E195: 줄리 시몬스, 스테이시 바넷, 멜리사 챈들러 - 새로운 노즈워크 TEAM 타이틀 프로그램

And then I actually started in, um, fly ball, which is actually a little bit of a different sport. And then just fast forward to, you know, six, six years or so ago, got involved with FENZY, started teaching and, um, teach both, um, nose work and obedience. My older dog, I can't believe Savvy is going to be 13 in February. She's pretty much retired now. And she was my nose work elite dog. Um, luckily was able to get that finished earlier this year. And then my middle dog, Drac, um, we're focusing on, uh, nose work, tracking, and herding. And then my young dog, Moxie is two, and she is so fun and bitable. And we're focusing on agility, nose work, and herding. So they still all keep me really busy. And, um, I just, you know, amazed at how much there is still to learn. Um, not only within the same sports I've been in, but, you know, things are constantly changing and growing. And it's just, it's amazing, um, how I think all of our lives have changed because of our dogs. Yeah. As I mentioned during the intro, we are here today to talk about your brand new nose work team titling program. Um, so to start us out, just kind of what is it? Yeah. Um, you know, it's basically an opportunity to earn virtual titles, um, which can showcase the skills and the areas that you'd encounter if you were in an in-person trial. Um, so instead of having to go to a trial in person, you can submit, um, your, um, search, you know, your, your searches online to earn titles. Um, and just the acronym for team stands for training excellence assessment modules, um, which really describes our goal. We want a progressive oriented titling program that emphasize the excellence in training. And we just want to ensure that people have a good foundation in the sport of nose work, whether they continue to do online programs or they can get experience before they go out in trial in person. So that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Yeah. You know, the, the other really cool part about it is that, you know, at the, um, at the addition, at the initial level, you can do all of this at home. Your dog doesn't need to be searching away from home yet. You know, later on, um, you know, you, you, you can do those levels, um, you know, where, where you're searching, uh, you know, the, the, the plus levels, right. You can, you can start to do those, um, where you're, you know, you're searching away from home, but initially you can do all this at home. So if you have a dog that's a little bit more environmentally sensitive and, you know, it's happier searching from home, you know, you can, you can get started, you can get out

there, you can start earning these titles. Uh, so why a new titling option, you know, how is the team program kind of similar or different maybe from some of the other options that are out there? Yeah. You know, there are a couple of really cool things that are a little bit different with, with, uh, with, with the team program versus, uh, you know, what you might experience if you're, if you're trialing, um, in, in a, in a live, you know, like a live organization. Uh, part of it is, is again, you know, like I just mentioned, you know, you can, um, start to earn these titles at home and for a lot of dogs, that's really, really beneficial. Um, and then you can start to take it on the road later on. Um, the other thing is that there's a heavy emphasis on the training aspect. So a lot of the exercises that we have built into, uh, the titling program really emphasizes really good training. So it's not necessarily just the end product, which you might see if you go to a trial, um, where they're really testing the end product. We're really kind of testing those, those, those steps that really try to, to showcase, uh, the training and, and, and how your dog is progressing. And the one thing I wanted to just mention, as I know you've mentioned about some of the different programs, cause there are some online ones you see out there that are a little bit more smaller scale. And the ones that I've, I know about are kind of more competition based. Um, so they're short time, you know, it's a short timeframe. So it might run a couple of weeks where you submit and then they actually give out placements, um, as if it was, they were, as if it was a remote trial and exactly what Stace was saying earlier, ours is intended to be focused on, you know, training. There's no end time. You'd go at your own pace, um, when you want that ready to submit, train and submit your videos. Um, so that's one of the differences I've seen with some of the other online options that are more like pockets here and there. Um, so what I, what we really like about this is it's, it's bringing it to, um, a very similar, um, you know, titling, um, program, but you're able to do it at home and you can submit it online, especially if you can't get out to trials. Can you just share a little more on how the Nosework team program is structured? Um, in Nosework team, we currently have three levels available, including a plus at each level. And the plus level is taking each level on the road. So you are training the exercises at home and then you're just taking them to a new location for the plus.

