We had 4 searches, in two sets of two. Gimme was the third dog on the list, so we got things out of the way quickly.
Museum Search - This was a search of just one vehicle inside, 1 hide, 1:00. It was a finished garage, with other non-vehicle, but large, dairy related pieces. The vehicle was a large cream-colored old-fashioned milk truck. There was only about 3' between the truck and the other stuff, so Gimme was attracted to the other things, but I just encouraged her to come back toward the vehicle. We entered the search from the rear of the vehicle, passed up the right side and around the front, down the driver's side. It had big sliding doors and Gimme found the hide in the bottom part of the sliding door "hinge". She did the search in 35 seconds (11th place). In rewarding her I managed to drop several treats and I was sure the judge saw it, but the trial results don't show any faults.
Main Street Search - Here we had two vehicles, 3 hides and 2:00. From the start line Gimme went up the right side of the near vehicle, then up the right side of the other vehicle. As she got to the front she indicated on the license plate holder. Then she started down the left side of that vehicle, taking a diagonal to the hide at the wheel. From there I took her around the vehicles again and then between them. I told her "check-it" pointing to the bumper of the nearest vehicle and that was when she found the third hide. She did the search in 1:31 (11th place). I again dropped treats, but the trial results don't show any faults. Oddly they also didn't give us maximum time for my failure to say "finish" at the end of our search.
The whole treat dropping is because I was nervous and my hands were shaky. Normally I use peanut butter in the go-toob, but haven't been using it in class because the co-instructor gets so impatient having to wait for Gimme to cleanse her palate. I went back to the PB toob for the rest of the trial.Circus Wagon Search - This search was three vehicles, 2 hides and 1:30. The vehicles were three little mock circus wagons lined up askew in a row. Gimme went from the start line up the right side and found the first hide at the corner of the last wagon. From there we went down the other side and she quickly alerted on the rear wheel of the vehicle closest to the start. Gimme did this in 1:02 (19th place).
Hollywood Lights Search - This search was two vehicles, 1 hide and 1:30. There was two vehicles lined up straight. Gimme went up the right side, around the end and then came down the side to the first car's front tire and did a lot of sniffing. She was pretty intent, but hadn't sourced it or alerted. When they called "30 seconds" I walked her around to the other side and she paid a lot of attention to the other front tire. I knew we were almost out of time and called "alert", about a tenth of a second after the timer called "time". As it turned out, the hide was inaccessible and it was behind the first tire she showed interest in. We were assessed maximum time.
Gimme did a good job, she just ran out of time. She didn't hesitate to come with me when I moved her away from where the hide was, so she clearly wasn't convinced it was there. She's normally very good at inaccessible hides, but I think it was hot and it was also the last search, so she could have been a little tired. The vehicles were standing out in the sun - all the "ring crew" were sitting in shade nearby.
There were only 7 dogs who titled, out of 25 entered. Gimme's total time was 4:39 (11th place). Her placement should have been much lower, but the judge must've been half asleep and missed my two treat dropping faults. Placement is based on faults, then time. We had 85% which was well over the 75% needed to get a leg toward a title. So now I have to find another L2V trial in the area. Although I was disappointed to miss the title, I wasn't unhappy with Gimme's performance. She tried hard, as always.
When we got home I found a notice in our email inbox notifying me Gimme had completed the requirements for her Level 1 title with All Dogs Parkour. So she now gets to add ADP-L1 to her long list of titles - this is title number 18. East Bay Public Plaza - ADP L1
Gimme is still humble, but I'm not. Just sayin...
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