationship. The games should always be positively reinforced, no corrections for mistakes. Mistakes are a valuable part of the learning process. We make a mistake in the following video, there is no reward to be had, so we can just move on allowing learning to come naturally.

Bella is tiring already on this round. Tiring happens quickly when they are mentally engaged. Don’t push them too far, we want to end the game while they are still enjoying it. This is how we build the drive to increase duration and complexity over time.

You can see in the final video where I gave a little extra help and encouragement to keep her going and boost her enthusiasm. We want to allow the natural learning process, even build small amounts of frustration, but we don’t want to push them to the point they give up. It’s a balance and important you learn to read your dog. If we give too much help, they will continuously look to us for the answers. If we don’t give them enough help or set up too difficult of problems for their level, they will loose confidence and give up.

Keep it fun! Keep it short! Allow natural learning from mistakes. Do not correct verbally or physically, this includes a “no” or “AhAh”. Rewards can come in the form of food, toys, praise, personal play or all of the above. We ended this training session with a flirt pole play session, which she thoroughly enjoyed and a great way to decompress after a mentally challenging training.