We emphasize a strong focus on foundation and then each level adds complexity for the team from the previous level. The program is set up to help the team progress in their training and all the different elements as they move through the levels. There are plans to add three more levels. So eventually there will be a total of six levels of titling and all six will have the plus option to go through the exercises at home and then away from home. Yeah, the other thing I just realized we hadn't even gotten into a little bit more of the detail is it actually is, um, um, structured with the, um, search elements in mind, like interiors and containers and vehicles and exteriors. So you're going to see all those same, um, type of search elements. And we're going to, um, focus on typical hide placements that we often see, um, because those are the smart things to train on things that we know we've been doing. Those are for a long time. We've been trialing. So we know, um, what's going to, you know, what, what you're going to need to, to have the skills when you, when you do trial. Um, so we base it a lot, a lot on that as well. So I know the program is in conjunction with the FENSI team titling program. So I'm, I'm kind of curious, you know, why the partnership? Yeah. And I'm actually, uh, have been involved with the original team program from the start. I'm one of, one of the judges for that. Um, it was, um, it was because it was built on the same premise, right? Excellent training, good training. We've mentioned that. Um, and it was actually pretty amazing when we took a look at the website, how much we could reuse, not just because we wanted to reuse it, but it completely applied like the mission and the structure that Melissa just went over. It was so comparable that it got us all like really, really excited. I even remember Denise FENSI was also realizing it too, just as we started, you know, kind of rolling with it, it was like, wow, this really just really fits in so nicely. Yeah. And, uh, I just wanted to just a quick shout out to, uh, partners in crime over there. Um, uh, Julie and Melissa, you guys have, as far as partnership goes, um, you guys have been really, really great to work with. And we've had some, uh, some support from, from some other individuals as well. So when we think about partnership, it's not even just the, the partnership between, um, you know, what we, uh, from like the, the nose work side of it and then the, the original team, but, you know, we really kind of brought together, you know, all of our different perspectives

on this and, uh, and that partnership is pretty, pretty special. What kind of, um, kind of looking at the program a little bit deeper, what kind of equipment or training tools do folks kind of need as they work through things? That's the exciting part. Um, they really will not need a lot of extra equipment, mostly just your standard nose work equipment and your basic nose work kit. Um, we do provide an equipment list. So you want to be sure to review and make sure you have all your supplies ready before you start to work on your searches, um, and make sure you have your props available. Um, some of those are like a chair or a tote. Um, of course we talked about doing vehicles and sometimes we talk about, um, a certain kind of exterior. So you may want to scope out, um, where to do your search, but there really are not a lot of additional items that you're going to need. Um, the only thing may be some specific containers, but we do give you a list of options. So we do not require one specific container. We give you options so that you can, uh, that you don't have to go out and buy something specifically to do the program. Are there any, you know, aspects of the program that you guys think students might find particularly challenging? If so, you know, I'd love if you guys could share just a tip or two for, you know, training those pieces. Yeah, there, there's a little bit of an aspect that, um, that we do cover with, uh, with, with our team titling program that you're not necessarily going to see laid out in that manner in a lot of the, um, kind of the, the live, uh, programs and, uh, organizations that, that's really, it's, it's, we do, um, we introduce things like, um, mazes and we introduce, um, you know, deep accessible things that, that, that, that emphasize problem solving. And that problem solving is really going to be critical, uh, from the training perspective and to help the dogs, you know, as they get more advanced and they start working towards inaccessible hides, it really reinforces a lot of, um, the, the, the sourcing, um, that, that is related to the problem solving. And I think that might be, uh, partly where, you know, some people might have a little bit more challenge there. Um, as far as like a tip, you know, my, my suggestion is to don't, you know, don't make things too complicated initially, you know, start, you know, start a little bit easier because keep in mind, um, you know, what you might see from a physical perspective, um, like a maze, like a physical maze, it may look very simple to you with your eyes, but you want

