The searches were all interiors, set up in a very busy area. The idea is to set your hand at one -short- distance on the leash and keep it at that length, as well as firm tension.
Interior 1 video - The first search we had to hold something under our arm and I did a paper napkin. This was to keep us from raising our arm to maintain tension. I thought Gimme found it weird for me to be right behind her all the time. She isn't bothered by it, but I did see a couple looks of annoyance when she turns quickly and I'm in her way. Normally she isn't interested in latex squeak toys, but this night she was all about wanting the witch toy. Dorothy was going to take it away, but I said to leave it, since I wanted Gimme to have the opportunity to work through this distraction. I finally get her to move on and then she becomes distracted by another toy - which I thought, oh heck, I don't know what I thought. I rewarded her for her interest, when the hide was about three feet away. Dorothy was very nice to spin my lapse, saying I was rewarding her for not-stealing the toy. Gimme's search was almost 5 minutes! Of course she spent a lot of time working through toy distractions, so I'm pleased with her efforts.
BTW I now know Gimme can still hear the video even when I use the headset. She hates listening to us training when it's coming from the laptop and leaves the room. So I use a headset when I'm editing them. She still leaves the room sometimes. Tonight when the squeak-a-rama was going on, she came back and ran around checking her toys - presumably looking for the one I stepped on.
Interior 2 video - This time we didn't have to hold something under our arm. I decided, despite Dorothy saying it was the perfect length, to give Gimme more line so I wasn't in her way if she changed direction. She does change directions a lot and fast, so it seemed a better option. Gimme goes right to the nearest hide from the start. She checks then leaves the nearest toy and goes quickly to the next hide. It takes her a little longer to find the third hide and based on where it was, I think she was working a converging odor challenge. She does go back to check on the latex witch toy, then leaves it on her own. I decided to reward her decision. The current wisdom in nosework training is to only reward finding hides, but I thought her decision was important to reward. And, as Dorothy pointed out, she has enough experience to understand the distinction. From there she goes right to the last hide, though I have to wait for her to indicate source on it. Since we didn't have to work through the toy distractions, this search was faster by 3 minutes.
Interior 3 video - I swallowed something while we were waiting and it went down the wrong pipe. Fortunately, Gimme isn't bothered by me hacking up a lung; she was far more interested in searching off lead. It takes her a minute to find the first hide. Then a minute to find the other three. Interestingly, she is working out some puzzle in the middle of the room, then suddenly makes a direct line to the last hide in the other end of the room.
All of her searches were nice. I was proud of her working through the toy distraction. She's getting ready to go into a false pregnancy, so toy squeaks are a much bigger deal for her right now.
I can't say I'm impressed with this new handling technique; I don't get the point of it. I watched both instructors do it with their dogs the week before and it just looks awkward. It certainly feels awkward. I like what I've been doing, which is much like what we do with tracking. It makes sense to me to be consistent in how I'm handling the line. Luckily Gimme doesn't get thrown off by trying all these weird ideas.
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