Building Value for Odor: Part 2 — Is Your Dog Getting Paid Enough?
In Part 1, we talked about how odor only becomes valuable through reinforcement. The question is, how do we build that value?
Think back to our earlier example. If I told you there was a dollar hidden somewhere in a field, you might spend a few minutes looking. If I told you there was $1,000 hidden in that same field, you’d search very differently. You’d work harder, stay engaged longer, and solve problems instead of giving up because the reward would be worth the effort.
Obviously, $1,000 is much more valuable to us than a single dollar. Our dogs aren’t any different.
Every time your dog finds odor, you’re teaching them how much it matters. I like to think of it as adding to one side of a scale. Every reward adds a little more weight. A jackpot of food. A favorite toy. A game of tug. Whatever your dog truly loves. A single reward by itself doesn’t create tremendous value, but over many of repetitions, those rewards add up. Eventually, finding odor carries so much weight that your dog is willing to work through frustration, environmental distractions, heat, and difficult problems because their experience has taught them that it’s worth the effort.
This is where I think many handlers unintentionally shortchange their dogs. Their dog solves a difficult problem, works hard to locate the hide, earns a single cookie, and is immediately asked to move on. From the dog’s perspective, the paycheck often doesn’t match the effort.
If you want your dog to become passionate about searching, pay them well. Teach them that finding odor predicts something they genuinely love. Celebrate the find. Make it feel important. Over time, each meaningful reward continues adding weight to that side of the scale until finding odor becomes one of the most valuable things your dog can do.
You can’t expect your dog to value something you’ve never taught them is valuable. Every search is another opportunity to build that value. Over time, those repetitions create a dog that doesn’t just know how to find odor, but truly loves searching for it.
In Part 3, we’ll talk about why more training doesn’t necessarily create more motivation, and why one exceptional repetition is often worth far more than ten mediocre ones.
Part of the Building Value for Odor educational series:
Part 2: Is Your Dog Getting Paid Enough?
Part 3: Quality Over Quantity