to, you want to think about the fact that the dog is following odor. So something that might even look very simple, you know, the dog is, is following odor and it is a little bit more complicated than that. So my suggestion is to, is to start, you know, you know, start easy, start easy and build up, build up your skills. But I think if you look at the exercises in, um, that we've laid out in team, it helps to, um, to kind of take you through those steps. Julie, anything, uh, you can think of that folks might find challenging? Um, just the one obvious thing is perhaps some of the video editing, which we, um, have for any online, um, um, type of course or, um, program. So they'll have to be able to do the videoing. And I, I do know that even us who have provided some of the, the example videos, there's some exercises that require you to call finish. So if you do the whole thing and you don't say finish, um, you're gonna have to redo it or you're not going to pass. Oh, good point. Good point. So read the directions. Yeah. Yeah. Read the directions. That's actually, it's a very good point. And, and actually I can attest to that with the other team program that sometimes just a silly thing that we make a handler mistake. Um, another thing is, um, you're running known hives, you know, it's the honor system. You're running known hides, um, for the first three levels, at least, you know, um, and you got to really make sure you aren't influencing your dog. And we're pretty good at determining that. So the judges will have to make an assessment. Don't let the judge think if you're being pretty obvious about where the height is. I think that might be a little hard. That's different from a, a true trial when it's a blind for you. And yeah, yeah. And then the last thing I have, and I would, I could even let Melissa chime in more is we do have distractors, um, in, in the various levels. Um, we specify the type of distractors as well as having a, like a toy outside of a box in the search area. So I think that's going to be one of the challenges. And, um, I don't know if Melissa, you want to chime in on some tips and training there. Um, cause I think that is going to be pretty hard for some dogs. Yeah. I was also going to mention, um, that working away from home could be, um, one of the huge challenges. And, and I think a lot of dogs, if they've only worked at home, depending on where, where, how they've done their nose work training so far, and just always make sure that your dog is ready to search and you have the proper focus.

Um, if your dog can't pay attention to you or can't do a well-known behavior, you do not want to ask them to search. So, um, I like doing compression walks, some pattern games. Um, and you just want to bring down their arousal and increase their confidence and, and have an overall sense of, um, focus and calm before you ask them to search. If they're not in the right headspace, um, I know it, it could be frustrating to drive there and set up your search and then not, um, go through with it. But if your dog's not ready, it'll be better overall for your dog, your relationship and your training program. So that would be my, um, my take of one of the challenges and how to, to handle it. Um, as far as the distractions and toys, um, you want to start very low level. So something that your dog will check out, but not get stuck on, um, with toys, you could actually start with the toys in a container so they cannot retrieve them or something that is not, um, as exciting to them. And then gradually increase the criteria of the toy. Um, if they get stuck on it, just remove it from the search and keep going. Don't keep pushing it or telling them to leave it or pulling them away. We want it to be their decision to move on. So set them up for success with the level of distractor. I love that. And I like that, um, that Julie mentioned in there, the example videos, cause we hadn't touched on those yet. Just the fact that, you know, as folks go through the, the rules, um, that it makes sense to make sure you're watching the example videos and really know what it is, um, that the final picture should kind of look like, right? Exactly. Exactly. We have some really nice example videos, um, already lined up. So, and, and I want to just add one thing, um, what Melissa said, it was a really great point about the make sure your dog is ready and able to focus because I've done some at home agility trials and I've been a bad dog trainer and I didn't get my clean run. And they do allow you to rerun them. And even in the, um, the other, um, programs that do online titling and other sports, as well as we know that if you forgot to say finish or something, you're going to redo it. Um, but I, we just ask that you don't, that you use a brand new location. Cause if you move the hide, your dog potentially is going to have some, you know, it could be some residual lingering odor left behind. Um, but you don't want to drill it because it's, it's going to start affecting your dog's, um, you know, um, you know, response to, um, to the search. So just like Melissa said, if it's not going to, if it's not going to happen and just,

