UKC Nosework match

Again, blogging out of order, but by now you know I can't resist bragging about my brilliant girl. I learned of this UKC nosework match just over a week ago and was able to get into it. I haven't read their rules, but couldn't pass up the chance to try it. Rather than giving Gimme more chances to show us how well she remembers where the last hide was, I entered her in both containers and interiors at both levels, novice and advanced, instead of entering for reruns.

Today I drove to Graham in snow coming down like crazy. It was too warm to stick, so didn't have to worry about the road being icy, but at times it was hard to see. The site was nice, but brrrrrrr it was cold.

Novice Containers - It was twelve boxes with one hide (birch) and 3 minutes allotted for search time, which seems like a lot of time. Gimme had the hide in 17.75 seconds for 3rd place. 1st place dog had it in 7.21 and 2nd place had it in 10 seconds. I saw Gimme tip her nose toward the odor box on the way by, but she continued to the end of the row, then indicated on her way back down the row. Maybe I should have showed her the chicken nugget I had for her.

Novice Interiors - A tiny search area marked with tape, 1 hide (birch) and 3 minutes allotted search time. While Gimme dawdled for a couple seconds checking out a cone, she still had the hide in 22.1 seconds for first place. The second place dog was just short of a minute.

Novice Overall - Gimme took High in Match with 39.85 seconds overall time.

Advanced Containers - Twelve boxes, one hide (anise) and 3 minutes allotted search time. Gimme went up and down the row three times, but still had it in 23.5 seconds and came away with 2nd place.

Advanced Interiors - Larger search area, one hide (anise) and 4 minutes allotted search time. This was our first chance to go off leash. Gimme did a quick scan of the whole area, only leaving it briefly, then came back and quickly nailed the inaccessible hide. Her time was 33.03 seconds and she got 1st place. The judge for interiors said Gimme was the only dog to find it blind (other than the "white dog"). She said another handler, who ran two dogs, found it with her second dog, but she knew where the hide was and so tended to hang near the hide. The judge thought Gimme was awesome and I had to agree.

Advanced Overall - Gimme took High in Match again with 56.53 seconds overall time.

I know it was only a match, but clearly Gimme is ready to play in UKC nosework. This group is holding a trial next year, probably in May. There is another trial nearby the weekend after Thanksgiving, but that is the weekend when we'll be playing barn hunt and weight pull.

We drove home in even stronger snow most of the way. It started petering out as we got close to home, turning to rain. As luck would have it, it became a light drizzle as we approached Lacey. I drove by Lake Lois Park in hopes we could re-video one of our parkour behaviors. The drizzle stopped and we were able to get it done. Just as we were getting back in the van, the rain came back.

Now with the heat turned up and a hot soak behind me, I am feeling thawed and normal again. And Gimme may just get some steak I have thawing as we speak... just sayin'...

Bark-Cookies

I've been busy cleaning and repairing gutters.  Not a formidable task, but my foot limits how long I can stand on the ladder, as well as the number of trips up and down it.

I've been working on Gimme's fence running and barking all summer.  She's gotten so much better, now seeing it as a big game that she plays with me.  That's good because she doesn't bark as much, plus the attitude is better, thus no risk she'll decide to not-like what she's barking at.  Though she does still have 'tude about people who walk dogs past our house (we'll do set-ups to train that separately).

Gimme now stands eagerly watching from one of the two front corners of the yard, looking up the street for something bark-worthy, wagging her tail in happy anticipation.  She had to learn that stuff 2 blocks away, doesn't qualify for cookies.  She is always trying to game the system.  She sometimes doesn't bark, but then if I'm not paying attention has to bark to show me that she's not barking, doncha know. 

Anyway, she's making headway.  However being up on a ladder puts a kink in the training, since there is no way to give her the favorite - anything peanut butter - from up there.  Multiple trips up and down the ladder really shortened my ability to make headway on the gutter project.  And coming down the ladder to reward her is not timely.

Then I hit on the brilliant idea of buying her Nutter Butter cookies, since they have real peanut butter in them and would be a big enough chunk (even broken in pieces) to throw down to her.  So I bought a bag of Target's generic version and had them in my work bag when I came home.  Gimme is really good about not getting into things, so I didn't think anything of setting it down with the cookies in it. 

I didn't think anything of it, until I went looking for them and discovered the plastic bag and cookies were missing.  I figured she'd gotten out the dog door with them when I wasn't looking and made short work of them.  Imagine my surprise to find she had stashed them in the corner behind my sewing table, without opening them.  I think she put them away for safe keeping, especially after seeing me give Grafton one of her rawhide chews (for his birthday).  I guess she didn't want me to get carried away with the whole gifting thing.

Anyway, the PB cookies are working great and she's made good progress over the weekend and today.  I've even started tossing her the random cookie for just hanging out near me without scanning for bark-worthy things.  A couple of times when I saw her in time, starting to run up and bark at something, when I called her she turned on a thin dime to get back to me.  Yay Gimme...