Originally Posted by 175rltw
Ingwe, how do you teach / train / condition your dogs to work through pressure, distraction or adversity?




That is a VERY good question, as it is one you face with virtually all facets of K9 training. The short answer is first off, anything that could be considered negative ( a distraction, a noise, etc.) is introduced incrementally, and at least the way I do it is pair it with a positive. If the dog is distracted by something, keep it at a distance first, and give him some of his favorite toy time. Gradually move the distraction closer and ramp up the game....basically rewarding him for NOT paying attention to the distraction.
In some high drive dogs this can be easy. i.e. We run into a lot of dogs that have issues with slick floors. On some its as easy as throwing their ball across the floor...on others it has to be done as outlined above.
I train gunshots the same way, have the gun fired from a distance when the dog is on the bite ( usually their favorite thing) Gradually move it closer as training progresses.Again, some dogs are easier...Ive even had some on a good game of tug as a puppy let me fling them around with one hand while firing a pistol in the other.
For drug dogs we have to proof them on food, so they are not distracted by it during a search. Same thing here...make sure their reward for finding the dope is more important to them than the self reward of snarfing the food. It is common for dopers to hide their dope in fast food bags and a well trained dog will rip through the bag and show you the dope, ignoring the food. ( Admittedly...harder with labs grin )
Check out the anti-poaching dog thread I put in the Africa forum. That dog has some kind of eye disorder and is virtually blind, he's HIGH drive and because of his sight is almost immune to distraction...actually quite a bit easier to train for searches)
Basically it boiled down to making whatever their job is...the bite, the track, the dope, more interesting and more rewarding than whatever distraction pops up. It helps ENORMOUSLY if you can raise the dog from a puppy and socialize it extensively....that way what might be an occasional distraction is a non-event for a dog thats seen it a hundred times... I trained my dog on variable surfaces, tunnels, dark cramped places etc when he was eight weeks old by playing in those environments.He literally didn't know enough to be afraid of that stuff, and never became afraid of it because playing on it was fun.
Sorry for the long winded answer.....

pics:"


Tunnel

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Uneven surfaces:
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Slick floors

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Last edited by ingwe; 12/06/14.

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