Ep. 127: Dog's Perspective

When tackling your searches, are you keeping your dog's perspective in mind? Meaning, how they are perceiving the space or environment? Doing so can be harder than it sounds, since we as people are oftentimes desensitized to the normal happenings of a human world. Yet these may be the very things which make a search exponentially more challenging for our dogs.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of viewing our searches from our dog's perspective and ways we can better practice this essential skill.

Speaker:

Dianna L. Santos

TRANSCRIPT

Dianna L. Santos (00:00):
Welcome to the All About Scent Work Podcast. In this podcast we talk about all things Scent Work that can include training tips, a behind scenes look, at what your instructor or trial official is going through and much more. In this episode, I want to talk about the importance of viewing this through our dog's perspective. So before we start diving into the episode itself, let me do a very quick introduction of myself. My name is Dianna Santos. I'm the Owner and Lead Instructor of Scent Work University. This is an online dog training platform where you provide online courses, seminars, webinars, and eBooks that are all centered around Scent Work. So regardless of where you are in your stepping journey, you're just getting started. You're looking to develop some more advanced skills. You're interested in trialing or you're already competing even at the upper levels, we likely have a training solution for you such. Know a little bit more about me, let's dive into the episode itself.

(00:49):
So in this episode I wanted to talk about the importance of viewing everything that we do, including Scent Work from our dog's perspective, and that this can be a little bit harder than it sounds. So the reason why this was percolating in my bit old brain is because I just recently did a webinar called Be Brave: Using Scent Work to Build Confidence. And in that presentation as I was putting it all together, it just became obvious that there are lots of times when we are doing Scent Work in particular where we just assume this should be fine. There's no problem with this, this is totally okay, and from the dog's perspective it's anything but it could be scary potentially, or it could just be really weird. It could be very off-putting. It could be super exciting and novel like wow. But from our perspective as people, we can get flummox pretty easily because we're not understanding that that's happening as far as we're concerned.

(01:54):
There's just a hide out there, just go find the hide. But the dog is being bombarded with all these other stimuli and because of that, they're having an entirely different experience than we think that they are. And that can cause all kinds of problems because we may have designed a search for training, let's say, and we thought that this was going to be pretty straightforward, but in actuality we weren't viewing it from the dog's perspective, it's actually really, really hard. The environment is throwing everything in the kitchen sink at them, and then we also just happened to have a hide out there and then on top of that, we have what odor is doing and how they have to try to work it and all this other stuff, and we're asking them to do a really, really, really hard problem and we didn't plan on that at all. So we didn't set them up for success. We don't have the expectation that this is supposed to be hard, so we're probably not being very patient.

(02:51):
Maybe we didn't anticipate that this was going to require so much effort mentally and physically. So maybe there's not a whole lot of gas left in our dog's tank. Maybe we had done, we just came back from another class or we did a long hike or there was a lot of stuff happening at home that they were just like, oh my God, this is so weird and stressful, whatever. Basically what I'm trying to paint here as a picture is that we thought one thing when we set this up, that dog is going to come up. They're going to find their hide really super simple, great, and then maybe that's all we're doing, right? This was supposed to be an in and out. We did some training. I so good. I did a ninja search and this is great. And instead it has turned into a complete cluster where our dog is struggling one way or another.

(03:41):
Either they're ping ponging around the environment or they're getting sucked into the environment or they're being overwhelmed by the environment and then we are kind of looming over them. Why aren't you just finding this? And it just gets real gross real quick. So I just wanted to talk about this episode that this is actually a lot more common than I think that we give it credence to, and this is one of the ways that Scent Work is just so incredibly different from everything else that we do with our dogs as far as dog sports is concerned, and the reason being is that by design Scent Work is always changing. There's not a lot of stuff that's staying the same. This is one of the reasons why instructors and trainers will say, hold onto your routines. Those contextual cues are kind of all you got. Everything else is constantly in flux.

