It's Working

Yesterday's training problem was a luggage search. It didn't start out very good. I thought Rogue was going to miss the first aid. He got to the bag (the next to the last bag in that row) and sniffed it but I didn't think he had a COB. We kept moving, got to the end of the row and then started on the next row. While searching the next row Rogue pulled back to the bag with the aid and then had a good COB. He just looked at me after he sniffed it. Once I asked him "Where is it?" he went back to source and responded. We did the same thin on the second aid but on the third aid he looked like a pro. Great COB, sniffed it and responded.

I hate searching luggage but we are so close to fixing this problem that I can't stop now. I'm going to be doing a couple of luggage problems a week for the next couple of weeks.

Cargo/Luggage

The first part of the training problem was cargo. No real problems here. Rogue had a some trouble finding one of the aids because of the wind. He knew it was in the area but he couldn't pinpoint it. When he responded he was about 20 feet from source. He was down wind of it but the odor was pooling up against a group of pallets. Little did I know that the aid was in the next group of pallets. He did good even though he wasn't on source. The next part of the problem was luggage. I hate searching luggage because it is Rogue's weak area. He found all three but didn't want to sit on any of them. After we searched all the bags we did it again (from a different statrting point) and this time he was assisted on the first two but by the third one he sat on his own. I think his light bulb came on and he relized what he should be doing. I will try luggage again next week and see if he remembers what to do. After we finished the problem I found that the aids we were using weren't ours. We were using aids from a local department. Some people says a dog will have trouble finding an aid he has never used before because is smells a little different than the aids he is use to. This wasn't the case here. Rogue had his normal problems but he had a great COB on all of the aids so I'm sure he will find anything that he should.

Blank Problem

Yesterday I get a call from my trainer and she tells me to go to certain building and search a certain room and that it was a self confirm problem. Rogue did the whole search off leash and was doing pretty good. He got to a desk, had his COB but looked a little confused. He responded on the desk after showing high once or twice. This normally happens when the aid is high and he can't get to it. I was thinking that the aid was over his head but the odor was dropping onto that desk. So I sent a text message to my trainer and she told me that there was nothing near that desk. We left that area and continued on with the search. When we got into the next office Rogue was all over the west wall. (The office and the desk Rouge responded on were about 20 feet apart.) He was jumping as high as he could and then responding. By now I am sure that the aid is in the ceiling. This would explain why he is showing high and if the odor was in the ceiling then it could very easily have been going across the ceiling and dropping onto the desk Rogue responded on. Again I sent a text to my trainer and again she told me there was nothing there. This office was the end of our search so I told her we where done. That is when I found out it was a blank problem. Since I didn't expect this type of problem I liked it. The only thing I didn't like was that she did this training in a building that we always use for training. I am now thinking that the reason Rogue had the two false responses was because he was in a building that he also finds something in so he was expecting to find something. We searched for about 20 minutes before Rogue had his first false response. Since we have done longer blank problems than this I don't think the time was a factor. I will have to start doing blank problem in all of our normal training areas to fix this.

Long Time

I know it has been a long time since my last post. Sorry. We didn't do any training yesterday but I did get Rogue to jump into the back of a truck with a running start. The bad news is that I couldn't get him to do it again. We will be back on the obstacle course today.

The funniest thing that happen during last weeks training has nothing to do with Rogue. I was setting up training for another handler and found a nice hiding spot inside a cabinet. I hide a very large aid in the cabinet. While I had the cabinet open I found the keys to the cabinet tapped to the inside of the door. I thought "Great I can lock the aid in here and not have to worry about it". Everything was great until it came time to pick up the aid. I had lost the key. Murphy was with me on that day. I looked for that key for about 30 minutes with no luck. Between me and the other handler we were able to get the door off of it's hinge and save the aid.

