Nosework (5/22)

We had an interesting nosework class this week.  Gimme had a good time and did well.  She did check to see if there was a box with a free toy for her - sadly not.  Too bad, since 247 toys is not enough... She thinks there should be a law saying every dog has a right to 200 toys, because then she'd be entitled to 153 more than what she currently has.  Just sayin...

Exterior 1 video - There were 2 hides on the posts of the business next door.  Gimme went straight to the first post and indicated.  I rewarded her before the instructor could tell me she hadn't gotten to source.  In hindsight I should have rewarded in a much more significant way when she did get to source, to make it more valuable in her mind than the first reward.  I think she just was caught up by it being the first odor smell of the evening and my action of putting my hand in my pocket made her think it was enough (which since she got rewarded, it clearly was).  She was much clearer about getting to source for the second hide. 

Vehicle 1 video - There were 3 hides on two vehicles.  Gimme was the only dog to go down the right side of the right truck, so Dorothy was unprepared to follow us for the video.  Clearly her first indication was a vigorous paw, since Dorothy could hear it from the other end of the van.  Gimme did a nice job turning back to look at me on the other 2 hides.  She had an interesting approach to finding the last hide - having gone past it and then deciding she'd missed something and swung back to a place well before it.

Container 1 video - We were given 1:30 for a blind search of 1 to 3 hides.  Gimme found the only hide pretty quickly, then went on to start playing with the little containers.  Partly it was just fun to bat them around, plus I think she tends to start goofing off when she knows there aren't any more hides.  I don't normally reward a second time on a hide, but since she'd been goofing off and then decided on her own to get back to business, I wanted to reinforce her decision.

Container 2 video - Here they replaced some of the small containers with boxes - with 2 hides.  Gimme found the first hide in a box in 32 seconds, going straight into demolition mode.  I was ready to reward her and she could see I had the treat, but I waited until she moved her paw off the box.  She found the next hide really fast.

BTW - in the new building we have side door toward the rear of the building, which will make it much nicer.  Overall it will make things run smoother since the next team can be ready and waiting in the heated entry room (store area).  It also relieves me of some wariness, since I never know if a classmate is right outside the door with the next dog, so I don't have to have Gimme on a really short leash just in case when I go out the side door.  All the people in our class are experienced dog owners, but still, they don't always make the best choices.

Container 3 video - There were 3 hides and we got to do this search off leash, which is not the norm for container searches.  Gimme went straight to the brick container.  She found the next hide in a box (21 seconds for the two, including time to get paid for the first one).  I again waited for her to take her paw off the box before delivering on her reward.  The third hide was challenging.  While she spent a lot of time checking out other stuff, Dorothy and I both thought she was still working out the puzzle of the third hide.  When she was checking out things not immediately relevant to the containers, I tried to use my movement to draw her back toward the containers without telling her what to do.  At one point when she seemed a little stuck, I went close to her and then moved away to make my movement more obvious.  Of course there was the shopping episode.  I just moved in until she became aware of me again, as a reminder of what she was supposed to be doing.  The look on her face when she "remembered" was priceless, kinda oops-like.  Interestingly, it was soon after this moment of being caught in the act, where she got down to business and concluded her search being more methodical. 

Also interesting, Gimme and Moxie (a Doberman) were both challenged by the little container in this third search, whereas the two small terriers had no problem.  We think maybe it was easier for them since their noses are naturally closer to these low hides with less obvious (visually speaking) containers.  The other larger dogs weren't in class, so we didn't get to see how they would do it.  I'd like to see a lot more really low hides.

I need to make a point to get around and see where the hides are on vehicle searches so I can reward her sooner - to avoid the pawing.  I notice she is back to thinking box demolition is the indication of choice when boxes are available.  She seemed a bit more excited in all her searches than last week, possibly because of having her nose back (post antibiotics).  She's better overall than a year ago about her indications, but I do think we need to go back and revisit some of the work we'd done before.  Sadly I just recently tossed all my nosework boxes in recycle, so I may ask if Dorothy will sell me 6 boxes.