(04:36):
Even if you were to try to design the same exact search one day and then the next day, I can almost guarantee you there's still going to be differences because there's going to be differences with the environment and the temperature and the weather and all kinds of good stuff. So it's not going to be exactly the same. One of the things that also instructors will harp on is the importance of field trip searches because if we are interested in competition, what are we doing at our tests? We're going to these novel weird places and then say go forth in search. Lots of luck with that. The big part of the search is the environment, is the fact that we as people may have never been to this place before. Hopefully we were good little competitors and we didn't scope it out ahead of time. Don't do that.

(05:18):
You're not supposed to do that. But when we, again, flip it back onto the perspective of the dog that's asking a lot, it's not as though if we are, let's say, doing an agility trial for all intents and purposes, these are still pretty standard places. Meaning if you have taken your dog to a class that was inside, there's going to be a lot of similarities between that and another training facility that also has an indoor class for a trial. Now, there will be a difference If you were to then go to, let's say out in the northeast, they would have these giant sport center tent things, and that is very, very different than going to a training facility. You've got fans, you've got doors, it's all kinds of stuff. But once they've experienced that once and hopefully it went well, then they're probably going to be okay if they go to another one because there's still going to be some overlap.

(06:21):
If you've trained at agility in a field, you're going to have your fencing, you're going to have your ring stewards, it's still going to be kind of the same. But now think about Scent Work. Well, if I go to a trial, I can do that at a YMCA. I could do that at a Boys and Girls Club. I could do that at a school, I can do it at a park. I could do it at a business that I found that they were going to be okay with me at leasing the space. I can do it anywhere. There's so much variety. It could be from a warehouse to a farm, to a daycare center to a church. There's not a lot of ways that this all looks the same. There's so many variables, there's so many things that are different, and this is one of the reasons why instructors and trainers will say, well, you're not going to be able to train for everything.

(07:13):
That's true, because I'm not going to be able to find every possible statue that my dog may see. I'm not going to be able to find every piece of topiary that my dog may see. I'm not going to be able to find every type of fan that may be within a building or something. All that is absolutely accurate. But I think what we're missing on the other side of that statement is that yes, you may not be able to train for every single variable. However, you should anticipate and appreciate that those variables are still there and you have to try to see this from the dog's perspective. How are you going to help them? And it gets hard because a lot of this stuff we just take for granted as people, these things are not a concern to us. They're almost white noise. We may not even realize that they're there.

(08:06):
So take for instance, something that's not even within your search area. It's not even within the trial site construction noise. This can be down the street, it could be across the street, it could be halfway across town, who knows, whatever. But these things we just zone out because we're just used to it, whatever. But your dog may not, particularly if you happen to live out in the country where you don't happen to hear these kinds of things all the time. Your dog just may never have experienced this, and they're like, what is that? While we're trying to as him, Hey, go work out this really difficult odor puzzle, come on. And they're like, but what is that thing? This sounds ridiculous. And people are like, this is not important, but it is. There's such a stark contrast between what our dogs are experiencing and what we are experiencing or what our expectations are.

(09:02):
So let's just walk through how your dog may be perceiving. Let's say a trial day the day before, more likely than not, you were a little stress case. You were probably getting your stuff together so they already know something's up and maybe you were taking some advice of like, okay, well, you should have kind of a restful day for the dog. But as far as they're concerned, they didn't get the memo that they're supposed to have a restful time. So they're like, why aren't we doing anything? We didn't go for a walk or we didn't go for a hike. We didn't do any of our games. What's the deal? And on top of that, you're all weird and you're gathering all this stuff. Are you leaving me? There are some dogs that really worry about this and they don't sleep well, they just don't settle, and they're kind of pacing and just everything's kind of off.

