Nosework (1/8)

The first search was a three-part search.  First we had a hide right inside the door (threshold) and then went outside through a different door and came around again.  Meanwhile Joyce had paired food on the threshold hide again and set another paired hide behind the water dish, about 6 feet away.  Then, outside and come around to enter again.  Joyce had taken up those two and set hides under two tables, which we did off lead.

Gimme has to be reminded to check the threshold.  After our first run, Joyce had me not give her a verbal search cue.  Her reasoning is that Gimme is so excited by hearing the search cue, that she might be down a notch if I simply let her slowly reel out more line.  Its not that we don't want her excited, we just don't want to feed her excitement - in hopes that she'll become a more efficient hunter.  I'm not sure I agree with this assessment.  I think Gimme takes the "wherezit" cue as a release to "go" and all we'll do with this is teach her to pull harder all the time.

Gimme still seemed to hunt and find the same to me.  She did take a little excursion to the upstairs area, but came back the moment I called her.  This is the first time back in the building since our ten weeks of classes ended - so I think that may be why she went up there.  Honestly I didn't notice any difference in her searching - she knows the drill by virtue of the "clothes" she is wearing and drags me to the door where the search starts.  I have my doubts about whether this will have any affect, but at least it can't "hurt".

Our second search was four hides, one at threshold, one under a drawer on a desk, one under a table blocked somewhat by a pushed in chair and one on the side of the mop bucket.  We were to bring them in and keep them on lead and near the threshold until they got the threshold hide and then turn them loose to search the rest of the room.  Gimme again started up the stairs, but turned around at the landing and came back before I even had a chance to call her.  She found all the hides pretty quickly, though naturally with a lot of flair.

Tonight we were focusing quite a bit on hides on the underside of tables and desks.  The little dogs have trouble getting up to where the hides are and need to be made comfortable with the process.  The Standard Poodle also had difficulty because he's too tall, so he needs to lower his head, plus Poodles don't like to brush their poofy hair on things.  Gimme really is just the right size, especially since she has no fear about getting up to look for things that are above her head and certainly no hesitation about pushing things out of her way to get to odor.

Its natural when we know where the odor is to have our body turned toward odor and just turn our head and shoulders to watch the dog.  That is a huge red flag to the dog and can create an expectation of that unconscious cuing.  So our discussion point for the evening was to always keep your body turned toward your dog, no matter where you are and what you or the dog are doing.  Then when you get to an ORT or trial, you won't know have a problem with your dog relying on which way your body is oriented to know where to look.

Mary is working late on Friday and all day and late on Saturday... and I'm gone on Sunday.  So, lest the kids go through withdrawal, we are going to get together tomorrow when Mary gets off work.