Nosework (3/17)

Our first search was a simple container search and I forgot to hand off the camera.  Gimme briefly sniffed the nearest hide (noting it for later) and then moved on.  She stopped and indicated the farther one.  Then as we came back by the other she indicated it.  I took one more trip around and then called "finish" and was right.  After indicating the second one, she was trying to sniff other non-box stuff, so I was pretty sure I was right.



The other two searches were in two canopies outside (one with canvas and one without) and a ladder.  

Suspended hides search video 1 
The first search included the ladder and the canopy with canvas.  As you watch this, it looks like she's doing a lot of sniffing of other stuff (the hides were suspended in the canopy and the ladder) and I did think so myself.  It became apparent as I watched the other dogs, she was really chasing odor.  When she starts searching the canopy she goes vertical right away (on the leg).  She wasn't the fastest to find the hide under the canopy, but she worked nicely.  Then you see her wanting to go up the canopy legs some more as she is solving the converging odor problem between the canopy and ladder.  She briefly indicates a step on the ladder, but when I don't respond she goes right back to work.  I don't think she actually thought it was the hide, more like she threw it at me to see if it would stick.  She found the ladder hide quickly right after this.  

Suspended hides search video 2 
This time there is a hide in both canopies (with and without canvas - higher than before) and one was added to the ladder if the search took a long time.  No dog found the one in the canopy without canvas.   I think they might have found it, but they spent so much time solving the puzzle on the other canopy that we finished the search early.  Chairs were added to the covered canopy and we thought this would make the search easier; in fact, it made it much harder for most dogs.  Despite time spent working the curbs, fire hydrant, and truck, Gimme was the fastest to find this canopy hide.  Every time she got really in the canopy she tended to go vertical.  She had this hide in 2:10, which was awesome.  One dog took over 7 minutes to solve it.  The hide in the ladder was added to give the dogs a chance to find a hide if they got too frustrated, I didn't even take Gimme to it.  Unfortunately the camera was cut off, because as I took her through the uncovered canopy on the way to the car, her nose went up and she got light on the front end, but no one else saw it. 

Gimme checked the chairs quickly and then dismissed them, whereas other dogs seemed to obsess about them.  When the chairs were added it was thought they would provide surfaces closer than the curbs et al, to catch scent.  Instead for most of the dogs, they had strong expectations when they saw chairs, which meant they took a long time letting go of the scent pooling against and on them.  Gimme loves high hides, so she was more willing to give up on them.

And of course she's naturally brilliant, doncha know. 

** We entered another NW3 trial and while we didn't get in, we are on the waitlist at #18... so this is definitely a stronger possibility than the one we are waitlist #55.  Cross your fingers...