Nosework (3/3)

Class continues to be great.  This time we did various hides, some paired and some not.  There were q-tips in the tin, in a straw and in a plastic packaging thing (folded over and taped shut).  They were placed in various spots in the room.  Probably the hardest one - that all the dogs had a tough time finding was the odor under a leather glove.  You've no doubt noticed that YOU can smell rough-out leather, so you can imagine what a strong smell it is for the dogs.  It doesn't mask the odor of the birch oil, just complicates sifting it out of the scent potpourri. 

I keep saying I'm going to take my camera and get someone to video Gimme in class and I still plan to do that.  Wish I'd done it this time because she'd sniffed the leather glove twice and passed on... then another time she was streaking by it and suddenly skidded to a stop (a good 3 feet of skid) and snapped back to it.  That building is so strange in that the air currents are just not predictable.  Both of the other times she went by it she was going in the other direction, passing through the area where she caught the scent the third time.

One thing I really love about her scenting work is her determination and persistence.  I did a field trip to Home Depot again.  I placed one hide near the leather/canvas work bags in the tool aisle, another in the plant section of the nursery, and the last was in some plants on the sidewalk outside.  Gimme seemed to not be up to par on her scenting that day, but she never gave up - she is a persistent little squirt. 

It occurred to me that both of the other field trips we'd just come from our walks on Fort Lewis, where she drinks a lot of water from puddles.  On this day, I'd been at work and she'd been in the car.  Hydration is very important when a dog is doing scent work.  So possibly she needed to have more water.  I'll have to refill the water container I keep in the car for her.  I hope to do another session tomorrow and will make sure she's had something to drink before we go - and for a comparison will set the hides in much the same place.  Another possibility is that the q-tips in the jar in the car had been used before and maybe they were losing scent.  So, I'll have to make sure I have some new ones out of the main jar.

We are continuing our walks on the fort and Gimme loves it.  My right knee has been bothering me lately, so I'm sore afterward.  Monday I have a chiropractor appointment and sure hope there is something he can do.  I think I over stressed it on one of our first walks after the big snow when I was doing a lot of stepping over branches that had broken and fallen all over the road.

Today during our walk, I decided to spend a little time teaching Gimme to look at my index finger on my right hand.  Been planning to do this for awhile, but just hadn't gotten to it.  She picked it up very quickly, then went off to play.  When she came back I was just walking along and she came over and nosed my left hand (where I was carrying treats) and when that didn't work, she went to the other side and licked my index finger - not the hand, the exact finger.   She's just so darn smart.

Training is coming along nicely.  We continue to have listening skills and control issues.  Gimme is so smart, but she really thinks she should be the boss all the time; whereas I have this weird notion that I get to be the boss, at least part of the time.  I put a cue on something and after that, she isn't supposed to get treated for it, except when I cue for it.  Gimme is not convinced that is how it should work.  She picks up the cues right away when I put them on, but then she wants to snatch back the control right away.  Ursula says her dog Wyl-E is the same.  I'm lucky because Wyl-E is about six months older than Gimme, so I have the advantage of Ursula going before me on this stuff.  Basically the answer is to persist and be very, Very, VERY consistent.

I swear I'm going to get Gimme a little conductor's hat - since she always wants to drive the train.