We had three exterior searches tonight. In the first two we were to work with a really short leash (3-5 feet) and the third search we could use as long a leash as we wanted.
Exterior search 1 video We weren't supposed to take them up to the two garage doors because there were metal shavings by the doors. I'm the only one who actually kept my dog out of those areas. Gimme found the first hide really quickly. From there we checked the perimeter around the search area and then I started a bit of roving diagonals to check the middle area. Dorothy said the first time we went under the window that Gimme wanted to search around the corner and more in the area, but I don't see this on the video. To me it looks like there's a little slack in the leash when Gimme decides to come away from the corner of the building. I'm not sure why she didn't catch it and I don't think I pulled her away from it. It was a big area to cover in just 3:00.
Exterior search 2 video Gimme was a bit distracted from the startline and again as we got to the far end of this little search area. You see she completely gets into work once she gets close to odor. After we had checked the other area, I took her back to the area where she'd been looking away, just in case there was something there she missed. She actually found the hide fairly quickly, but I used up all the time making sure she covered the area.
After I took Gimme to the car and was walking back over I saw two small things moving along in an area just across the cul-de-sac from where search 2 was set up. So I'm thinking there was some vermin/critter nearby and she smelled it. To her credit, she was able to let go of the critter desire when she got closer to odor.
Exterior search 3 video There were two hides and we were allowed to use any length of line we wanted. Because it was a large area, I opted for my 25' line, but I really didn't need it. The 12' line would have been fine. Gimme did a very nice job and found both hides in under a minute.
When I took her back to the car, I took her harness off. This way she knows she's done searching. Apparently she wanted to search some more because she fussed and yodeled the rest of the time while the other dogs were doing their searches. She made it pretty clear she saw no point to waiting around if she wasn't going to do any more searches.
In case you missed it - we got into an NW3 trial this Saturday. So feel free to start crossing fingers and other body parts any time you want.
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