Part 3-Training sit and freeze as indication for scent detection dogs.

Day three of the "sit and stare" training we basically did two things.
1. Gradually decreasing the size of the toy piece. This way we slowly add the search context to the final response. Start by cutting it in two halves and then try to cut the pieces into halves for every session you do until the pieces are approximately 1mm in size. The smaller size doesn't make it that much harder for the dog, but creates a different "scent picture" compared to large pieces. Having the dog used to also searching for really small pieces makes it easier to hide and thus vary the training.
2. Gradually place hides lower and lower. It is much easier for the dog to go into a sit and stare when hide is in nose height. So start there and slowly place hides lower step by step to mantain the habit of sitting. Do not hesitate to go one or to steps back in the training if the dog repeatedly starts lying down for example.