Rewarding With No Bark

This question was sent to us via email:

"I noticed that you sometimes reward the dog for finding the helper without waiting until he barks. Doesn’t this lead to problems with the alert later on?"

The short answer to this question is “No.” We do not have alert problems with dogs who are trained in this method. In fact, it is quite the opposite. We find that the Teaching Focused Scenting (TFS) method actually prevents problems with the alert because the path to reward is very clear.

The first step in the progression of TFS is to manipulate the environment so the dog teaches himself that live human scent is significant. The dog is drawn to the barrels with the aid of a ball on a rope. The dog stumbles upon the barrel containing the helper and is immediately rewarded for putting his nose in that barrel. Live human scent immediately takes on significance. We do not wait for a bark because the dog must first associate live, inaccessible, invisible human scent with the reward game.

This step is shown in the following video:

Once live, inaccessible, invisible human scent and the game are tightly paired in the dog’s mind, the reward is delayed. Since the dog is now absolutely convinced that finding live human scent produces the reward game, he becomes frustrated when the game doesn’t occur and his drive intensifies. His first reaction might be to dig or bite at the barrel. This behavior is referred to as the dog’s “original response.” The original response is rewarded. We reward this response because we are rewarding the dog’s state of mind (frustration) and heightened level of drive. A drive frustrated is a drive increased. His heightened state of frustration and drive demands that he alert in drive. This focus eliminates the problem of the dog dropping in drive prior to alerting and possibly not alerting at all.

Rewarding the original response does not create a problem of the dog biting or digging instead of barking because the original response only is rewarded a few times (perhaps only 1 or 2 repetitions). In that heightened state of mind, the helper again delays the game, waiting for the dog to offer another behavior (the bark) to trigger the game. With repetition, the bark takes on significance in the dog’s mind and becomes his default behavior.

In any new venue, the reward must come quickly so the dog knows he is correct. Subsequent steps in the progression where we don’t require a bark include when we move the helper from the barrels to a different container, or when we move the helper from containers to a hole in the rubble. In these situations, we reward when the dog first puts his nose in the opening, as shown in the following video:

Once the dog understands the change of venues, we always will require him to alert before rewarding.

With the TFS method’s clarity of learning that taps into the dog’s top 20% of his drive, common problems associated with the bark indication are avoided. Problems such as a dog leaving the helper in confusion, circling the area, dropping in drive, delaying his alert, and barking away from the source of target odor (live human scent) are not behaviors offered by the TFS-trained dog because he has taught himself how he can serve his self interests. He has learned there is only one clear path to the reward game.

The TFS method is a streamlined, step-by-step progression in which the environment is manipulated so the dog teaches himself a clear path to the reward of game with the helper.