The laptop is a new direction of sports with dogs, revealing their olfactory abilities. It combines the game and competition and is based on the instinctive desire of dogs to sniff. The basic principle of the laptop – the dog must find the desired smell and let the owner know about it.
This sport appeared in America in 2006, came to USA in 2018. In Belgorod, he is promoted by the instructor of the American Kinological Federation Natalya Danilova. She began to lead the first group of dogs in this direction in November last year. Now about 20 dogs are engaged in a laptop under the leadership of Rennie.
Characters:
Rennie Danilova (nousing coach)
Airi (9-month-old brothelly: good-natured, loving and a little lazy-came here with Jamie)
Lira and Mika (mother and daughter of the Jack-Rassel-terrier breed: restless, talkative and active-they were brought by Olya with Alexei)
Shila (10-year-old poodle: smart, affectionate and attentive-came with Dina)
Saturday morning. Hall of the regional dog handler. The main characters are looking forward to the beginning of the lesson in different ends of the hall.
Scene first: We sell eyes
Rennie puts five small cardboard boxes on the floor and explains:
“Now let's see what the dogs will tell us. Yesterday, the group sniffed the cardboard terribly because the material has its smell. But let's give a chance. If it is very bad, replace with plastic jars. ”
Inside the first box is a mixture of smells of cloves, cinnamon and orange.
The first to go to the ring is Iri.
"Zuhe! "- Jamie in a German gives a command to search for a dog and tells with a hand where the smell.
He sniffs – it seems to understand.
In the second round, a fragrant box moves to another position in the row, and Natalya explains:
“We change the place of bookmark: it was the first – now the third. Then again we return to the first position. We need a dog to sniff out every object. We always finish on the first – we create the dog’s great value of the first object and, in general, a number of objects. ”Now do not push him, turn to the brain of the dog (this is already Jamie). ”
But Airi carefully sweeps along a row of boxes – I did not find it.
Again to the start. And the smell is again in the first capacity. The dog sniffs and unequivocally pushes the desired box with his nose.
"Yes, well done! "- his mistress praises hotly and fed his incentive delicacy.
And then it gives us advice:
“Do not let them miss the first box: we learn a sequential search. Here we are a little conflicting with the philosophy of the nousing, which is aimed at the instincts of the dog. But since the task is a little artificial, we slightly slow down it. If we allow the dog to run around the row – it is self-reinforced, she likes it, but we immediately return it to the start if I missed the first jar. ”
The smell of cardboard still distracts dogs, so on the second round the coach decides to use plastic jars.
But Iri still fails the task later.
“What a tricky! Everyone wants to work little and get a lot. He does not want to try, sells his eyes (he looks into the mistress in the hope of a hint – approx. Aut.). And the head is big, like mine, there is enough brains there to think, ”Natalya strictly says.
Finally, the dog begins to work with his nose – it sniffs so noisily that it is heard on the other end of the hall – and successfully copes with the task, for which he receives the desired portion of approval and delicacy.
The second scene: impatient scratches
At the start – Lira.
"Subtings! "- Olya has his own word in search.
With a hint, the dog copes with the task. But in the second circle it begins to often and nervously breathe, opens his mouth – she was confused, does not understand what they want from it. But then he thinks and points with his nose to a jar with a bookmark.
“The terriers are very excitable, so such a task is more important for them than for all other dogs, as it teaches self-control,” the coach explains.
Mika is already at the start of impatience. And immediately finds the bookmark.
"Yes, well done! "- the hostess praises and treats her.
By. Falter. Once again – and – Bingo! Mika scratches the right jar with his paws.
“You can’t scratch: such behavior is not encouraged in competitions. Should indicate either with a nose or a special overhanging position. To remove scratches – you need to take a brick and put cinnamon in a hole. It is unpleasant to scratch the brick – it will be unleashed, ”the coach comments.
The third scene: on the pens!
"Shukai! "- Dina commands his dog.
Shila immediately finds a bookmark, gets the applied treat and jumps to the mistress in his hands. Dina kisses the pet and lets it on a new entry.
– We have a smart dog, already experienced – she was in competitions. Therefore, we can now present higher requirements, if it does not find, ”the coach explains and continues the educational program about the perception of smells:“ Masqueing smells do not interfere with the dog: she has the ability to lay out their bouquet into a spectrum. That is, the dog does not smell like a dog in general, but separately: meat, potatoes, sprout, lavrushka, pepper. Therefore, if you put explosives in borscht, the dog will find it. And that is why it is useless to hide the same drugs to sausage, if you are trying to move them across the border in this way, ”Natalya smiles.
“They say that if in tobacco will not find… ” Dina speaks.
– Find it! My friend is just looking for a dog – and she mocketing his smell from others. But tobacco as a distracting smell is very strong. Like something burning like pepper, ”the coach explains.
Fourth scene: nose in a glove
Natalya turns the dryer for linen on its side and hangs several gloves on her rods. In one of them is the same mix of smells. Search for weights by weight is a little more complicated for dogs than on earth. Many of them for some reason come from the back of the dryer. For terriers, gloves are lowered just below – under their small growth. They not only sniff out the bookmark, but also stick their curious noses in the glove.
