Seeking & Positive Reinforcement in Scent

I just had the privilege of listening to a webinar by Dr. Robert Hewings BSc MA Canine Nose Lecture Series – Seeing Through A Dog’s Nose #1

There are already many amazing articles on this concept, so I will not rehash those or try to provide extra anatomical detail. What I do want to focus on is a few concepts that Dr. Hewings discussed on in depth which I fundamentally believe in and am thrilled to hear others elaborate on in their areas of expertise. The below focuses on searching, not just random sniffing.

First concept is umwelt, a German word to describe a creature’s unique sensory world. As visual creatures, even our language is structured around the concept of sight - “I see what you are saying” or “I’ll see what I can do” or “I will see you later”. Dogs do in fact key onto motion, but scent is a huge part of their sensory world. Dogs have different organs and receptors for pheromones' versus other scents. Their entire nose and olfactory system are much more advanced than our own. The example used in the lecture was that a dog might say “I smell what you are saying”.

In his lecture, he illustrates that scenting starts when a single molecule lands on the dog’s nose. The Lamina Transvera allows dogs to both breathe (88%) and scent (12%) at the same time, and also allows the dog to retain the scent after they exhale. The dog inhales through the circular openings in the nose, and exhale to the sides where the slit is - but rapid breathing actually recirculates that scent for stronger sifting. The example used was like swishing wine in your mouth during a tasting to fully experience it.

Moreover, Dr. Hewings elaborated extensively on why positive reinforcement in scent training is not just a training method preference, but is instead critical in scent detection. Scents get added to a scent library and just like with any stimulus, gets prioritized. That prioritization occurs at a fundamental level. Positive reinforcement triggers dopamine, and can actually increase the growth of those receptor cells. Dopamine can then become a naturally occurring predictive drug. This in turn increases both anticipation and skill in detection.

The Archelogy of the Mind defined one of the main emotions as seeking (also listing lust, panic, rage, fear, care, and play). Seeking is an innate, highly rewarding behaviour. It encompasses much of the way the dog interacts with the world including learning and resource gathering. It also creates a TON of anticipation. In the work A Ball is Not a Kong, it was demonstrated that the brain substrates for wanting (anticipation) are MUCH higher than for liking. Meaning, the anticipation is almost better than the reward. Christmas, weddings and other celebrations are human examples where the anticipation may actually be more exciting and longer lived than the event itself. Even in cases where an anticipated event may cause some disappointment (wasn’t the best Christmas ever), the anticipation (next year’s will be so great!) in and of itself is exciting.

So what does that mean? Often handlers say “search” when they mean “alert” - they micromanage and hover over the dog, waiting for the dog to give the alert. They may keep guiding the dog back towards an area to ‘help’. These dogs may come to associate searching with stress and false alert to escape the perceived pressure. Using Dr. Hewings information, dogs who are trained in scent using positive reinforcement to search develop more drive to seek. As an naturally rewarding behaviour, seeking piggybacks on one of your dog’s innate strengths. Their anticipation (the want) of locating the hide (the like) actually increases the dogs confidence and drive. This is especially important for working dogs, who seek far more often/for longer than their sports counterparts.

So, seek on! Try scent, ratting, tracking…and if you are not a trainer but still want to get your dogs seeking, scatter some kibble in the grass and let them find it!

And realize that your positive reinforcement work increases anticipation and drive - across all sports!