During one of the training problems last week my trainer had one of the aids hidden in the middle of a small puddle. Rogue wasn't bothered with the water until he had to sit. It was a hot day so I was sure that he would do it but I was wrong. Once he got to source he just stood there and looked at me. It took a minute or two but he finally sat in the water and was rewarded.

What Were You Thinking?

I already posted about yesterday's training but after I did that I went back and looked at the notes that were put on the training sheet for yesterday. The third training problem of the day was run by another handler and not the trainer. This problem was a dirt road going through the woods and was about 150 yards maybe 200 yards long. We were to search from tree line to tree line but didn't have to go into the woods. Because the wind was blowing from west to east I started my search on the east (left) side of the road. After we had been searching for a minute or two I noticed that the wind had changed and was now blowing south to north. The other handler also made a comment about it. I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days when the wind changes directions every couple of minutes. Since I can't keep changing my search pattern I decided to work the entire left side of the road and then work back on the right side of the road. While we were working back down the right side of the road Rogue had a COB and worked the odor to the middle of the dirt road (the area between the tire tracks) and responded. I thought everything was cool but when I looked at the training sheet I found out the other handler gave me a handler miss for this aid. When I asked him about it he said it was because my dog didn't find it when we went down the left side of the road and I didn't present the aid. I tried to tell him that you can't give someone a handler miss if their dogs finds the aid. I could tell the fight was about to start but our trainer stepped in and told him almost the same thing I did. He could see her point but not mine. Sometimes I have to wonder what people are thinking.

Open Area

Yesterday we did three training problems, they were all open areas. The first training problem was a self confirm problem and Rogue did perfect. He had his COB from 15-20 feet away and did a great job working the odor to source. The second problem was a little different. We weren’t given any search parameters. We were told to start walking down a very wide path. We did miss the second aid. It was hanging in a tree at about 5. My trainer believes that because I had Rogue on a 6 foot leash I might have gotten in his way. She suggested that when doing a big area like this that I either do it off leash or use a 360 leash. I don’t trust Rogue yet while off leash and in a large area, he likes to chase small animals. I will work on doing searches off leash. The last aid of this problem had been out for a long time and the area was saturated with odor. Rogue had it narrowed down to a 30 foot radius but couldn’t pinpoint it. He worked it for 5-10 minutes before he stepped on it and found it. There was a miss in the third problem. I don’t know if he was exhaling when he walked past it or what but on the second pass he had no problems finding it. It was in a tree at about 4 feet high. Rogue was standing on his hind legs trying to get closer to source.

What a Day?

