The first search was an underwater search - with 1 q-tip at the bottom of a bowl of water. The breeze should have been blowing the scent away from us, but there was a large log between the source of the breeze and the hide. So I think it was creating a bit of a swirl. Anyway, all the dogs found it pretty quickly.
Something I've been concerned about happened tonight. I've been training tracking in her nosework harness because the harness I intend to use long-term for tracking still needs alterations. At first she never peed on a track, but now she does - probably because the others all do and she often follows them. Anyway tonight, after we'd started the search, she went into the grass and peed - even though she'd had a chance to pee shortly before. I took her by the harness and marched her off the search area, gave her a squinty-eyed look and then restarted her. There is no problem with fouling the track, but its an NQ in nosework. So I'm thinking I'm going to have to nip this in the bud or it could be a problem for our nosework career.
The second search was three hides stuck to the side of the metal building near the industrial size garage doors - following last week's theme of high-medium and low. She went by the high and medium, brieftly passed the low, then turned around to nail it. As she went back up the line she got the medium hide easily. For some reason the high hide (at about 6 feet) seemed to be a big challenge for her. Normally she aces high hides. She finally got it, but it seemed to be a challenge. I suspect it had something to do with the breeze, since she kept getting caught up on stuff nearby and in particular the door to go in the building.
The third and fourth searches were inside. The area had a lot of stuff everywhere. There were three hides. One was set deep in a drawer near where we entered. Another was on an expen set in a zigzag. The other was on the underside of the rolling cart. The green arrow is a fan - which was off for the third search. The giant garage doors were open at the end of the room (triple dotted line).For the third search Gimme found the one on the expen first, then walked around to the other side and "found" it again. She was quite pleased with her cleverness. She had a little challenge getting to the hide on the rolling cart (pink rectangle), I think because it was a converging odor challenge. Once she got it, then she went on a direct line to the one deep in the drawer.
For the fourth search the only hide left out was the one on the expen and then the fan was turned on. We thought this would be a challenging search, but it seemed easy for all the dogs. Gimme got it very quickly.
I had an "interesting" conversation with the co-instructor about Gimme's seizures and medication. She said there was no reason for Gimme to be on medication because she had a dog who had seizures every couple of months for her whole life. She said they were grand mal seizures, mostly clusters and she never medicated the dog, which lived to 14 years old and died from something else. I found it an astounding attitude. Then on the way home I realized part of the issue is her breed, Belgians. There are breeds recognized for a high incidence of seizures: GSD, Beagles, Belgians, Dachshunds, Keeshonds, Collies, Goldens, Poodles, Huskies, Cocker Spaniels, Irish Setters, Miniature Schnauzers, Wire-haired Fox Terriers, Labrador Retrievers and Saint Bernards.
Recently I took part in an owner reported health survey of Dalmatians and it showed 5% of Dalmatians have had seizures. I looked on line and found two articles, one said 3%, and the other 4%, of dogs overall have had seizures. So Dals are at a slightly increased susceptibility, whereas the breeds listed above have a MUCH higher incidence. So for people in those breeds, perhaps seizues are part of their view of normal and so they don't take them as seriously. I do suspect the incidence in Dalmatians is probably closer to the overall percentage, because those owners who report in a health survey are more likely to keep closer track of all the minor issues and possibly over-report, as opposed to the overall population of pet owners.
BTW the same survey results showed the incidence of false pregnancy in Dalmatians is only 1%. I've had about 20 Dalmatians (4 males) and two of the females had false pregnancies, so I've seen over 12%. Thus I was surprised to find the incidence in Dalmatians so low.
Gimme is still asking about her daily bowl of vanilla ice cream...
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