Gimme got to do nosework wearing the dreaded panties. As always, Dorothy had some great exercises for us. The class was about inaccessible hides... in each case the odor was underneath the "thing" in a place where the dog couldn't get to it.
Our first run was beset with wardrobe malfunctions. I tried repeatedly to figure out what was bothering Gimme, since she usually pays no attention, but this time there clearly was an issue. When we finally got back to the car and I took them off, THEN I could see what the issue was. The pad was set too high, too close to the tail hole, so it was tickling-poking-rubbing-or-something in her delicate area. We fixed it for subsequent runs and then she was back to her usual self. To her credit, Gimme was still trying to search even with that very distracting situation.
Clearly better searching with her wardrobe functioning correctly. The voice you hear in the background is my instructor, Dorothy. She describes right off Gimme catching odor and then looking to see if I was getting the go toob out to reward her and since I wasn't, she moved on. You have to be ready for it or you'll miss the very quick head turn. I got the toob out and held it behind my back after that. You'll note how much time she spends licking her leg after each reward. I try to give her only a little bit so it doesn't take so long, but its so hot out, so a bunch comes out at once.
They moved the big box out into the parking lot, just to change up the search. I was going to edit off the beginning of this short movie, but decided to leave it intact because I wanted you to see just how far away Gimme was when she first caught odor. One moment she's trotting along with me, the next her head snaps forward and she's pulling me. So neat to see.
This last search is three quick easily accessible hides. It is very easy to "break" your dog's determination to get to source by doing too many inaccessible hides. Remember when we did the inaccessible hides seminar? Gimme didn't push to source for a good 9 months afterward. So on the rare occasions when we do inaccessible hides Dorothy always makes sure we end with a series of readily accessible and fun hides.
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