I know every dog has a bad day but yesterday was the worst. Not only did Rogue have a bad day but so did I. As a team we missed all 5 training aids. I’m not going to worry about the first one because there was some confusion about the perimeters of the search area. When we started the search we were up wind of the aid and didn’t make to the downwind side. Once we got the correct search perimeters Rogue had no problem finding it. The second training aid was hidden on the gate of a chain link fence. We searched this gate while we were searching the exterior and Rogue had no change of behavior (COB). Once the perimeter was done we went back to the gate to go inside the fenced area. Rogue stood at the gate with his nose no more than a foot or two away from the aid while I got my keys out and unlocked the fence. The only reason I can think of as to why he didn’t find this aid was because his head was up his ass. I had my head up my ass on the next training aid. Inside the fenced in area is a small shed. Rogue was searching off leash and he spent enough time near this shed that I thought he should have found anything there. What I should have done was open the shed. If I had I’m sure he would have found the aid inside the shed. This training problem was a self confirm problem so my trainer wasn’t there to tell me I was screwing up. We kept searching not know that so far we had missed 3 aids. Rouge did have change of behavior (COB) and I let him work it until he left the area. When he left I felt pretty sure that there was nothing there and later I found out I was right. I don’t know what caused the (COB) but Rogue did a good job working it. Training aid number 4 was in a roll of paper towels sitting on a self. I have learned that the best thing I can do while Rogue is searching is to stay out of his way and just make presentations when he misses an obvious productive area. So while Rogue was searching the pallet in the corner and the stuff around it I saw the roll of paper towels and thought to myself “What a good hiding spot for a training aid.” I should have listen to that voice but I didn’t. Rogue put his nose about 2 feet to the left of the aid and on the floor under and then he went high to the right of it. If I had just presented the roll he would have found it. The last training aid was a combination of him not following his nose and me not making sure he searched everything. The aid was in a wooden flower plot in the middle of some couches and file cabinets that were stacked near each other. There was room for both of us to fit between the couches but for some reason (head up ass) I didn’t cast Rogue back between the couches. While we were about 20 feet down wind Rogue did have a small COB and I let him work it but he didn’t or couldn’t follow the odor to source so when he lost interest in the area. I thought something had peaked his interest but it wasn’t what we were looking for. Once we had searched everything inside the area we exited through the same gate we came in, the one with the training aid. As Rogue walked past the aid this time nothing changed. He still didn’t have a COB. I told my trainer the area was clear. I was sure she had set up a blind problem. I won’t tell you what I said when she told me we had missed 5 training aids. We talked about the first aid and found the problem so we went back to it and got on the correct side of the aid and Rogue responded. When we got back to the aid on the gate it took several minutes before Rogue found it. I didn’t want to present the aid because I don’t want him to learn that if he misses one I will take him back to it and point it out for him. He has to find them on his own so if I have to stand there for 30 minutes before he finds it then I will stand there for 30 minutes. I have no clue as to why this aid was so hard for him to find. I was right about the third aid. As soon as I opened the door to the shed he found it. Before we went back to the fourth aid I asked the trainer to take us to a blank area. I made Rogue search the blank area again to see if he would false respond. I don’t want him to think that just because I take him back to an area that there is an aid there. Rogue had no COB and quickly got bored with the area so we moved on. Rogue had no problems finding aids number 4 and 5 once we went back to them.
Normally this would have been the end of training for the day but my trainer wanted to do one more training problem. I think she was doing this for me to prove that my dog just had a bad training problem and to reestablish my faith in him.
For the second training problem we searched a theater. Inside the theater Rogue found all 4 aids without any help from me. Normally when we search a theater I cut him off leash and he runs up and down each row of seats. Not today. Once I cut him off leash to search the seats he ran back to either the first or second aid. He was using his memory and not his nose. I had to put him back on leash to complete the search. I can’t blame him for not searching the seats like he was trained but I will be doing some more training on searching seats just to make sure he knows how. The trainer said we only missed one. Once I found out where the aid was the argument started. Our trainer wants the dogs to be able to find training aids even if they aren’t giving the command. I agree with this 100%. The way she has been going about this is by putting large training aids outside of the search area but along the path we will walk to get to the search area. The idea is that the large training aid will get the dogs attention and they will pull the handler to source. Again I agree with this 100%. What I don’t agree with was where she had the training aid today. It was upwind of us but was 15 feet away. I feel that if Rogue would have responded everything would be great but if he didn’t it is no big deal because it is so far away. I don’t think he should be given a miss for this. It would be a different story if the aid was only a couple feet away. I lost the argument but I think I got my point across.

Getting Better

The first aid of the day was inside a cubical wall and the second was tacked to a cork bored. I decided to do today's training off leash. When Rogue went into the cubical with aid I went into the next cubical and got up on the desk so I could watch him without him knowing it. As soon as his nose hit source he sat and look at the doorway of the cubical. I gave him his toy without him knowing where it came from. While we were playing he kept wanting to go back to source even though he already had his ball. I'm taking this as a good sign. I think he is learning that if he is at source I will play with him.

I was about 20 feet away when he found the second aid. Without saying anything I started making more presentations. This didn't fool him, he just sat there until he was rewarded.