(09:52):
Not a great way to start off your trial weekend. Then the morning of it is just chaos, right? Abject chaos. First of all, you're probably waking up a lot earlier than you normally do. Some dogs are like, I want to go back to sleep. So it's all just kinds of icky. Maybe they get breakfast, maybe they don't. All depends on whether or not they get Kazak and if they don't get breakfast, they're like, why? And then they go like, oh, I'm going to the evil car of death again, none of this is real great from our dog's perspective so far. Now they're stuck in the car with you as you are trying to stay focused on the road and not get too nervous about the trial, and you're worried about getting late and getting lost, and this could be for hours.

(10:36):
When you arrive again, your stress levels are just going through the roof and they're just in their crepe being like, okay, potty. You get 'em out of the car, you go do potty, you put 'em back, and then you're setting up maybe your area for them to be in so that they're going from one crate to another crate or whatever the case may be. But it's all just kind of chaotic, right? It's just kind of, wow. Then whatever routine that you may have, maybe you're noticing that you're not breathing, your blood pressure is pretty high, and you're like, okay, I need to calm down a little bit. So whatever that may be, and maybe that includes giving them a chew and they're like, okay, well that's kind of nice, thank you. But as they are there more people are also showing up, and there are other dogs who may or may not be thrilled with being there, and I can just assume all of the information that they are receiving on the wind of all these other people and dogs, all these chemical signals and communications and conversations, some of them are probably not that great, and your dog is like, wow, okay, I could have stayed home.

(11:46):
Or they may just be really super excited. Maybe they have actually figured out like, oh, we're here to do the sniffy thing. I think maybe they even got a whiff depending on how everything goes. I thought I smelled some Birch, which again can then get some dogs really super excited. I'm here to the thing, I'm here, do the thing, and they're not ready to do the thing yet. This just continues on and on. Maybe we are then is finally our turn. We take 'em out, we run over to a potty area. We like potty, potty, potty, potty, potty. And they're like, do you potty on command? There's lots of doggy texts and things here. I want to check this out. What's this? What's that? Stop that go potty. They're like, oh, fine. They go potty. And then potentially your routine has put them back inside the crate and they're like, okay, I am back at my box.

(12:36):
I don't understand what's happening. But again, maybe this is part of your routine, which is completely fine. There's a lot of validity in that routine. And then you grab 'em again, and then you go off to your first staging area as an example, and you're doing whatever routines you've practiced, whatever works for you and your dog, and from their perspective, they're probably still looking around, where am I and what's happening? What's that and who's that? And we're just stay focused on me, stay focused on me. And they're like, but look at all this other stuff too. Maybe there's a volunteer in the staging area and they're like, I want to say hi. They're like, Nope, nope, nope. You're supposed to pay attention to me. It's like, fine, I'll stay. I'll stay focused on you. Then you get up to the start line and they're like, oh, okay, what's all this stuff?

(13:24):
And they're like, okay, I got to focus on searching. They're like, okay, we're focusing on searching. And they do, right? You say search, and they're like, okay, there's Birch out there as an example. I'm finding the Birch, and as they're finding the Birch, they smell something brand new they've never smelled before. They're like, what is that? But they're like, I'm supposed to find Birch is awesome. Birch gets me lots of cookies and I really like Birch. So they go and they find their first hide. Oh, brilliant. And they're like, I did it. I did, I did. And you give 'em a cookie. They're like, okay, go find more. They're like, that's it, okay. And they go, but maybe there was some more interesting Birch information behind you, but your body is pushing them further into the space. And they're like, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

(14:09):
I'm going. Even though they may have wanted to maybe investigate some of that behind you, your body told them, no, we're going in this other direction. And so now that you've heard of them deeper into this space, they happily go along and they're trying to figure us out. And now they come across that weird smell again. They're like, what is that? So they start investigating this, and it's not Birch, it's not food, it's just some weird thing. They're not really sure what it is. And they go and they investigate and they're following it along and what is this? What is this? What is this? And then they come across and maybe you're doing a search in a school and they have an aquarium, and that's what the smell was. They're like, Ooh, what's that? And they are just fascinated by the aquarium, and you don't think that this is odor in the back of your mind.