just pack up, pack it up and try another day. Yeah, that's, that's a great, that's a really great point, Julie. And, um, just from the standpoint of, we don't want the dogs, you know, finding the hide by memory because they've already found the hide, you know, uh, before in practice, um, you know, you, you really want the dog to, to be using their nose to find, find the hide rather than kind of remembering, you know, where, where you had placed it. So, um, really good point. Yeah. Like I said, it's, it's an honor, it's an honor system. And so, you know, we really, truly, we really, truly want you to feel, um, proud and, um, you know, of, of, of what you set up, that it was a realistic, uh, brand new search for your dog. Exactly. I just say also in many of our training programs, we do not want to reward our dog for going back to an already found hide. So you have that coming into play if you re-run, if you re-run the same hide again, and it's not worth it for your title. Can you ladies kind of give us a sneak peek at what went into creating the program kind of behind the scenes? Yeah. Um, it's the spreadsheets, spreadsheets. Lots of them. Corrections. Corrections. Yeah. Actually, I was thinking earlier, if you could picture like the old style of where you'd roll up your piece of paper and throw it over. Um, we actually had, had talked about this on and off for a few years now. Um, interestingly, we had thought this was, you know, a great opportunity. And then when, when COVID hit, we, um, turned up the speed on it and we had such a nice framework, um, already to start with, cause we had already, um, you know, pursued some of it. And, and we did, uh, we, uh, reference the existing team program a lot, which, which was a huge, I think, benefit for getting, um, it done in the time that we did. Um, you know, I just want to, you know, thank, you know, uh, Denise and the FDSA program for already doing a lot of the, um, work to develop, um, um, the structure for that. And then the only thing that I wanted to share, which I thought was funny. So between the three of us to get together for meetings, um, we all are busy and we were, we, it was hard to find a time to get together and we had due, due dates and stuff, but we would find a time and we would still stay on the phone for like another half an hour later and just talk. We were like, it's totally done. So we, we actually found more time to talk to it and we did it like every time. And then we had to have time to find that one half hour window. And then we all stayed on for like an hour. So it was really fun.

It was really fun working with, with the other two. Yeah. Like Julie said, it was just a lot of spreadsheets and we had a lot of fun doing it and, um, finding time and then, um, going through everything and then getting our, our Facebook page set up. And then we had our TAs help. So we've had some helpers along the way and then trying to modify everything as they would find our boo-boos that we didn't get corrected. So it's been a lot of fun, a fun road. It really has. It really has. Yeah. I mean, it's been, it's been so much fun, you know, working with everybody on this and, um, seeing something just kind of, kind of develop and, and, and, you know, come together and, and yeah, a lot of spreadsheets, a lot of spreadsheets. Um, and, you know, just really, um, you know, trying to stay organized and everything organization is not necessarily my forte. So I, I'm very appreciative that it is, you know, other people's, uh, strength. Um, and, uh, and I, I think it was just a blast and, you know, just getting those, some of those videos together and everything would just really, um, I, I think it came together at a, at a very, at a very good time. And, uh, and I'm really looking forward to, uh, to seeing some, uh, seeing some videos from people. I want to add one thing, a big shout out to Melissa and Amy too. Um, we could not have done this without them and all the help with the website. Oh, absolutely. It took us a long time in, in, um, in conjunction to what they were doing. So it took us a while and then they were speed demons getting everything set up on the website for us. So shout out to Melissa and Amy. Well, thank you. And I have to say, uh, most of it was Amy because, um, she put in a lot of, a lot of the time behind the scenes to get it all, um, into the site. So. Yeah. And can I, I want to add actually one more thing that might actually, um, maybe go into, uh, bleed into another topic, but, um, when we did create the program, so some of the behind the scenes was, um, we definitely had the novice, you know, the novice, um, competitor in mind, um, starting from, you know, as if you were going to go to a novice trial. Um, and I'm really excited because I know I have locals, local students, um, people who can't go to trial yet. Cause they don't have their ORT and things are shut down, um, or teams that have the, um, reactive dog or environmental sensitivities. I'm so excited for them because I think it's going to give them a goal and a mission. So we made sure to make it very, very doable, um, especially at the first level, um, for some first, you know, kind of a trial experience.

Um, so we, we, we talked about that a lot and we made sure it, it, it, it was, um, you know, it was enough to, you can bite off enough to chew. You know, we weren't asking them to do so much, um, when they started off, um, so that it progressed at, at, at a more reasonable pace. All right. So big question now, um, what options are out there for the folks who need help? Kind of actually learning to do all of this stuff, um, who either are new to the sport entirely and need to kind of get their feet wet or specifically with the, with this program, um, for them to kind of learn the bits and pieces. Yeah. So we have a, um, a Facebook site or a website website that you had mentioned already. That's gonna, it's very well laid out. Um, they can learn all of the, um, information there. And then we are, we have a Facebook group, um, for, um, um, FENZ, um, FENZ, you know, for team players, um, which kind of is parallel to the other team one. And so that is open to, um, you know, non-FENZ, um, um, participants. You don't have to be a FENZ student to participate in this program. Um, and, and that's a great place to learn more, um, submit practice videos before you submit it to the program. Um, um, but basically right now it's, um, you know, just to get started with the program is the website and joining the Facebook group. Uh, yeah, yeah, definitely. And actually I have a, uh, a workshop that is scheduled for later in December that is focused on the first level of, um, of, of, of our, our Nosework team program. And, uh, and, and I'm going to be going over, you know, some of the, the, you know, a little bit of the rules, how to get started, you know, some, some tips and tricks that kind of thing. And you'll have a chance, um, there also to be able to practice one of the exercises and get feedback on that. So, um, that is, is available for, for sign up now. And, um, and so, so that's another resource as well. Yeah. And I think once the program, um, you know, gets up and running, you know, there'll be more opportunities like maybe webinars and some other workshops, um, um, that we'll, that we'll find is going to be beneficial once, once we see how people are receiving the program and, um, what they're submitting. Awesome. We haven't actually said where people can go, the name of the website type thing yet. Um, so where should people go to actually read all the rules and check out all the stuff? Uh, it's, um, FNZ team knows work.com. Awesome. Finally, since, um, FTC registration is currently open. I thought we'd kind of wrap things up by, uh, giving you each, just a minute to talk about

