Nosework (5/3)

Class tonight was very interesting. I realize now that Joyce doesn't quite "get" Gimme. She talks about her reactions as if Gimme is a sensitive little wilting flower, instead of a tough little tomboy who is also the Empress of the Cosmos. She is sensitive, but to frustration, not other stuff. She doesn't get her feelings hurt, she gets annoyed (read that royally p.o.'d). We talked a lot as a class about the ORT.

Joyce was much more focused on handling and teaching our dogs to commit to odor and stay there until we get there and pay up. She hasn't pushed that in the past.  I wish we had worked on it sooner - especially before the ORT. She did say that her students that failed all had fast dogs and/or were testing two odors. So tonight we did a lot more moving around the dogs and were not quite as fast to pay up, letting them wait a second first.

So while we were working things, I kind of did what made sense to me based somewhat on Joyce's comments mixed with my own understanding of Gimme.

For instance, Joyce commented that when dogs hit the end of the line it feels like a correction, so we should be going with them. Of course, even with my longer than usual line (25ft), Gimme can hit the end in a nanosecond. Joyce is always saying I have too much line; yet, I find it very useful because I can play it out to let Gimme check out something briefly and then reel it in as she turns back to me. I looked at the video again and each time when she snapped at the line was just after she'd hit the end. Joyce thinks the unintended "correction" hurts her feelings and undermines confidence... my take is that it annoys Gimme and is frustrating to her. Snapping at the line is her way of telling me to get with the program.

The other issue at the ORT is that Gimme wanted to check out the room and I stubbornly stayed near the boxes and wouldn't let her go. Joyce still thinks I should keep her near the containers and not let her snoop, and kept telling me to move her back tonight. Given how easily frustrated she gets, I've decided to use that long line to give her more freedom, and then gently keep reeling her back to the boxes.

So tonight I really focused on my line handling. I let her have more freedom to snoop around the perimeter even though we were set up for a container search and when she'd turn back in my direction, I gently reeled her back. I also made it a point to keep tension on the line as much as possible, so if she did try to squirt off in some direction, she was getting the sensation of a steady pull as the line slid through my hand, not a jerk when she hit the limit. My impression was that Gimme seemed more content with this way of doing things.

When we had the threshold hide, I let her go a bit further past it and then gently used the line to encourage her back toward it. She did a really nice job.

I also talked to Joyce about how much freedom I have at an ORT or a nosework test to do management things once we enter the search area and before the search starts. Turns out I have more latitude than I'm used to from other sports. As long as I don't hold up things, I can use the time walking to the start line to play "whazzat" with her and I can be rewarding her as I go. So that would help to prevent a buildup of frustration and perhaps lessen her need to snoop once the search starts.

We can hold them behind the start line for up to ten seconds. Before I've just been holding her for a good long pause and then letting her go. Tonight I counted to myself "one-banana, two-banana, three-banana..." I couldn't stand it and sent her to search after six-banana. Ten seconds is really a very long time.

After class I explained to Joyce what I was doing and why I might have seemed to not being paying attention to some of her direction during class. She understood and said it was worth a try. In an ORT I could certainly let Gimme snoop, realizing that I'm on the clock and eating up time. Which, fortunately isn't an issue with Miss Gimme, the Nose That Knows...

A funny from class - Gimme's nosework search cue is "wherezit". So tonight after she found one of her hides and Joyce had set another, I gave her the cue and one of the girls in class started telling me where it is. We've been in class together all along, but this time I happened to be pretty close to her - I guess she'd never noticed our cue before. We all got a chuckle.

We came home and did a nice session on some skills. I am still seeing that Gimme just doesn't want to give up control of behaviors. Once they are on cue, she still wants to get paid for offering them and finds it very frustrating that I'm so obviously failing to live up to her understanding of how the world works.

It must be hard to be a genius surrounded by such gross ineptitude.