(15:08):
You're like, I don't know if they'll put a hide over here because maybe the dogs would break the aquarium. So now you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. What do I do? I don't know if they're an odor. I dunno what to do. And you're doing this weird half looming and stepping in, stepping out. It just looks weird and it feels weird to the dog. So they're like, what's up with you? Do you want to check out the aquarium? I've never seen this before. What is this thing? And they happen to see the fish swimming around like, oh, it's moving. And their tail goes up and they're just like, wow, that's great. And you're like, you need to go find your hide.

(15:46):
So you usher them along a little bit more, but their brain is still back on the fish. But then they go along and they're still, it's a nice little classroom and they're checking things out. And sure enough, they do happen to come across some crumbs that was left behind by some kid. Oh, this is exciting. It's just what I'm trying to paint here is that from the person, oh, my dog is just so distracted. Oh, my dog isn't focused. My dog isn't doing their job. My dog isn't doing what we're trained to do from the dog's perspective. Again, we're not painting this as though the dog is afraid. The dog is just like, wow, that stuff is cool. Did you check out the fish? Someone left me crumbs, right? But then if we were to have something in there that the dog had never experienced before, that was not quite so, oh, but we're like, oh, what's that?

(16:41):
But we don't appreciate. So let's say again, we're still in that same classroom. Dog has saw the aquarium dog has come across some crumbs. We found one hide so far, and there's another one. And we're just like, please find your hide. And they are, they're going back into odor and they're trying to work the space and they suddenly see this giant paper mache thing that the kids apparently made in class, and it's got googly eyes and it's big and looming, and your dog goes, what is that? And it's not in like a, oh, I want to check that out. We're like, oh my God, is that going to kill me? And again, from our perspective, who cares? Just go find your hide. Unbeknownst to us, the hide is actually kind of close to that thing. Maybe it's on one of the desks that's ahead of it.

(17:30):
So the dog has to go towards the scary paper mache demon of death in order to find their hide, and there's just no way they're not going to do it. In that instance, this dog and that moment in time is like that thing, absolutely not. I'm going to go check out the, or they're just going to tuck tail and leave or hide behind you or any other variety of things that could potentially happen in that situation. I don't know how many people would focus on the paper mache because while I was describing as this big looming thing, it actually was fairly small in relation to us as people. It really wasn't that big of a thing. And we may not even noticed it. We may not even seen it, but again, from the dog's perspective, they're looking up at this thing and it's got googly eyes and it's staring at them and it looks as though it's leaning over them.

(18:29):
That's scary. I mean, we've all had these experiences with our dogs just in day-to-day life where they'll see something or hear something or experience something and they kind of get their hackles. What is that? Even a dog who's really super confident and we're looking, I'm like, what are you so upset about? There's nothing here to be upset about. And the problem is, is that no, we're wording that incorrectly. From the dog's perspective, there absolutely is something to be worried about from a human perspective. We don't even perceive that to be a thing Santo lady is have to do with that work. What I'm encouraging everyone to do is to challenge yourself a little bit, even as you're driving around for errands or whatnot, try to take some pictures of some spaces that you think, oh, I think this would be a fun place to search.

(19:21):
And I don't want you to just run out there and search. First. I want you to look at those pictures when you get back home, and I want you to view them from yourself. Like, okay, this is where I would put some hides just off the top of my head. And then I want you to kind of pause and breathe, and then I want you to think of if my dog went into this space, how would they experience it? Look at the space quite literally from their perspective, how tall are they? What is their vantage point when they're going in this space? How do they have to move around the space? How are they going to be able to get from point A to point B? What are the types of things that are going to be grabbing their attention? What have they ever experienced before that's in this space?