I Remembered

We did a small training problem today. There was only one aid and Rogue had no problems finding it. I put a new tug toy with the aid. After he responded I remembered not to say anything, I just gave him his reward. Because Rogue was off leash I was on the other side of the room when he found the aid. As soon as he responded I started walking toward him. If he broke position I stopped walking until he put his nose back on source. I had to do this 3 or 4 times before I made it across the room. I was afraid that he would get bored and just walk away but he didn't. I was very happy with today's training.

Old Fashion Training

We didn't do anything fancy or hard for today's training. It was just an old fashion training problem so my trainer could see how Rogue is working. He found all three aids and did a great job but she did notice that I have (without knowing it) put Rogue on a two reward system. After he responds he gets verbal praise and then he gets his toy. To her it looks like he is working to get the verbal praise and then he gets to play with his toy. He isn't working to get his toy as he should be. This may be part of the problem of him not wanting to stay at source. His drive for the verbal praise isn't that strong. She wants me to stop giving him the verbal praise and just use the toy as his reward. Of course once he gets his toy then I can praise him up however I want. The hard part of doing this will be to recondition myself not to say "Good Boy' when Rogue responds but I'll give it a try.

No training today.

Sorry.

Good Job

Rogue had a great change on the first aid yesterday and worked it until his nose was on source. He pulled me to source with a strength that I've only seen in him when he is chasing something. I wasn't going to push my luck so I didn't tug on the leash once he responded.

I think I found a new reward for Rogue. It is called a silver streak. Basicly it is a ball on a rope. Rogue went crazy after he got it and I had a hard time getting it back from him. I've had it for a while but it got lost. It was kind of old so when Rogue broke I wasn't too shocked. He will have to wait until I can get a new one now.

Lesson Learned AGAIN

Rule #2 of K-9 training. TRUST YOUR DOG!

The only training we did today was planting some drop aids while doing a vehicle search. Every now and then when I put Rogue into the back of a van he won't go to the front of the van and search it. This doesn't happen often enough for me to worry about it but when I get a chance to work on it I do. So I asked the handler that was with me to put an aid behind the driver's seat. The plan was for me to put Rogue into the back of the van and he would find the aid near the front reinforcing this behavior.

The back of the van had several boxes in and the other handler put the aid between two of them as close to the driver's seat as he could. I put Rogue into the van and he searched it with no change of behavior. The other handler pointed out where the aid was and made him search it again. At this point I should have trusted my dog and what he was telling me. He was telling me there was no odor in the van. Did I listen? NO, and I made him search it again. Rogue did as he was told and still couldn't find the aid.

I got him out of the back and kept searching the van because I needed a minute to figure out what the problem was. As we made our way around the front of the van and got to the open driver's door Rogue started to put his whole head under the driver's seat. That is when I realized what was going on. The wind was pushing the air from the back of the van into the front. Rogue didn't have a change of behavior in the back of the van because all the odor was in the front of it. Rogue pulled his head out from under the seat and tried to stick it between the seat and door frame. I'll give him good marks for trying to fit that big skull of his into such a small whole but it just wouldn't go so he looked into the back of the van and responded.

I felt better knowing that he hadn't missed an aid but felt like a rookie because I had to learn lesson #2 again.

Rewarding at Source

One of my goals is to get Rogue to respond on the source of the odor and stay there until he is rewarded. The first thing we tried was to have my trainer reward Rogue as I am walking away. This should have taught him not to pay attention to me but to stay at source until he gets his reward but it didn't work. Next I tried telling him "Stay" when he got to source and then I would try to make another presentation and keep moving. I think this started to work but the problem is that it is his job to tell me where the odor is and not my job to tell him. How can I tell him to stay when I don't know where the trainings are?

Today I started something new. I put a tug toy next to his reward. I made sure that I was standing on the other side of the room when he found the source of the odor. After he responded I walked to the source of the odor and pulled out his tug toy.

