I’ve been instructing nose work for over ten years now, and dog sports for a lot longer. In this time, I’ve gone from telling students “You got this, you’re gonna pass!” to “It’s time to test.”
The longer I do this the more I learn that there are far too many variables to assume that a scent work team is going to pass a given competition. There will always be unanticipated holes that pop up out of nowhere.
Nose work at dog training facilities: multi-ring trials where dogs are barking, sometimes in the adjacent rings while you’re searching. Other teams yelling “Alert” loudly, while you’re running your quite sensitive dog. Incidents right outside the ring because people wouldn’t keep their dogs adequately spaced. Well meaning volunteers running up on your dog and surprising them.
The list goes on and on…
Trials in schools: Smoke alarms going off, students strolling through the search areas, off-leash farm dogs showing up, slick shiny floors that the dogs have never been exposed to. Gravel that is uncomfortable under their paws. Classrooms with the heating kicking off and the room is nearly 80 degrees. Photographers doing weird things – running, jogging, crouching, laying, hopping on one foot (JK!!!).
The list continues to go on and on…
I’ve had students return disappointed because they were sure that they were going to get the title this time, but some weird, crazy variable popped out that spooked/messed up the human/dog. The more we say “You’ve got this, you’re going to pass”, the more we raise the expectation AND PRESSURE in the team that no matter what happens, they’re going to bring the ribbon home. This can lead to poor judgement choices on the human’s part because of the pressure.
Rather than giving teams the inquisition at the conclusion of a search I’ve switched to saying something more along the lines of “Your dog got cookies, right?” because THAT is what is most important. The DOG did not sign up for this crazy ribbon ride that we decided to take them on. We should at least ensure that the pay is commensurate with the work we’re asking of them.
So now, the majority of my students ask me before they enter a competition. When I think that they’re ready, I tell them it’s time to test. We’ve hit the training challenges from as many different angles as we can, so it’s time to take the dog and handler out for a test drive and see what happens. The dog may ace it and bring home first place, or we might find a little crack or hole that needs to be addressed before we go out and kick the proverbial tires again. There will always be a few outliers that completely ignore me, because what do I know? I’ve only taught hundreds of dogs and judged thousands of them, but eh?!
It doesn’t matter whether you’re going for the Canine Good Citizen test or your first NW3, we can never anticipate ALL of the variables. I host four trials a year, have students scattered across the length and breadth of Central Illinois, they report back to me with the latest anomalous thing they’ve come across and I’m STILL being surprised with moments that leave me with my head in my hands going WTAF?
So, when you ask me if I think your dog is ready to compete at XYZ and I answer “It’s time to test.”, smile, nod, go to your dog, give them a cookie, and really BELIEVE in the fact that your dog will do the absolute best that they can given the crazy ride that we signed them up for.
I go in expecting not to pass, then get surprised when we do. Some things are out of our control. Though I did pass NW1 last weekend I wouldn’t have been surprised to not pass one of them..we had trouble with exterior taking longer than usual but I waited until he settled to call it. In the past I would get anxious about time and call too soon.