AKC Trial, Three New Titles

This trial was held at a nice site in a rural area outside Sequim.  The only drawback was really tight parking, but they made what little there was work well - managing to give a bit of extra space to the reactive dogs.  I took videos with my new little camera. They aren't as good as I'd hoped. I see I have to get the camera pointing down more than when she's farther out in front of me for tracking. I'll also have to work on keeping my chest aimed at her. I don't think these will ever be particularly good, since she moves so fast. Sadly the battery died on Sunday, so no videos for those searches. 

After the handler briefing and walk through I was sitting in the car waiting-waiting-waiting (we were 40th) and heard someone discussing their interior search. This is strictly verboten and I tried not to pay attention, but words had already entered my head and you just can't un-hear something. I was determined to rely on Gimme, just as she always expects. Gimme is the "boss of me" and we don't expect it to ever change, just sayin...

 

SATURDAY

 

Container search video - Gimme did a really nice job. I saw her stutter as she passed the fourth box on the left row. I was determined to keep her moving the first time around, so she doesn't get into box crushing. The second time around she passed the hide like it wasn't there, but then when I swung her back to where she had stuttered before, she alerted and we were done in just 15.03 seconds. The judge gave us a Q ribbon and when asked, said she didn't fault Gimme's pawing. I thought she should have. This completes Gimme's Novice Container (SCN) title.

 

Interior search video - There was a narrow aisle down one side of a garage-like building. Gimme went straight to the far end of the search and started working her way back toward the start. She stopped almost right away at the generator, detailed, then alerted. Gimme finished this search in 10.77 seconds, getting a Fourth Place. This completes Gimme's Novice Interior (SIN) title.

 

Thank God I didn't pay attention to the chatter I'd heard, since now I know the person was talking about a false alert. She'd said "passed them, then came back and alerted on the pile of boxes." So my word to the wise is: pay no attention to what you hear - it could be a false alert, it could be practice from days before. TRUST YOUR DOG - Always.

 

Things moved verrrry slow in the afternoon for exterior and buried. I guess buried takes a lot longer. Then to really throw a wrench in things, a dog found a wasp nest in the exterior search area. So they had to actually move the search area, set a hide, run the dog-in-white and then give another walk through. The first 14 teams, who had already run, got a chance to run again, after all the other searches.

 

Exterior search video - About 10 dogs before us it started to rain, but then the sun came out right before we ran. Gimme did a great job in the exterior, finishing in 11.18 seconds for Second Place and earning new title #44, the Novice Exterior (SEN). Yay Gimme!

 

Buried search video - She false alerted on the box right next to the hide. I think she was catching a bit of drifting scent and just thought it could be right. We need to actually train this so she has some experience from which to make judgment calls. It will be a couple of months before our next AKC scentwork trial, so we have time to get plastic shoeboxes and some dirt together to do it. I probably should have trained before this trial, but the weeks before and after Mother's Day are insanely busy, with long days, so there isn't much left of me when I get home. I don't think it's fair to her to ask her to learn when I'm not all there.

 

In the judges' debrief they talked a lot about buried hides. While I certainly understand not using treated soils in your training and trials, I think they are going too far by insisting that dirt from your yard (even if you've never treated it) is potentially harmful. Canids have been smelling dirt for millennia and I think if it was going to harm them, it would have happened by now. However a good point was to make sure you train with a variety of soils and coverings, since they are all very different to the dog and you don't know what you'll get at a trial. We also followed on Sunday with a discussion about how the hides are prepared - biggest thing is cooking the hide overnight before setting it out.  Also, while there is only one q-tip in the tin/plastic container, it does have 2 drops of oil on it.

 

Of course, Gimme had fun, which is what counts. Certainly two placements and three new titles in one day is not a bad haul... I'm also happy to note that I'm starting to see Gimme's stutter-steps in real time (as opposed to in the videos). If I weren't blogging about it, I'm not sure I'd realize this milestone was here.

