Despite a lot of drizzle, three of our four searches were outdoors. You will see in the videos strips of surveyor tape. They were set up at nose level so we could see what the wind was doing at dog-nose-level.
Vehicle 1 search video - One vehicle, two hides. Gimme starts the search going down the right side of the vehicle and then veers out to the landscaping. You will here the co-instructor say, "tha's a lotta leash for a vehicle". Yes it is by traditional standards, but I know Gimme. Do note how Gimme turned back to the vehicle on her own. The leash looks tight, but its sliding through my fingers, so it isn't me pulling her back. Despite her taking a moment to catch the scent off the landscaping, Gimme still had the hide in 13 seconds, faster than the other dogs. Then I used front crosses as turns to get her back to the vehicle, since the wind was blowing the scent away. She did a nice job finding the other hide. I confess I didn't really have time to pay attention to which way the surveyor tape was blowing during the search, but it was interesting when I made a point to watch it on the video.
Too many times to count I've seen Gimme veer out to something off to the side and then follow it right to the hide, which is exactly what she did here. So, I haven't changed how I handle her on vehicles and I won't, no matter how often I get told its too much leash. Before I started training with Dorothy I went to a nosework seminar where the presenter, one of the NACSW founders, talked about this very thing in her lecture. Then in one of the searches Gimme did it and she pointed out to everyone how Gimme had just demonstrated what she'd been talking about earlier. I've also had a judge comment favorably on it. I figure if one of the founders and a judge have seen it enough times to identify it as a valid strategy for some dogs, who am I to argue with my brilliant girl.
Vehicle 2 search video - Three vehicles, 5 hides. For much of this search she wasn't getting the same amount of wind as the other dogs. I think she missed the first bumper hide simply because she was going too fast and it was blowing toward the next bumper where there was also a hide. You'll see she goes past the hide on the third bumper to the landscaping, then turns back on her own going directly to the hide. When we go up between the big truck and little truck, there is almost no wind until we are leaving, so Gimme doesn't get anything from the other side of the big truck, which is where the hide is. As we are going along the bumpers, she catches the drift from the one she missed, which is now blowing into her face. When we go up between the two big trucks the first time, you'll see the tape blow strongly away from Gimme, which is why she misses the hide. When we go back there a second time, the wind has dropped a bit and she finds it easily. I'd love to do this kind of search off leash and see if she is faster - I believe she would be.
External search video - This was a huge search area, 3 hides, and we were encouraged to use a long line, so while I usually would use my 25 foot line, I thought Gimme would enjoy being unencumbered and used our 40 foot tracking line. I let Gimme make her own decisions about how to cover the search area, except for one time when I encouraged her with my location to swing around and get into the corner made by the vehicle, which she'd passed when she rounded the corner. Otherwise it was all her and she was really fast compared to the other dogs, which is often the case. Gimme passed by the area where the first hide was located, but then caught it when she was almost on top of the second hide, so she went back to it from there, sourced and indicated. This was really nice to see because she could easily have gone straight to the second hide since she was so close. You can tell as she goes from the first to second hide, she knew exactly where it was. This was such a beautiful search. I do have to confess, 40 foot of line is really too much to handle in a nosework search; though its fine in tracking because you can let it drag along behind you.
Container search video - Don't blink or you'll miss it. Six seconds, start to finish...
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