Nosework (2/28)

We only had two searches, but they were very long and involved. Basically we were playing "running bunny" within an interior search. We'd done it once before on vehicles, Gimme loved it and went so fast the instructor could barely keep up. "Running bunny" is a game where the hide is moved right after the dog finds it and moves on.

I was really surprised by Gimme's searching in this class. I expected her to just really get into it and find a lot of hides as she had with the vehicle version of "running bunny", but this time it was quite different. Dorothy thinks it's because she had these expectations which were getting in the way of what she was doing.

The other factor which likely made it harder - she was the third dog to play the game, so the hides had been moved all over the place multiple times and thus there was scent everywhere. It clearly made for a very "messy" search area.

Search 1 video - Gimme only found 7 hides, whereas August found 13. In normal searches, the scent pools and moves and the dogs can read it and based on strength and direction, it leads them to source. When you have all this scent around and no clear pattern of strength and direction, it's hard to find source. Basically, it's just a matter of happening upon it. August searched first and the area wasn't filled with messy scent evidence, leading nowhere. Also August moves slower and is very methodical, so he was likely finding more hides because he wasn't outrunning his nose when he happened to get close to one. Gimme is used to scent making sense, so it made it harder for her in this situation. I'm not suggesting she wasn't having fun - she clearly was. She enjoys searching in and of itself, so a 6¼ minute search is fun for her.

Search 2 video - This time we started the search in the foyer, which you won't see on video, because Dorothy wanted to have the option to move a hide (the red cart) in there, to see if the dogs were inhibited about returning to there. Clearly Gimme wasn't inhibited since she went in there without me and without a hide being moved in there. Gimme was the only one of the dogs to use the steps of the ladder to access the high hide. Just what I'd expect from my smarty pants. She found 9 hides and searched happily for 8¼ minutes.

This was interesting, certainly not what I expected. She sure had fun with these extra long searches.