 

SUNDAY morning

 

On Saturday we finished all the titles Gimme was able to get this weekend and they only have novice interior and exterior searches on Sunday, so no move up or chance of getting a leg toward buried (she has one and needs two more). Since I'd already paid for the searches and the hotel, I decided to stay and play. Gimme enjoys the easy searches and I might learn things.

 

Speaking of easy searches - I found it amusing listening to the novices-to-the-sport talking to each other after the walk through, discussing all the huge challenges in the search area.  I remember doing the same thing early in our career.  I don't expect Gimme to have any difficulty with these searches, though I admit curiosity to see what she thinks of the pile of empty boxes against the wall in the morning interior.

Interior search - This was an interesting triangular shape search area delineated in the corner of a very large training room. We had the option to run off leash and we did (only one other person was brave enough). Gimme was briefly interested in the pile of empty boxes. She spent a lot of time detailing all over the two desks and chairs, but ignored the fan in the corner. To the right of the desk on the side wall was a vacuum, tool box and another vacuum. Gimme checked these, then went out of the search area, returning immediately when I called her. She paid no attention to the egg-shaped exercise ball in the opposite acute corner and left the search area here too, but returned instantly. She finally found the hide in the vacuum hose, but not until she was in it's corner and sniffing her way back toward the main area. I sure didn't expect her to spend so long on this search, but it seems the dogs really needed to hit the hide from the one direction and be sniffing low when they got there. I also think, since she hadn't caught odor yet, she just kept checking and checking the chair/desk combos.  She really expected to find something there and so wasted a lot of time there. I mostly let her decide how to search, but this is one time I probably should have moved her on. It took Gimme 1:35.81 to find this hide.

Exterior search - Gimme was exceptionally fast on this search. She briefly sniffed at the stairs/tub contraption, but the moment she got on the far side, she was drawn to the tea cart. The cart had a grated surface and the hide was under a plant coaster turned upside down. Gimme finished this search in 10.60 seconds for Second Place. The dog in first place was only .43 seconds faster!

SUNDAY afternoon

Interior search - This was a tiny search area and I suspected we were about due for a threshold hide. Normally I would have let her rush in and stood right at the threshold, which tends to draw her back there if she doesn't catch odor elsewhere.  This was an on leash search, so I had to go with her for the rush. I hung back to keep from crowding her, so she'd feel she could come back toward the threshold if she didn't find anything, which she did. She alerted on the trunk right inside the door. Her nose passed over the latch, but kept moving toward the corner as her paw came up to indicate. When I called "alert" her nose was actually on the corner and the judge said the dreaded "where". I quickly reasoned there was no place for an accessible hide on the corner, but there was on the latch, so I pointed to the latch. (hides must be accessible in novice) Gimme finished this search in 10.91 seconds for Second Place and the first place dog was again less than half a second faster.

Exterior search - During the walk-through I noticed some small pieces of black pipe sticking up from the ground around the tree and larger segments of heavy black plastic embedded in the ground around the stump (left side). I thought these might be good possibilities for hide placement and it turns out I was right. We were the last search, so I was ready to interrupt any pee-pee tendencies. Being a novice search I thought it likely a dog might have done so. Gimme entered the search area and headed straight for the back corner, where one dog had in fact peed, sniffed briefly and then came toward and sniffed around the stump. From there she went directly to the tree and quickly scratched some needles away from a covered pipe end, and alerted.

These were all fun searches and Gimme thoroughly enjoyed herself.  She Q'd in 7 of 8 searches, got one Fourth Place and three Second Place ribbons, and three New Titles.  Gimme thoroughly enjoyed her McDonald's cheeseburger, though she's certain it could be improved with some peanut butter.

I did notice some of the best search times were among the Novice A group, often a bit faster than the Novice B competitors.  I wonder if they trained there under one of the judges.  I want to look into what she teaches, perhaps we can catch a workshop sometime.