Entry Level NNA (Nosework) Trial – Lessons Learned at Beacon Hill House

Freya and I recently competed in our third Entry Level NNA (Nosework) Trial, this time hosted by Four Paws and a Nose at Beacon Hill House and judged by Sharon Hunt.

It was a great venue, a great setup and very fairly judged. Everything that was put in front of us was achievable. We just didn't achieve all of it on the day.

We finished Reserve, so second place in normal speak, and Freya came away with another medal to add to her collection. But we missed one hide in the exterior search and, looking back at that search afterwards, I think the reason we missed it had far more to do with my handling than Freya's ability to find it.

That's why I like trialling. The result is nice, obviously, but finding the holes in what we're doing is probably more useful.

The Exterior Search

At Entry Level we know how many hides we're looking for and we know how much time we have. In this exterior search there were three hides to find.

I normally start Freya on lead. I like the structure it gives me and I can work through an area systematically, but I'm equally happy to take the lead off if the search develops in a way where I think she'll benefit from working independently.

We found the first two hides and I was happy with how we'd covered the ground between them. We'd worked our way through the area with a search pattern and, by the time we were looking for the final hide, the remaining area happened to be upwind of those first two finds.

There was nothing particularly significant about that. It was simply the way the search had developed from where we'd started and where the first two hides had taken us.

The important bit is what I did next.

The exterior search at Beacon Hill House. A relatively condensed area, but with plenty for both dog and handler to negotiate — and where one of my biggest lessons from the day became apparent.

I started looking for the hide. Not watching Freya search for it, but physically looking around the area trying to work out where I thought it might be. Where would the judge put it? What looked like a likely hiding place?

That's not my job.

I spend a lot of time talking about letting the dog search for odour rather than travelling them around an area hoping that odour finds them, yet I'd started doing my own version of exactly that. Instead of trusting the search and watching Freya, I was trying to solve the judge's puzzle myself.

Freya has the nose. I don't.

When the Lead Stops Helping

There was also an upright column in that final part of the search area and Freya ended up going around it while still on lead. Suddenly, instead of concentrating fully on what she was doing, part of my attention was taken up managing the lead and stopping it wrapping around the column. At the same time I was trying to watch Freya, thinking about the remaining hide and wondering how much time we had left.

Looking back, that's probably the point where I should have unclipped her. That doesn't mean I'll start searching Freya off lead from the beginning next time. Starting on lead works well for us and, up until that point, I'd been happy with how the search was going.

The lesson for me is recognising when the tool I'm using has stopped helping. On lead and off lead aren't fixed choices; they're interchangeable options depending on what the search in front of us requires.

Which option will help this dog solve this particular search problem?

In this case we'd already found two hides, I had a good picture of the area we'd covered and we were now trying to resolve what remained. Once the lead started interfering with my ability to properly observe Freya, I had another option available to me and didn't use it.

I believe that if I'd unclipped her and allowed her to work that final area freely, she would have found the hide. Obviously I can't prove that, but what I can say is that I didn't give her the best opportunity to do so. Instead, I was starting to get flustered because I didn't know how much time we had left, and that affected the decisions I was making.

That's on me, not her.

Knowing the Time

This is probably my biggest practical lesson from the day.

I need to know the time.

Knowing the time gives me time to think.

Not because I need something flashing at me telling me to search faster. In fact, it's almost the opposite. I didn't know how much time we had left and that uncertainty was starting to affect my decision making. Had I been able to glance at my wrist and see that we still had plenty of time, I could have stopped for a moment, considered what we'd already covered, what was left and, most importantly, watched Freya.

That pause would have given me the opportunity to make a deliberate decision. Do I carry on as we are? Do I change direction? Is the lead still helping us, or would Freya be better off working that final section independently?

Knowing the time isn't about creating urgency. It's about knowing when I have enough time to slow down, think and make a better decision. So the lesson isn't really get a stopwatch so I don't run out of time, it's know how much time I have so I know when I have time to slow down.

At Entry Level we know our search time, so there's no reason for me not to keep an eye on it. As we progress through the levels that changes, along with the information available to the handler. At that point it becomes much more of an area coverage problem. I need to know:

• Where have we searched?

• How well have we searched it?

• What remains unresolved?

• What information is the dog giving me?

Those are things I can make decisions about, regardless of what the clock is doing.

Trust the Process

There's a bigger lesson underneath all of this, and it's probably something I should already know: trust the process.

We'd found two hides, we'd covered the ground between them well and I had a good idea of where we'd already searched. More importantly, I had a dog perfectly capable of finding the third hide. Nothing had actually gone wrong, we just hadn't found it yet.

That's where I changed. Instead of continuing to observe Freya searching for odour, I started looking around for places where I thought the hide might be. There's an important distinction there. The search pattern helps me understand where we've travelled and what we've covered, but ultimately I want Freya to have a search strategy. I want her actively searching for odour and solving the problems that odour presents.

My job is to facilitate that search, observe what she's telling me and step in when required. It's not to start playing hide-and-seek with Sharon.

Handler Bandwidth

The other thing this search highlighted was how quickly we can use up our own attention. By the final part of the search I was wondering where the remaining hide might be, thinking about how much time we had left, trying to maintain some structure to the search and, at the same time, dealing with the lead around an upright column.

All of those things take attention, and eventually something has to give. The thing I can't afford to give up is watching the dog.

Recognising that Freya is in odour is paramount, but so is watching where that takes her. If I'm looking at a drainpipe because I've decided it looks like somewhere the judge might have put a hide, or I'm concentrating on untangling the lead, I'm potentially missing the information Freya is giving me.

That's not something I need to fix in Freya's training. It's something I need to improve in my handling.

So What Do I Change?

Very little changes for Freya as a result of this trial. We missed one hide, but she completed the other searches and found two of the three hides in this exterior. I don't need to go home and manufacture a training problem when I don't have any evidence that she doesn't understand her job.

What I do have is plenty of evidence that I can improve mine. My lessons from the day are pretty straightforward:

• Know my time. Not to create urgency, but to give myself the time and space to make better decisions.

• Know my coverage. Understand where we've been, how well we've searched it and what is still left to resolve.

• Recognise when the lead stops helping. Starting a search on lead doesn't mean I have to finish it on lead.

• Stop trying to find the hide myself. That's Freya's job. Mine is to help her do it.

• Watch the dog. Recognising that she's in odour is paramount, but so is watching where that takes her.

• Trust the process. Just because we haven't found the answer yet doesn't mean what we're doing isn't working.

None of those require me to change Freya's training. They require me to improve my handling.

And That's Why We Trial

Freya with her NNA Entry Level Reserve medal.

We came away from Beacon Hill House with Reserve, a medal around Freya's neck and another thoroughly enjoyable morning. It was a great venue, the searches were achievable and Sharon gave us a fair test. Four Paws and a Nose put on a really enjoyable trial and, as always, there was a great atmosphere amongst everyone there.

Would I have preferred to find that final exterior hide and win? Of course. But I can also look back at the search and see where I think my handling cost us that hide, and that's something useful I can take into the next trial.

I could go away and train Freya harder because we missed a hide, or I can look at what actually happened and recognise that, this time, the dog probably wasn't the bit that needed fixing.

Everything was achievable. We just didn't achieve all of it on the day.

Now I know what I need to do differently next time. Tom Moir Human after all.