what you're currently teaching this term. Melissa, do you want to start? Sure. I'm just teaching one class this session and I'm teaching those work 120 M, which is the second class in our core series. On this class is where we add the sexy to our nose work skills by introducing all the elements. These include more interior searches, exteriors, vehicles, and buried hides, including water and sand. We also start adding more distractions to containers and continue working on distractors in the interior. I find exteriors and vehicles to be a little more challenging as we start working outside, as we talked about previously, where we cannot control all the distractions. I enjoy covering many different ways to help your dog focus and get ready for their search. And a lot of this we do through pattern games, start buttons, and even cover some loopy nose work. Awesome. Stacey, do you want to go next? Yeah. Yeah. I'm teaching three classes this term. The first one is NW170, which is Building Blocks Before Odor. It is a class where we teach the dogs to search for food rather than odor. And this makes sense for a lot of dogs. You know, a lot of puppies, for instance. It's really, really great for puppies. It's build that hunt drive. Or if you have, you know, dogs that may need a little bit more confidence or a little bit more independence, maybe you have a dog that's very naturally handler-focused. All of these dogs, these types of dogs really benefit from this type of approach. And I also cover a lot of things like scent theory, handling, you know, how odor moves, how to read your dog, things that will come in really, really handy in later classes. And then my second class that I'm teaching is NW270, which is Foundation, Foundation, Foundation. And even though that sounds like a really basic class, it's really not. Because what we're doing is we're getting into, you know, the pieces that bring all of our skills together and make a really rock-solid nosework dog for the future. And it helps you to understand really what are the foundations. So when people say go back to foundations, you know exactly what, you know, you have a sense for what that means. It's really great for dogs who are already searching, already searching on odor and really want to get really solid performances. It's also really good for more advanced dogs who may be having some problems. And it helps with diagnostics in order to address any kind of issues that are coming up. And the third class I'm teaching is NW290, which is just playing killer nosework skills and setup. And that's an advanced class.

When I mean advanced, I mean it's really taking, it's beyond, actually we end the term with suspended hide. So we have that, we've got blowing odor, we've got pooling odor, we've got, you know, handling arousal in containers. There's a whole lot of different skills. And each week we go through a different skill and we really get in-depth into it and start to develop those skill sets, which are really critical for the higher level. Julie? Yeah, I am teaching NW2901J, which in general, it's a really good time of year for people when winter comes. It's a great class to take, to work from home. But it's also a great place to start nosework if you haven't. And if you're, especially if you're interested in this nosework titling program, I think we're going to see, and as we are with other sports, you know, online titling options are kind of the rage right now. So that's a great place to get started. And I'm also teaching NW290, developing sensational skills for competition. And a lot of it is, is, you know, talking about, you know, your handler role, your handling, your mental game, and basically some of the things you're going to expect that could happen at a trial. But there's definitely skill base and exercises that we go over that just is going to kind of prepare you for the types of challenges for early trialing teams. Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much, ladies, for coming on the podcast. You're welcome. It was fun. This is fun. Thank you. Awesome. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in. We'll be back next week. Don't miss it. If you haven't already, subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available. Today's show is brought to you by the Fendi Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fendi for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty-free by bensound.com. The track featured here is called Buddy. Audio editing provided by Chris Lang. Thanks again for tuning in and happy training. o