D.A.D. Training for Dogs: Problem Solving a Scent Discrimination Challenge

Scooter is a 1 1/2 year Labradoodle who’s been attending day training 3-4 days per week for several months. He is a happy, well-socialized, willing boy who gets a lot of attention, love and spoiling. He loves to play with the other dogs and has a knack at getting them to engage. Scooter has an extra special task he’s being trained for, alerting for low blood sugar levels. We’ve been imprinting on saliva samples with BGLs 70 and below for months, he has a solid paw alert and loves the game. 

When it was time to take the next step towards scent discrimination, I moved the tins I’d been holding for imprinting exercises onto the ground. We progressed with each success by adding a blank tin to choose between, hiding a tin with a sample under a scent pan, adding pans and continued building the game. He would do well for 1 or 2 rounds seeming to understand but would lose interest and quit trying. Some days he wouldn’t try at all or paw at all of them looking at me expectantly for a treat. I tried minimizing his free attention, using meals and treats for rewards, play/toy rewards, watching me work other dogs and thought I’d broken things down pretty well. 

Scooter is a good boy who likes to interact, there had to be a way to get him loving the game and I was starting to doubt if he truly understood what I wanted. A bit bewildered, I had a little brain storming session with myself and the following is what I wrote in the notepad of my phone:

“Ideas to make more fun and clearer picture:
1-Use colanders and tins as scent aids.
-Transition to additional various aids 
2-lower alert expectations until build up solid interest.
3-Build better alert skills with imprinting exercises.
4-start with one aid, mark and reward change of behavior.
5-Build up Toy play/Retrieving drive
-search for toy (likes Kong with tail)
6- Reward with more Personal Play/Excitement
7-Search scent aids for meals and treats to develop search game.
-Return to samples with higher value reward system.”

What do these mean, what I tried and what worked out:

1) Take a big step back, trying to break it all down for better understanding. I played with this for a bit, doing what I had done before. He seemed bored, unmotivated and progression was stagnant. 
2) I’d been working on a better, more determined paw alert during imprinting. When moving to a new or harder step, I needed to lower this expectation, starting by rewarding subtle alerts and building up commitment. This was a key factor to his success!
3) This is the other side of #2. I continued working on commitment to scent with imprinting exercises he was already confident in. I built the intensity with the basics and only asked for more commitment after he was confident in an exercise.
4) When introducing a new training aid, lower expectations and reinforce the first change in behavior. Build on that before adding additional aids or expecting more commitment to scent. 
5) I knew he liked toys a bit, but mostly likes chasing other dogs with toys. Thought if I could create more fun around the toy I could use as a reward and develop his search game by tossing in long grass etc. He never understood the toy as a reward, he just stared at me looking for the treat, but loves some play time after a work session to decompress.
6) He likes treats, but loves attention. Was I just too boring??? Amp up the energy.
7) I knew from experience using food to teach dogs search games was highly successful, but I was hesitant to use this technique for this. Eventually I decided I could proof him off food later if I could just get him to understand and enjoy the game. I placed food bowls, one with some of his meal, under plate covers I refer to as scent pans. When he showed interest, I lifted the cover to let him eat. I split his meal into quarters and fed him this way for 3 days. He was getting this game and happy to perform. On day 4, I hid a low blood sugar sample under the cover and rewarded with part of his meal immediately for a small change of behavior. I did this for a few days, slowly asking for more commitment, varying number of runs, and jackpotting the best alerts. He was finally enjoying the game and his commitment was growing. I only used the food method for those few days and it didn’t seem to create any other problems. It motivated him to work, changed his attitude about the game and we’ve not hidden food since.

He is now working scent discrimination exercises with blank dental gauze, tins, colanders and chap stick containers, all the aids we used in imprinting. He has been successful with a great attitude, passing the blanks and indicating on the sample. I am starting to add in-range samples so we can teach him the threshold. The reason we train the scent discrimination exercises is to isolate the scent we are after, BGL 70 and below.

It was a combination of changes made as a result of my brainstorming session that made the difference. I had to start from the beginning with a new approach that made the game more clear, fun and motivating, not the same steps I’d taken before. I used verbal markers, praise, scratches, meals, treats and play to help him understand and make it more exciting. Hiding his food under the pans, reinforced by eating once he indicated, really helped him understand and enjoy the game. Once he had a positive association with the game, it was easy to transfer to the samples he’d been imprinting on for months.

I continue limiting his playtime with other dogs, often using this as a reward at the end of a session. He likes toys, but really likes chasing my dog chasing toys. I believe ending his sessions with toy play helped to improve his overall attitude about working. Even though he doesn’t understand it as an instant reward for indicating, he seems to look forward to the play at the end of the session. 

I thought I was being clear. I thought I was being fun, positive and rewarding. I thought he understood the game. However, I was not getting the results I was after. I had to take a step back and critique my own methods and performance, not always easy to do. I had to admit to myself that what I was doing, wasn’t working. One lesson that keeps appearing in my life, “when you don’t see what your looking for, look from a different angle.” Ultimately, a different approach is what it took to get Scooter on track to becoming a successful DAD (Diabetic Alert Dog), which we will continue to develop over the next several months.