One Weekend - 3 Titles (1)

[My laptop now has a new battery, so I was able to write the blog while on site.  Of course, being fresh in my mind, it has a lot of details, so I've broken it into 3 entries.]

Over the weekend of three Element Specialty Trials - we were 100% successful at all three.  Gimme was amazing all weekend, despite still being in a false pregnancy.  She was concerned about leaving the baby the first time, but then was fine with it afterward.  This lends weight to my belief it is the prolonged time out of the car which throws her in barn hunt.  At this trial, I got the potty walk out of the way and then back to the car.  I was able to get her out at the last moment and go almost directly to the first waiting station.  So for her searches, the longest she was out of the car was 20 minutes and barn hunt is usually 30 minutes or more.  Then again it could simply be because she is so much farther along in her motherhood experience.

Saturday Level 1 Vehicles 

After this day's success, Gimme became the first Dalmatian to get all four Level 1 element titles.  The searches were easy and to be honest, I think Gimme was a little bored with how simple they were.  She likes a good challenge and she clearly didn't think these searches measured up.  I don't know the exact times, but I'm sure they were pretty good.

Vehicle Search 1 – This consisted of two ambulances.  Gimme found this right away and spent some time locating source, but didn't indicate.  I was determined not to blurt alert.  She went around the vehicles and then came back down the same side and I re-cued "wherezit".  She went directly to it and alerted. 

Vehicle Search 2 – This was two firetrucks.  Gimme started down the right side, sniffing around the front tire on the first truck.  Then as we got to the second vehicle she lost interest.  When we got to the other side, she wanted to leave the area.  I encouraged her back to the search area and when she got back to the front end of the first truck, she quickly indicated on the front right tire.

Since she is 3½ weeks into a false pregnancy, I thought she was unfocused because of baby concerns.  However, when we left the second search, just 50 yards into the grassy area, she stopped to poop.

Vehicle Search 3 – There was a horse trailer and a small silver car.  Gimme started down the right side, sniffed around the hitch of the trailer and started to leave it, but quickly came back to indicate.  Clearly I need not have worried about her being distracted by horse poo smells.

Vehicle Search 4 – We had just one small car.  It was in an indoor bay, with other vehicles all round it – some as close as ten feet.  Gimme wanted to check them out, but I encouraged her to stick with the one we had.  When she got around to the front end, she quickly indicated at the license plate.

All in all, a lovely day with a nice success, all spent with the prettiest girl on the planet.