What reward do they get for performance? that might be a key to consider.
You might try teaching them a 'sniff' or 'scent' or 'trail' command where they find something great when you tell them to do the tracking. Once you have taught a command to do an action then you can tell them 'no' so they can understand it.
You can also find out what a huge reward is for them and it might be olfactory in nature. Do the agility etc correctly and you get a big whiff of whatever it is they really like best. Suit the reward to their favorite behavior.
You want the 'benefit' of doing what you want to be so appealing they will focus on gaining it.
It is hard with a 'magnetic nose' to focus on what needs to be done but hunting dogs do learn to do that and to focus on one scent out of many ignoring all others etc.
With terriers for example we sometimes use a fuzzy real fur rat as a reward. Only if they do what is wanted do they get the oh so precious real fur rat for a few moments of play. For some dogs its easy as a ball for a reward but with a scent hound you have to out think them and consider their noses. Maybe a jar of overly ripe liver to sniff, maybe a real animal skin of some sort, perhaps a tissue scented with dog in heat, maybe turkey poop in a sealed jar - or maybe a variety of good odors so they never know what the 'secret sniff' will be. They sell animal musks too.
Talk it over with the trainers you work with and get them thinking about scent rewards too.
Hope this helps you!
What you're saying does make a lot of sense, especially chewing of the old sock, we never even thought of that, as they usually try and steal them from the bedroom floor before they hit the washing room the next morning, we'll give that a try. Bear with me, there'll be a slight delay(prob in the early a.m., as one half the family(wife) after today's agility (failure) trial, was quite fatigued and has gone down for the night, and I want her to read your answers, in case she has anymore questions.
Yes I agree heat is hard - we are near frost tonight where I live so tomorrow will be pleasantly brisk to start.
Have a good night and we can continue talking later though the site may send you messages I don't control!
Good Morning; The wife got up before me and has gone to the trials already. She won't be back till late this p.m. Time right now here is 10:30a.m. She was in a rush, as usual as she was also on the committee, and they're crying for volunteers to help with the rest of the match, as she has just called me about 15min ago (the sniffers got in the way again) and they never qualified.
Will get back to you soonest.
XXXXXXXX
Sorry for delay again, but between the Trials and other Sunday duties it extended this long. We will try and digest what you have passed along and possibly some of it might work. Like you say there is no instant cure, but some of the ideas you've passed on sound good enough to give it some effort, anything at this stage is worth trying. Thanks very much. plse ack receipt of this msg, and I'll go from here.
XXXXXXXX. Oh one other thing, will I be able to save/print this off, after $$ processed?
You should be able to review this any time even after accepting but you have to log in to see it I believe (I don't see that side of the site) and if you have any issues printing a copy etc email info@justanswer.com for customer service help and a mod should be able to help you.
I have read where someone said if you have trouble printing try highlighting the page first and then do a print.
And any time you reply on this question with any folllow up I should be notified by the site that you have done so. The site requests that new questions be started new but you could put my ID in the title if you want my attention
Accepting credits me for working with you.
PS if you belong to a club or training center you might get this speaker to come
http://www.johnrogerson.com/
He has some of the top working trial dogs, as I understand it, all trained by knowing how to motivate them.
I've seen him speak here in the states and found him very clever at out thinking the dogs and getting them to do what he wanted by offering them what they wanted!
Dog Expert:Rescue, Train,Breed,Care
30+ yrs dog home vet care & nursing, rescue, behavior&training, responsible show breeding, genetics
Okay, thanks again, the acception should come through soon.
Bye for now
And I hope this helps with trial success!
Thanks for your above accept!