I know what you are thinking, Rogue is going to start sniffing for his tug toy and not the odor he should be sniffing for. I have about 6 different tug toys made out of 6 different materials. If I only use one or two a day then he shouldn't put the odor of his tug toy with the odor he should be sniffing for. But you are right, this is a fine line I'm walking and I will have to be careful. Anyway in the 30 seconds or so that it took me to walk across the room and pull out his tug toy he showed no signs of wanting to leave source. In fact he put his nose back on source 3 or 4 times. Since this was the first time that I have tried this I know that is not why he stayed at source. Maybe me telling him to "Stay" worked better than I thought. After we played for a little while and I let him win the tug-o-war game, he ran back to source, spit out his tug toy and responded again. This time I tossed his tennis ball, his real reward.

Here is what I need your help deciding. If I let him go back to source (after he gets his tug toy) and reward him again, this time with his tennis ball, is this going to help or hurt his training.

I think it might help because He might learn that he needs to be at source to get what he wants or he might hurt because nothing has changed. I still have his tennis ball so he should be next to me to get what he wants.

Rogue and I were too busy yesterday doing real world searches to do any training. But during one of these searches I did take the time to keep Rogue in an area that he had searched just to see if he would false respond out of frustration. It took about two minutes and he looked at me with a look that said "I'm confused and I want to sit" Rogue was told "No" and I put him back to work. He searched the same area for another 4 or 5 minutes with no sign of giving a false responses.

Basic Obedience

Rogue took the day off from doing any detection training and we worked on basic obedience and the obstacle course. He has so much fun on the obstacle course. I should say he has so much on most of the obstacles. He is not a fan of the teeter totter but he is getting better. The cat walk is in two sections with a gap between the sections of about 16 inches. He has gotten over his fear of the gap and will wait to jump over the gap until he is told. He has gotten much better at getting a running start to jump over the high. The high jump is only about three feet high. I think it is time to move it up to four feet. I can tell there is a difference in the way he jumps over the high jump and the way he jumps onto a desk. If he is jumping over something it looks like he is having fun flying but if he is jumping onto something it doesn't look like he is having any fun.

Rogue knows the down command and will do unless we are walking when I give it to him. He will slow down and he gets that look on his face like he thinks he is trouble but if I stop when I give the command he is fine with this. I am not a fan of using food as a reward but I think I'll use it for a day or two in this case. Just long enough for him to realize that going into the down position while I am walking away isn't a bad thing.

Slow day

We didn't do any real training today so I don't have anything to post about. Sorry.

Easy day

Today's training was easy. We didn't really work on anything we just wanted to make sure that the dogs got to find some of the training aids there haven't had in a while. I did notice that on two of the training aids Rogue had a good change and walked away but before I could say anything he went back to them and responded. He will still come with me if a give the smallest tug on the leash but this is an improvement.

Real world search

During a real world search yesterday Rogue and I were searching some buses. While inside the buses we didn't have any problems but outside was a different story. Rogue was so distracted by all the people that I had a hard time making him work. Guess what this means? We will be doing some training around large crowds.
Rogue did very good at yesterday's training, except for one of the stairwells. He missed the aid but so did every other dog. The aid (it was a small aid) was on a post on the bottom landing at about 4' high. The wind current in the stairwell was sucking the odor up. Once the dogs got their noses above the aid they all found it. I'm not going to worry about this miss because I think it was a bad plant. When we got up to the second floor Rogue did an awesome job finding the aid that was up there. Coming down the back stairwell I had to drop the leash or Rogue would have pulled me off my feet to get at the aid at the bottom of that stairwell.

