Search 1 - Three hides close to the temporary storage POD featured in last week's class. There was a pallet at the near end with two concrete boxes (like water meters are in) and one hide was in there. Near the other end of the POD was a grate in the ground and there was a hide at one corner. Then aligned with and somewhat behind the POD was five stacks of pallets with a hide in one. Gimme found the hide in the concrete boxes immediately, 3-5 seconds. From there she went directly toward the grate, bypassed it a short distance and then came right back to it. For the pallets, she ignored the three stacks closest to the POD, showed interest in the two pallet stacks together and then briefly checked some stuff just beyond the two pallet stacks. There was a tiny breeze blowing in that direction. She quickly came back and indicated. The whole search was under a minute.
Search 2 - This was again three hides, all at ground level in open
areas. The significance of this search was to have the hides out in an
open area, instead of on stuff like we usually do. I've included a lot
of the area because of the location for the startline and because of the
significance of other stuff in the area during the search. The hides
were on another grate, under a weed next to the edge of the pavement and
behind a rock next the other edge of the pavement. We were encouraged
to use a longer line if we wanted - I used our 25' line.Several people didn't follow the instructions and started from a place halfway between the startline and the grate hide. Their dogs tended to go behind them to the telephone poles (and other stuff) from the start. I started where we were supposed to and Gimme went first to the nearest grate, but sniffed it on the run and continued to the telephone poles. Its natural for the dogs to check another grate since they are connected and can suck scent from one to another. Gimme made a big loop around the search area, basically scanning the whole thing. I noted a head check as she went by the grate and weed hides as she buzzed by. She actually indicated the rock hide first. From there she went directly to the grate and then looped a couple of times before narrowing down the weed hide. She had all three in under 2 minutes.
Search 3 - The hide nearest the startline was placed just up behind the edge of the curb surrounding the landscaping. The hide at the edge of the other island was on the ground right next to the curb. The other was on top of a large flat rock inside the landscaping.Gimme did the best on this search. She was the only dog to detect the nearest hide from the startline and when released went directly to it, indicating in under 5 seconds from release. From there she went directly toward the hide on the ground, but overshot it. As she swung around she caught the scent of the hide on the flat rock. She worked back and forth between the two for a few seconds before indicating on the rock hide. From there she went almost directly to the last hide. I wish we'd timed this - less than 1:15 I think. It was over so fast - waaaay faster than the other dogs.
Gimme was really fast and accurate on all her searches - it was like not getting our money's worth. Of course, Gimme was happy -- she doesn't worry about money. None of these seemed challenging for her, but its always good to have a day when she gets to find them all quickly. They weren't necessarily easy-peasy hides; its just getting harder and harder to fool this girl.
This weekend we have the two seminars I mentioned before. I'll take LOTS of notes...
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