10/15/2026
Our dogs are MASTERS at reading us. That’s kind of their whole thing!! Your dog has been studying you since the day you brought them home. They know what your face does when dinner is coming and what your shoulders do right before you grab the car keys. Most of us couldn’t name half the little things we do that they’ve already picked up on.
So of course they’re watching you in a search area. If our body, our leash or our timing has been giving them answers, they’ll use them! Why wouldn’t they? Reading you is easy. Working odor in a tight spot with wicked airflow is hard.
Here’s the part that surprises people… it goes both ways. While our dogs are reading us, they’re also training US. Think about it. Your dog gets close, looks back at you, you lean toward the hide, they find it, and they get paid. Next time they look back a little sooner… and you help a little sooner. Nobody planned it, but you’ve BOTH been trained! The dog learned that the look gets an answer, and you learned that helping gets a find.
It feels like teamwork, and in a way it is. But that kind of teamwork falls apart the minute you’re on a blind hide and don’t have the answer to give.
This shows up the most on hides we know about. Known hides are a great training tool… but they’re also where we leak the most information without realizing it.
When a dog is trying to source elevated odor, and they believe that the hide MIGHT be inaccessible, many dogs will try to read the handler to confirm before indicating. A history of being readable is a huge cause of false alerts!
How do you know your dog is using you?
Some signs I see on video all the time:
Alerting where YOU stop
Looking back at you when they get into odor
Slowing down when you get close
Tracking your path instead of the air
Leaving source to come back to you instead of indicating
That first one is A BIG ONE. So often we slow down BEFORE the dog has any change of behavior. We know where the hide is (or we think we do), and our feet put on the brakes. That broadcasts to the dog exactly where to work… and we literally walk them right into the hide. The dog stops because WE stopped, and they alert there because that’s where the answer always is!
Then you get to a blind hide or a trial, and your dog is waiting for you to slow down so they know where to look. Guess wrong, and a lot of dogs will happily alert right where you stopped.
None of this makes your dog a bad searcher. It just tells you where the information is coming from. (If this sounds familiar, check out my post Are You Helping… or Are You in the Way?)
Try the blind hide test
Here’s an easy way to check. Have a friend set a hide you DON’T know about, and film it. Then set one yourself in the same kind of area, and film that too.
Watch them side by side. Does your dog search differently? More look-backs (check ins) on the known hide? A faster alert when you know where it is? If the blind hide looks messier, great!! Now you know exactly what to work on.
Building independence
This is what I usually work on:
Keep moving until your DOG changes. Don’t slow down until you see a change of behavior from your dog.
Give your dog space. Rock back onto your back foot and let them work into the tight spots without you.
Don’t go “full frontal” at the hide. Keep your feet and body from squaring up to the spot you think it’s in.
Work off leash when it’s safe. A lot of dogs blossom when there’s no leash in the picture at all.
Don’t Overhelp. Don’t let your dog get into trouble and marinate in an odor pool for long, but let them work!
Film it. You’ll see so much more on video that you never notice in the moment.
A few more thoughts on these….
Full frontal is a BIG one, and most of us have no idea we’re doing it. When you square your feet or your body up to a spot, you’re projecting the hide. Your body is saying “stay here and work”… and your dog listens! On a known hide, that’s basically an answer key. On a blind hide, you’ll square up to wherever YOU think the hide is… and guess where your dog hangs out?
And here’s where it can really bite you… odor pools. IF your dog is working an odor pool and you go full frontal, you just told them “this is the spot.” That can be enough to get an alert on the pool instead of the dog moving on to find source. Your dog was doing the right thing by working it out… and your body talked them out of it.
Instead, keep your body angled and your feet pointed along the path you’re walking. Let the dog be the one who tells you where it is.
Not overhelping is HARD. When your dog is struggling in a tricky spot, everything in you wants to help. Step in, point, say something encouraging. Try counting to five in your head instead. Most of the time, the dog figures it out before you get to three… and when they do, they OWN it.
And watch your feet!! Keep the same steady pace through the area until your dog shows you a change of behavior. THEN you can slow down and give them room to work it out. You DON’T need to follow them closely or go their speed… Your job is to OBSERVE and RESPOND as necessary. When you watch your video, check who slowed down first. Was it you or your dog?
What changes
When a dog isn’t looking to you for the answer, they learn to work confidently on their own. That builds self-confidence, and it builds FLUENCY… the smooth, sure searching we all want to see in the ring.
It takes a ton of pressure off of you too. You don’t have to handle perfectly anymore. You can bump a chair, lose track of where you’ve been, or have a nervous moment at a trial… and your dog keeps right on working. Trial nerves make all of us a little weird, so that’s HUGE.
Independence doesn’t mean you’re out of the picture. You’re still a team! You still read your dog, manage the area and decide when to call alert. Your dog just trusts their nose first.
Watch your last training video. How many times did your dog attempt to read YOU?