Self confirm

Today's training didn't go so well. It was another self-confirm training problem. We had to search two buildings. Each building was about the size of two mobile homes put together. The first building was blank and Rogue showed no interest in that building. The next building did have a training aid in it but Rogue didn't find it the first time we searched it. My trainer told me to wait about five minutes and search the building again. Rogue didn't find it the second time we searched the building. I think Rogue was starting to get a little frustrated because he tried to respond as soon as we walked back into the building. He was showing interest on the pane of glass that was in the entry door. Now my trainer is good but even she can't hide a training aid on a pane of glass without me seeing it. On the third try my trainer went with us. This time Rogue had a small change in the corner of the break room and was showing high. I gave him a minute to work it our and the longer he stayed in that corner the stronger his change got. After a minute or two of searching the corner, a chair, and a table he stood on his back legs, sniffed the air and responded. The training aid was in the ceiling above the tiles of the drop ceiling. It was a large training aid but my trainer said that when we started the training problem it had only been sitting there for about 30 minutes. My guess is that the odor hadn't dropped down from the ceiling until we were searching the room for the third time. I wish Rogue had done better but the fact that he missed it doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that he was getting frustrated. I think I will have to start making him search a little longer between training aids and every now and then make him search a blank room two or three times just so he gets use to being in the same room for a while.

Yesterday’s training was awesome. Our trainer sent us a message telling us where the training problem was set up and what our search perimeters were. This problem was a self confirm problem. There was no trainer watching over our shoulders to tell us if our dog missed anything or to tell us to reward our dog. I love this type of training. Rogue found the first aid without any problems. He was about 10 feet away when he responded but the aid was about 8 feet high so the corner that he responded in was close enough for me. He did have a very weak change on a plastic bin but I didn’t believe him because he didn’t have a change on the bin the first time he walked it. I found out later that the dog that ran the problem before did respond on that bin and his handler took everything out of the bin trying to find the aid. This is major distracter for a dog and I think Rogue did a good job. Yes he responded but he didn’t have his normal change so by reading my dog I knew there was nothing there. Rogue pulled me into a small room that had a small kitchenette and a bathroom. Rogue was all over the cabinets in the kitchenette and responded on the middle cabinet. I was sure that I would find something when I opened the cabinet door but I was wrong. It was empty. When I opened the door Rogue had almost his entire body in the cabinet sniffing the back wall. I had to pull him just to check and see if I missed anything. There was nothing there but Rogue was sure that there was. We continued on with our search and made our way into the bathroom. Rogue did a good scan but he missed a couple of areas so I had to present the toilet paper hold, the soap dispenser, and the small hatch in the wall that allows the plumber access to the pipes of the bathroom. As soon as Rogue’s nose hit the hatch his tail started wagging and when he tried to lick/bit the wall I was 100% sure there was an aid in there. I opened the hatch just to make sure and I found that I was looking at the back of the cabinets in the kitchenette. Because Rogue didn’t show any interest in the bathroom until I presented the hatch I think it is safe to say the odor was being sucked out of the bathroom and into the kitchenette. After Rogue was rewarded in the bathroom he was taken back to the kitchenette and rewarded after he found source again.

Let me tell you about yesterdays training. The training problem was a wharehouse search. As soon as we entered the building we were getting our briefing from the trainer when Rogue pulled me to the edge of a small trailer and responded. This was all done before I told Rogue to search. My trainer just wanted to know if the dogs would find anything without being given the command.
The next training aid was about 7 feet high. Rogue and I had made it past the aid when he turned around and started working the other way. As soon as he turned around he put his nose up in the air. He jump on his rear legs once and then responded. This all was done very fast and I was sure that Rogue was pulling my leg becuase he normally works the odor longer before he reposnds but as I looked up I saw the aid. He did a great job.
The training aid #3 was a little different. It was inside the seatback of a chair. Rogue was all over the area but couldn't find the source of the odor. I called the area and we moved on. When we came back to this aid the same thing happened. The trainer said that all the dogs were haveing this problem. Most of the dogs wanted to respond on a crate that was about 10 feet from the chair. Rogue did spend a lot of time on this crate but didn't respond. When I was ask where I thought the aid was I said in a roll of carpet at the base of the chair. Rogue couldn't pinpoint it but he got me close enough.
Rogue only had one problem for the rest of the training problem. He had a good change and worked the odor to a metal cabinet. He stopped and took a big sniff on the seam of this cabinet and then walked away. I told the trainer that I thought something was there. Either Rogue is getting better about not walking away from source or he just had a good day.
During this training problem there were two distracting odors. The first one was some dog food. Rogue slowed down when he got to it and then walked away. The other was some materail we use to pack some of the training aids in but there was no training aid in it. Rogue looked like he wanted to respond but he left the area when I called him. I think we cought this problem ealry enough that it will be easy to be fixed.

