I can't believe its been three weeks since I last blogged. How can that be? I'll tell you how - I've had a part time job that has just sucked my brain dry. It was supposed to last one week, then stretched to two weeks... then two and a half. Now it looks like it may continue even further. For the first two and a half weeks, I was putting every possible hour into it (99.5 hours in 18 days, along with my regular job). I was told it was data entry, but didn't realize I'd be creating my own data. Also, much of the work is creating trusts and making trust entries... That's controlled by state law and is very tedious and demanding - accuracy is essential. So check, Check and double-check. By the time I got home at nights, there wasn't enough of me left to train Gimme, much less spend time on the computer. If it weren't for going to our regularly scheduled classes, I think Gimme would have run away from home by now. People say its good to give our dogs a break from training now and then, but Gimme is damn good and ready for this break to be ovah.
Honestly I don't remember what we did three weeks ago in nosework class. I do recall that she was especially intrigued by having class in the morning. I'm sure Gimme was a star as usual.
Two weeks ago, we did several interior searches. Joyce is making a special effort to make more challenging hides for Gimme to get her ready for the NW2 trial. Some of the hides are really inaccessible and we've done more threshold hides. Also that week we did one container search. This class has a mixture of levels, so we had Gimme go last, since she was sure to crush a bunch of boxes. She did not disappoint us. The newbees find her drive and enthusiasm fascinating. Joyce continues to roll her eyes when Gimme goes into box demolition mode. I don't care about it, since the boxes will be going away and she saves all the rough treatment for the boxes.
This week we did a game called High-Low. The setup was 4 chairs in a line of sorts, spaced about 4 feet apart. The odor on the first chair was very low, almost at ground level. The second chair it was at about chair rung level. The third at seat level and the fourth high on the back. The first time around Gimme did very well and we had all four of them in under a minute.
The second time around Joyce put the fourth one on top of the chair back and for some reason, even though she found the first three very quickly, Gimme had a tough time with that. She was all around the edge of the seat and under the seat, but couldn't seem to get the idea to look up. The only guess I have is that the odor was drifting down the front of the seat back and pooling on the seat itself and only then drifting off the back of the seat to the floor. It was clear that she knew she hadn't found the source, but it just seemed to take her awhile to find it. Of course, she did find it.
We've also had an agility class since I last blogged. Nothing memorable to report. Gimme did okay, but wasn't very focused. That was about 5 days into the part time job, which meant we weren't really walking, going to the fort or training - so she was pretty distracted. Blynn is a great trainer and very patient. She gently keeps nudging me to expect more from Gimme and to be more consistent myself.
Tomorrow night we have agility again. So we are going to train tonight and be sure to get a walk in tomorrow. After class I'll be going to my parents' house to deliver dinner, along with my Mom's Christmas present. I bought it many months ahead of Christmas and carefully put it away for safekeeping. So safe that I've only just found it this weekend!
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