
The idea for suspending a hide in mid-air was to give the dogs a hide which didn't have anything nearby for the odor to "stick" to as it created its scent plume. We did this back around Christmas, though the hide was closer to nose level. Most dogs took around 6 minutes or longer to complete this puzzle. Gimme found all four hides in 2:45 seconds, so if it were a trial search, she would have definitely qualified. She was so fast, she was finding the third hide as the chair was being moved.
Gimme was positively gleeful to find a hide so high. When we first started taking classes with Dorothy, Gimme had a very strong tendency to search high-headed. Fortunately Dorothy knows a LOT of ways to make a hide inaccessible without having it be high up and out of reach, so Gimme's default to have her nose up in the air has changed. She still likes it though, as was evident by how H-A-P-P-Y she was to find one so far above her head. She was really strutting after finding it.


The only other time Gimme and I have played this was only one vehicle (before we started training with Dorothy), so it created some interesting differences for Gimme. First, she is more experienced and we saw from her demeanor she has a good sense of where she has already searched. As I moved her around and back into areas she'd already searched, there was a definite attitude of just going along with me, then when she found a newly placed hide, she seemed really shocked. As if to say, "I know I checked this spot and it wasn't here before!" She was happy to keep finding hides, just not sure what to make of the magical hide appearances.
Then the last thing Dorothy had us do was to walk along the bottom nearest the van back toward the startline. There was a hide on the front wheel well near where we walked. Dorothy said to walk as if we were leaving the search area, but without any specific cue. I just walked purposely (normally during a search I am following or shadowing her) and telling Gimme she was a good and brilliant girl. We walked right by the hide, so close she should have noticed it. I was surprised she didn't show any sign whatsoever she'd noticed it. Her nose was clearly switched to "off". So good to know so I don't unintentionally take her out of hunting mode when I don't intend to.
Normally we have 3 or 4 hides, and this night only two. But they were much longer searches and despite the fact they weren't as long for Gimme, she seemed content enough.
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