Nosework (5/31)

This was a series of interior searches, 4 back-to-back, then changed and run again.

Interior 1 video - We started in the foyer with one hide. Gimme indicates in 7 seconds. She really enjoys this easy-peasy stuff.

Interior 2 video - This area had two hides, in a high and low pattern. Gimme has the first hide in 12 seconds. Watch how the toy just leaps off the table during the middle of her search - yeah, right... Fortunately she is dedicated to searching and goes back to work, finding the second hide just 10 seconds later.

Interior 3 video - This area had two inaccessible hides. We haven't done inaccessible hides in a long time, so her skills have gotten rusty. She's 1:45 into the search before she gets serious about the hide under the crate, then alerts within 10 seconds. The instructor makes the comment about it being a "weird hide because it skates around on the floor". Just now thought about it... no wonder it was challenging, since Gimme and I are both walking around near the crate, stirring up the scent pattern and making it hard to decipher. Gimme repeatedly sniffs the file cabinet drawer, where there is no hide - you'll see why later. Once I get her out of "the loop" and into the other part of the search area, she finds the hide quickly. I love how bold she is, willing to put her feet up there. I also love her persistence.

Interior 4 video - One hide, really high. Gimme decides the hide is somewhere on the canopy support in 7 seconds and alerts 6 seconds later. As always, I'm a good ten seconds behind her. Bad me...

Interior 5 video - One hide on the same object, but turned upside down. Gimme is thinking, "Gee Mom, I told you six different times."

Interior 6 video - This is another high-low set of hides. One hide didn't move and Gimme had it really fast. The other, on the garage door, takes a little longer. You can see when Gimme gets the general area and starts narrowing it down to source.

Interior 7 video - Again, inaccessible hides. The instructor turned the crate pan up on its edge, for air flow and so the dogs could easily determine it wasn't there anymore. Once she was satisfied it wasn't hiding in the crate, then she quickly got to the inaccessible in the cabinet. Since Gimme checked the file cabinet repeatedly in the prior search, she ignored it for a long time. Of course the hide was in the file cabinet now. There was enough residual odor from the last time these searches were done, which is why she had to check it so many times. One of the really good things about these classes is the way they are careful to keep the dogs from getting into patterns or relying on assumptions. They do more variety of searches with the same stuff every week than we ever had with all the field trips in my other class.

Interior 8 video - Gimme makes short work of these two hides. One was still on top of the canopy support and another was added on one of the gold-n-black chairs. One interesting thing the instructor noticed was the way the dogs all seemed to check out the gold-n-black chair without the hide, before going to the one with the hide. I suspect some scent was drifting onto it from the hide atop the canopy support.

These were fun searches and Gimme did a stellar job. She did a much better job with the inaccessible hides the second time around. She's really good at this nosey stuff and she should be. She inherited a really good nose, as evidenced by her brother Brady getting his Champion Tracker title last weekend. He's Tana's fourth CT... these kids all love using their noses.