Nosework (4/27)

I was busy researching online about something the vet told me in the hours before going to class, so I forgot to grab the camera. Sorry, no videos.

Vehicle 1 search - This was a fairly simple search of a flatbed truck, unknown number of hides, startline approach from the back of the truck. Gimme briefly paused and sniffed the tow bar, then passed up the right side and stopped at the front tire. She told me source was behind a bit of grill on the side, just in front of the tire. She was exactly precise about the location. Nice job.

Vehicle 2 search - They added a hide inside the tow hitch. Gimme should have caught the scent from the startline, but instead literally ran up the right side and showed me the same hide from before. I've noticed lately her tendency to remember where hides were from prior searches and she will run to the spot. The good news - she actually sniffs the spot to make sure the hide is still there before indicating. After this hide, she went on around the truck and quickly found the hide on the tow hitch.

I did ask if they'd run this search with the hide on the tow hitch before our class. Yes, they did, but it was 24 hours earlier. I wanted to know why Gimme showed interest in the tow bar on the first search and it's possible she smelled odor from the day before. Dorothy thought it was more likely because the dog searching before us paid a lot of attention to the tow bar and may have drooled or left other smells.

Exterior 1 search - This was a one-hide search down a sidewalk, including the grass on both sides. The point was to search an area of mostly just grass because people get worried when they see a featureless grassy search area. We have searched this area many times, so it wasn't worrisome to me. Two dogs had soiled the area before our search. One pooped in the grass on the right and another peed in the grass on the left. Gimme immediately sniffed where the dog peed and I encouraged her to move on. She went down to the end of the search area and found odor on the way back, a tin on the fire hydrant. I didn't see it, but two students said she started to squat as I was moving her away and did actually squirt a bit of pee. Too bad I didn't have video to verify it. Wish I'd known when it happened, so I could have immediately ended her search, sending a clear reminder reinforcing our no-peeing-while-searching rule.

Exterior 2 search - This time they added a hide on a wooden step thing sitting on the sidewalk near the end of the search area. She didn't go directly to the hide on the hydrant. This time Gimme didn't pay much attention to the pee spot - perhaps my "Don't even think about it" verbiage made her think better of it. Of course, since no dog over-marked her squirt, she may not have felt the need to reply to her own pee-mail. She went quickly to the end of the search area, just like before, finding the added hide, then caught the one on the hydrant on the way back.

All were good searches, she was fast and efficient. I am, however, concerned about her peeing during a search and getting to continue without having her search interrupted. We had several pee instances in nosework after she learned it is okay to pee during tracking and we had to work through it. I don't like this inconsistency on my part. We have two nosework trials in October and I don't want her to think it's now okay to pee.