“Then, for experienced dogs, we raise the dryer vertically so that we can not reach with the nose. In the first grade, the bookmark is at the level of 1 meter, in the third – up to 3 meters, ”says the coach.
All dogs one way or another understand what is required of them, and cope with the search, Although not without misfires. Towards the end of the exercise, the tailed are clearly tired: they pass gloves, run away from the ring, are distracted in every possible way and whimpers.
“Nawk is a difficult task for dogs, because it is the work of the brain. She can run for two hours and not get tired, but sniffing for two hours is how to read a scientific article for a person for a person. For a dog, the nose is like eyes for us. For them, olfactory information is as significant as the visual one for us. Therefore, dogs, when they sniff, get very tired. But this fatigue is pleasant, so they joyfully return to training, ”Natalya explains.
The dog’s brain is her nose – general training course scent
Scene fifth: confuse
New task: jars are placed in a circle, and a chair is placed in the center.
“Come into the ring, run the dog to search, and sit on a chair yourself and watch in the mirror what the dog is doing. Finds a smell – praise. I'm just wondering how much dogs depend on you or not depend on you. This exercise helps us turn off ourselves, our influence on the dog. And in general, the nosework is not about management, but about observation. The more you trust the dog, the more it feels like the main one, the better it will be in the search, ”explains Natalya.
Airi performs the first exercise. And he is clearly confused: he does not understand what the hostess wants from him, he is surprised why she does not pay attention to himitable, looking into the eyes – waiting for a hint or a free treat. However, on the second run, the dog understands what is required of him and finds the right jar.
“Praise! – the coach commands Jamie. – Make more demands on him. Because he follows the path of least resistance: what fool would try if you can not try?
Lyra and Mika misfire, but cope with the task, and Sheela demonstrates a perfect search: she walks clearly in a circle, not missing a single jar, and quickly finds the smell.
At the end of the lesson, the trainer gives the owners of the dogs a homework: to train the motivational search in the ranks.
“It is desirable that the search be quick and joyful. Be sure to start and finish the first subject. And don’t force the dogs to do this many times in a row – five launches are enough to keep them from getting tired,” advises Natalya.
Borrow dog brains
What dog owners say about nosework.
“We went to agility first. And when the nosework opened, I thought that it would be nice to occupy his brains with this. Airi likes it, he wants to look for smells. And at home you can work out, which is more useful than just throwing him a toy to bring. He looks forward to every lesson with impatience and is eager to search.
“This is the third lesson for Mika and Lyra. In principle, we do both agility and obedience with them. But the good thing about a nosework is that it strengthens the bond between handler and dog, which is really cool. I noticed that after our dogs started sniffing, they had more self-confidence. And they became calmer, they no longer rush headlong to other dogs on the street. We do nosework at home and teach them different tricks, we do homework. So it’s more interesting, they are not just sofa dogs with us. ”
“We were engaged in dancing with dogs and adzhility. Well, now, due to some physical characteristics, we can no longer run, so we have come to the laptop. This activity develops a dog. Although I had an active one and so active, I don’t like to Down on the couch. ”
When the dog sniffs, she is happy
– We are standing at the very origins of the nousing – this is very cool, there is a chance to start. Already went to the competition in the eagle, and very successfully performed, Although there was serious competition. All five of our dogs passed tests, received pure searches and tests for the next class, ”explains Natalya's laptop coach.
– Does its ability to search for smell depend on the dog’s breed?
– There are breeds that are specially bred for the next – these are mainly hunting dogs. All spaniels, hounds, billy and cops are well sniffed. But I will tell you this: such dogs that they do not learn to sniff cloves, cinnamon and orange, I did not come across. It is believed that primitive breeds of dogs: Husky, Samoyeds, likes – do not sniff well. But I have both Husky and Samoyed – sniffing. They just need a different approach. There are no hopeless ones.
– What does the ladder give a dog?
– We must understand that the dog, her brain is primarily her nose. They have an area of the brain, which is responsible for the sense of smell, 40 times more than that of a person – and occupies 12 percent of the volume. Evolutionarily dogs developed so that, using their nose, they survived: they found food and a partner for mating. Therefore, for the dog, the very process of sniffing causes the production of a huge number of endorphins. When the dog sniffs, she is happy. Therefore, they constantly sniff out everything – this is their basic need. But in the city it is unsafe, and we forbid them to sniff, which makes dogs unhappy. It turns out that the dogs are deprived of their needs. And when they come to the laptop and we ask them to sniff, they are happy. We let them realize one of the main needs and, moreover, encourage them for this. Therefore, all dogs adore the laptop.
– What should the dog come to as a result of classes?
– A laptop is not a norm that can be learned and passed, such as a general training course, where there is preparation and exam. This is a sports discipline, and, as in any sport, there are no limits in the laptop. You can deal with it for your own and dog joy – as a hobby, as a matter of life for a dog, for mental stress. And you can set sports goals: to participate in competitions, go to other cities, win, move from a less complex class to more complex, improve your search performance – in particular, its speed, improve in the complexity of the search. Neither in the first nor in the second case there is an end. This is a process limited only by the desire of the owner and the life of the dog.
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