(20:07):
Or is it all brand new? And what could that potentially mean for them? And then not just within that space, because again, you're out and about doing errands when I'm asking you to do this, but these pictures and things, what's going on around? Not as though you're able to construct some giant bubble and say, here, I've bubbled this pace. Now the rest of the world around us doesn't exist. That's not true. So when you're doing this fun little exercise, also think of what was happening when I took this picture. Try to think back, and you may recognize that there was a ton of noise going on. It could have just been road traffic. There was a real busy road that you parked your car on so you can take this picture. That's something to keep in mind. Maybe there was construction, maybe there was an outdoor cafe, a couple of buildings down, maybe there's a lot of foot traffic going back and forth.

(21:00):
Maybe there is a dog park on the other side of the street. Who knows? It could be anything, but you would be so surprised about the amount of things that we as people just absolutely zone out. We are not recognizing it at all, and those are all the very things that we should be keeping in mind when we're doing training with our dogs, because those are the very things that our dogs are indeed perceiving and it's affecting how well they can do their searches. That would be my challenge for everyone is to view these things through your dog's eyes. But I think that just like with everything else, we actually have to purposely design some little exercises for ourselves so we can actually do that. So just over the weekend, as you're going out and about with your daily life, just find some places and be like, I think I would want to do a search there.

(21:51):
Take a photo of it. Don't just search there. Take a picture of it. Go home whenever you have a moment. And first of all, just think of where it is. You'd want to put some hides. Then maybe go grab a glass of water or something, come back and look at it again, and now try to think through, alright, I'm now my dog. This is where I was planning on having my start line. This is what I would see when I came into this space. This is what I would experience. This is what I would smell. This is what I would hear. This is what I would see. This is potentially what I would feel. Maybe I have to walk through a doorway, but it's actually, I thought that it was going to be fine, but it actually is a little bit more narrow than I thought.

(22:35):
Maybe there are steps that they have to navigate. There's all kinds of stuff that again, we just don't even think about. Think about an automatic door opener, right? Yeah, I get it. Once I figure out when I'm a child, how those work. You walk up, you wave a thing, you open, you walk through. Who cares if your dog has never seen that before? They're like, oh my god, death. I think this can be really helpful for people. I think it'll be really eye-opening and you could then apply that same type of thing when you are watching either your virtual walkthroughs or if you're doing an actual walkthrough or trial, that it's not just, okay, here's the space. Here are the different items where potentially you could odor be going, where do I want to cover my space? But also how is my dog going to experience this?

(23:22):
And is there anything that I need to anticipate so I can better support them? Right? We're not going to be able to do a whole lot of training. We can't do training at trial, but we can still be more mindful and anticipatory of what may happen and how we can best help them. I was strongly encouraged that the majority of this stuff is done in training. Please do. But I think that's seeing things through our dog's eyes can give us a little bit of a better perspective. It can also open up that channel of understanding a little bit more, so that when our dog is telling us, Ooh, that's really exciting, or, oh my God, I'm a little worried, or whatever, I'm really frustrated. Whatever the case may be, we can understand that better. So I hope that makes sense, and all of this stuff was really in the front part of my mind after doing that webinar.

(24:13):
We were talking about how we can use set work to build confidence, because the big piece of it is actually just, you have to see it through your dog's eyes. Otherwise it's like, why are you so scared of that flapping tarp? Because it's scary. Why are we getting into an argument about this? My dog said it's scary. That's all that matters. Now I need to be able to help them somehow overcome that fear, which in the moment at a trial may just be mitigating it, but then I have information about how I may be able to help them build some more confidence so they don't find the tarp as scary in training later. So I hope this was kind of sort of helpful, but as always, please feel free to let us know any questions or comments that you have. We post this episode up on our social media as well as our website.

(25:01):
We are going to be scheduling some outside speakers like Santos. You keep saying that, and yet we keep hearing from you. We're just getting those interviews scheduled. I promise they're coming. Also, we want to hear from any individuals or businesses that are giving back to the network community. So please feel free if you have someone in mind, let me know. I will then reach out to them. We want to share some positivity. But as always, thank you so very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you found it helpful. Please give a cookie to your puppies for me. Happy training. We look forward to seeing you soon.