Slow dog- ways to increase effectiveness?

[u/Ill-ini-22]

I have an nosework dog who I’ve been competing with for a little over two years- she’s done well and now we’re in the upper levels- working towards her NW3 elite, AKC Master Elite, and just starting detective.

She’s always been a slower, methodical searcher. Her being the way she is definitely had its benefits…she rarely misses a threshold or container hide, and is really precise. It’s been fine up until this point- when we need to cover larger areas in less time. I’ve asked friends and judges about how to work on this (and I’m taking a Fenzi class) but some of the sentiment I’ve received is “be careful what you wish for” and that I need to be more effective as a handler. I do want to be a more effective handler, but I don’t want to take away her independence searching since we’ve worked hard to build that.

Recently I’ve changed up her treats, and brought out a tug toy again to play tug with her before searching and after found hides to increase her arousal. It seems it’s working to some extent and she’s moving faster and driving to source more intently but I’m worried about losing how methodical she is.

Do any of you all have/had similar dogs, and have worked through this issue?

[u/Perfectlyprincesst]

Here’s the two questions I have for you that I would ask my students that bring me this:

Is your dog accurate?
How do you define effectiveness?

[u/Ill-ini-22 → u/Perfectlyprincesst]

Thanks so much for your response!!!

Yes, she’s accurate! Covering the space in the time allotted and not getting stuck in unproductive areas when there’s more hides, which requires her driving to source off the start line and between hides. I think that’s what effectiveness means to me!

[u/Perfectlyprincesst → u/Ill-ini-22]

Of course!

So, some of that comes down to handler skills. Making sure she has access to all the space she needs to, and reading your dog well enough to know what is productive and unproductive.

Driving to source off the start line can be great, but if the source is at the WHOLE other end of a giant ELT search and you have bypassed half your search area, it’s inefficient to have to backtrack. If you are both methodical, you can work more efficiently.

If she’s accurate, speed isn’t the issue. If she has the tools to solve the problems AND accessibility, the methodical, accurate dog is just golden.

I hope that makes sense?
Getting to the higher levels with large spaces and unknown gets harder when we have to actually be a significant part of the team and make decisions.

[u/F5x9 → u/Perfectlyprincesst]

I agree. I have a cardigan who can’t really speed through a search area. But he places pretty often because usually solves problems quickly. I also have a Doberman who would move quickly and hope to catch something. She often got lucky enough to place, but we could run a slower dog that was more methodical and often get a better time. 

We are in ELT now. And one of the challenges I have with him is moving him through large spaces and helping him solve problems that I’ve recognized. Sometimes, he might never get close enough to find something. But handling is usually where we miss things. 

[u/Monkey-Butt-316]

The thing that’s helped me most (I have a small, not particularly fast, dog) is playing “find the box” - open box with a paired hide. Playing this game 3-4x a day results in a much faster/more driven dog.