Nosework class (3/35)

These were three complicate interior searches, so they tended to be long, especially the first two. The first search was blind.

Interior 1 search video - Gimme finds the first hide in 20 seconds. She really wasn't bashing the containers; they were just so close together she couldn't search without knocking them about. She found the hide, but by the time I got there she had looked up and then looked down pointing at a different one. I waited until she indicated the same one she had at first and we were correct. She finds the second hide in the toe of the stocking in 18 seconds. Nice work. It takes her 1:18 seconds to find the next hide, but much of that time was spent surveying other possibilities. She repeatedly bumps the hanging red box hide with different body parts, often her tail, and pushed it up high with her nose, but didn't indicate. She went around and around and around it, perhaps creating a vortex from her own body movement. (one seminar I went to they showed how a Golden's swishing tail moved smoke from a smoke pen) Gimme paid a lot of attention to the pole near it, but still didn't indicate. She finally did push it up with her nose and then told me, "that's it, pay me". I learned there were two other hides, but she didn't get to them. I thought there was, but I wanted to end on this positive resolution of a challenging hide.

Interior 2 search video - This time she found the first hide in 8 seconds and was clearly very excited. I couldn't get there fast enough to keep her from bashing the hide. She finds the second hide in the box "pile" in 10 seconds and was a lot less boisterous in her indication; of course I was closer. Maybe when I'm farther away she feels the need to add emphasis for effect, and to get me hustling over. Howevah, if I move too fast, she amps up and moves even faster, so it's a careful balancing act. It takes her 1:04 to find the next hide. It was moved just a few feet to the other side of the door, but it proves a challenge. I think the four hides in this end of the room are acting like one huge converging odor puzzle and thus she keeps getting drawn to the group in the middle, and keeps telling me about the two she'd already found. I don't think she necessarily expected payment for re-finding them - rather I think she was clarifying in her mind what was what. Of course, I could be wrong. Note she goes right to the corner where there is the other hide of the puzzle, but just doesn't get it solved before she leaves. Because of time spent there, when she leaves to find the stocking on the upside-down canopy, it was 1:10 for this find. The hide hanging from the canopy is still in the red box, but they turned the canopy 90º and lowered the hide a bit. She's still nosing it and batting it with her tail, without indicating. She went round and round and round, until I finally encouraged her to leave it and go toward the corner table. She leaves the table and goes back on her own and finds the hanging hide very fast. The time to find it was 3:10 - her longest ever. She does find the hide on the corner table, but not until she puts her feet on the chair and gets her nose higher than the top of the box. It was the same kind of box as the one hanging from the canopy. Its a one-piece folding box, so probably only vents from the top. You sure can't fault her persistence - it was a 7-minute search and she never lost enthusiasm.

Interior 3 search video - They removed most of the hanging things from the canopy and moved it to cover the container pile, adding an expen to limit access. Gimme goes in and out, clearing it quickly. She is drawn back to it for another check. I casually walked away and she follows me. She gets a bit stuck on the chair because every good dog knows hides are on chairs - except this time. The hide is actually in the stocking on the wall, near the bathroom door. You can see she is bracketing all around it. Once she goes up on the edge of the open door, it's only 10 seconds before she finds the hide. It was a very nice job.

I mentioned in the second search a "clicker training story about tails". It is from one of my first clicker training seminars, with Shirley Chong. I was trying to shape Meaggi to touch the trap under a sink with her nose. She did it a couple of times and then wouldn't do it again. Instead she would do everything except touch it with her nose. Shirley came over to observe us and then started laughing and laughing and laughing. While she didn't know what behavior I was trying to get, she quickly realized it had something to do with the trap (U-shaped pipe), because Meaggi had touched it with every part of her body except her nose. She noted Meaggi had slowly and deliberately touched her tail to it 3 times in succession. Shirley pronounced Meaggi brilliant, as did Morgan Spector a couple years later. They both concluded I was badly over-matched.

I think I'm over-matched with Gimme too. Fortunately she is more willing to humor me with my meager efforts.