Sorry about the late post but I’ve been busy the last couple of days. We did training early this week with some other local agencies. They had several short training problems set up. It may sound like we did training all day but it only took a few hours.

The first problem was a rail car and some fuel trucks. After we finished the problem without finding anything I looked at the trainer and ask her if there were two training aids in the problem. She said yes and then I told her where they were. Rogue’s change on both training aids was strong enough for me to see them and know the general location of the training aids. Rogue’s problem of walking away after he gets his nose on source is getting out of hand.

The second problem was inside a building. Rogue had a hard time finding source on the first aid but when he did he responded. He did an awesome job on the second training aid. It was under a table in a small class room. Rogue had his change from a row of tables away. He worked under the table that was in his way and around some seats that were in his way. As soon as he got his nose on source he responded. I was proud of him after the trainer told me that every other dog has had a hard time finding this aid. I just wish he could find the easy aids also.

Problem number 3 was also in a building. Rogue missed the only aid in this problem. He found it on the second try. This miss might have been my fault. The aid was in the corner under a desk and I didn’t make sure that he got all the way into that corner. The next room in the training problem was blank and Rogue did a great job in that room.

Luggage was the next search area. This is Rogue’s weak area but he did very well. There was one aid hid in the 40 bags that were spread out on the ground and he found it without any problems. There were also small groups of 4 or 5 bags standing alone the perimeter of the room. These bags also had 1 aid. Rogue was all over the back wall so I know he was on odor he just wasn’t sniffing in the right area. I had to present every group of bags. I knew which bag the aid was in by reading his body language but for some reason he didn’t want to respond. He stopped and took a long sniff but then walked away.

The 5th problem was more vehicles. Rogue did an awesome job finding the type of aid that we don’t go to train with very often. Rogue only had one issue with this training problem. After he found the first aid that was behind the passenger side headlight he started to respond on the passenger side headlight of the second vehicle. Even though I didn’t know where the training aid was I knew he wasn’t on odor and I didn’t let him respond.

The next 2 training problems where set up the same way. The search areas were paths about 100 yards long going through a wooded area. By now it was raining pretty hard but the rain didn’t bother Rogue at all. I think he even worked better in the rain. During these 2 training problems Rogue went 5 for 5.

Where to start

First let me say that I have already trained Rogue to do his job. Now all I have to do is maintain his training and teach him all the little stuff he needs to know. Let me bring you up to speed on his training. It took about 6 months to train him to find all the different types of training aids that we use. At the same time I was working on basic obedience. Basic obedience is not a big part of the job but I understand that it is a must in K-9 training so we will be doing some basic obedience training. Rogue is not trained to do any type of aggression or protection training.

We are working on two main problems right now. Of course I will not pass up an opportunity to work on any issue he might be having but I think working on two problems at a time is enough. The first is getting Rogue to stay at the training aid after he finds it. It doesn't take much for Rogue to leave the training aid. The smallest tug on the leash or even if I just keep walking he will come with me.

The second problem we are working on is teaching Rogue how to get a running start before he jumps onto something. If I need Rogue to jump onto something (so I don't have to lift him) he won't do it unless he can jump on it from a stand still. The idea of getting a running start has never crossed his mind. When I make him take several steps back so he can get the running start he will need to jump on the object he will run up to the object, stop next to it and then try and jump on it.

When I got Rogue I knew I was going to have to teach everything but come on. I have never had to teach a dog how to get a running a start before. Some times he is so smart and some times he is a box of rocks.