Clean Run - June 2012 - 46

in the agility environment. So if the game of agility does not have enough reinforcement value built into it (both in terms of frequency of reinforcement and type of reinforcement) then the dog is likely to choose a more efficient route to reinforcement: sniffing. To help eliminate the sniffing, teach the games and skills required in agility to fluency. Use frequent high value rewards for the dog—don’t be stingy! Be sure to reinforce the dog while things are going well. Many handlers ignore the dog’s terrific work by continuing the course, risking that something will go wrong and the dog will go unrewarded. Also, if you make a handler error that causes the dog to make a mistake, be sure to acknowledge the dog’s effort by asking for a different, simple behavior (such as a trick) then reward the dog. This will help keep the reinforcement level high and the state of arousal optimal for success. Never turn your back on the dog to chat with the instructor (see below), and never withhold reward from the dog if you’ve made a handling error! Also, choose your rewards wisely in the face of environmental distractions that might be tempting. In situations where the scents might be extremely interesting (such as training in a horse barn) we must go to our highest value rewards and set the dog up to be able to earn them easily and often.

Stress and Avoidance
Dogs can sometimes present sniffing as a displacement behavior when they are stressed, fearful, or avoiding pressure. To truly know if this is the reason, we would have to know what the dog is thinking... and this is impossible! We can take educated guesses based on the situation, the dog’s history, and the dog’s body language, but we cannot truly know what the dog is thinking. To reduce stress and fear, I recommend beginning with a counterconditioning protocol. This type of training does not ask the dog to make choices or train behaviors; instead, it pairs the “scary” stimulus with a stimulus that the dog finds positive such as food or a favorite toy. With the help of a qualified behaviorist, you can help change your dog’s conditioned response in

those situations, building confidence and getting rid of avoidance behaviors. Then, you must teach the dog alternate behaviors to present in those situations, giving him a range of behaviors to choose from to earn reinforcement, rather than sniffing. Also, we see stress in training due to lack of understanding, low arousal, and too much punishment. I’ve already addressed lack of understanding and low arousal, and addressing punishment is simple: don’t use positive punishment (physical corrections) and use limited negative punishment (time-outs). When using time-outs, be sure that you know that dog has a solid reinforcement history in the correct behavior before you apply time-outs for the incorrect behavior. If you use too many time-outs, you will create stress in your training (particularly if the dog is not entirely sure what to do correctly). Be sure to keep track of the ratio of rewards to time-outs, to keep the balance strongly in favor of reward.

Sniffing Has Been Rehearsed and Reinforced
Most of the sniffing I see in agility dogs comes about because the dog has rehearsed sniffing, and has (accidentally) been reinforced for sniffing. As we know from behaviors that we are training or improving (such as weave

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Clean Run - June 2012

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