Nosework trials, day 3

Day 3 - NACSW @ Steilacoom We were hoping to get our L3I (level 3, interior element) title; at the least I wanted a leg.

Interior Search 1 - This search was in a classroom with the teacher's desk out of play. We were told 0-3 hides with 2:30 allowed. Gimme found two hides solidly. One was under the edge of desk and the other inside a little stack of chairs. After those she ran around and never showed interest anywhere else, so I called "finish". The judge said the third hide was under a chair near the door. Gimme was near there once, but not real close.

Interior Search 2 - This search was in a classroom with half of the room out of play. We were told 1-3 hides with 2:00 allowed. Gimme found a hide quickly then scanned around and settled on a table with a bunch of chairs around it. She finally gave me "the look" and I called alert. The judge said it was under a little chair behind me. So this is a false alert.  In hindsight, because of the tight spacing, I was between Gimme and the actual hide location.  So when she alerted, she was likely responding to the strongest scent available - an honest mistake.

Interior Search 3 - This room was a kitchen with 1-3 hides and 2:00 allowed. Gimme found a hide under the chair at the desk. Then she went around and around before settling on a stack of folding "wet floor" signs. She didn't show interest in anything else, so after we heard "thirty seconds", we made another quick trip around the area, then I called "finish" and was correct.

Interior Search 4 - The last search was in a storage room with 0-2 hides and 1:30 allowed. Gimme found one hide in the handle of the industrial size wet vacuum and then showed no real interest beyond quick scanning at anything else. I asked her "anything else" and she headed to the door, so I called "finish" and was correct.

The parking lot experts don't know if missing a hide in one search is effectively the same as a false alert in another search - though most have strongly held opinions. Truthfully most competitors have no idea how the scoring works - even those with a lot more experience than me. Here's what I learned about how element trial scoring works:

• To get the element title you must correctly make 100% of the total calls and not exceed 3 faults; to get a leg you need 75% of calls - not exceeding 3 faults.
• There is one "alert" call per hide and one "finish" call per search area (for those levels where a "finish" call is required.
• If you miss hides or have a false alert, then you don't get credit for the finish call.
• If you have a false alert you will be assessed 2 faults. So regardless of your percentage of calls, if you get two false alerts you cannot get a leg.

What I found out for this trial: there were 8 hides and 4 finish calls to be made.. To get a leg I needed 9 correct calls to make the 75% cut-off. In our case we got 6 of 8 hides, but only got credit for 2 finish calls. This left us with 8 correct calls out of 12 and 66.667%, so no leg. Bummer.

I'm wondering if I need to have Gimme on leash for interiors more often. It slows her down and may encourage more methodical searching. Both searches where we erred, she was off leash. She was on leash for the searches where we were successful.  Of course she prefers searching off leash, so I may let her start searches on leash and then put her back on about halfway through the search.

New Title #25

I am writing this blog out of order, because I couldn't resist sharing the news.  Gimme got her L2V title this morning, while overcoming my mistake.  She did a great job.

We had one leg toward this title, so we could get another leg with 75 percent (or more). There are 7 total hides, so we had to get 6 of them for 75% or more.

Vehicle 1 search - There was 1 hide in the Museum on an antique milk truck, with 1:00 allotted. There was a lot of other stuff in the room - not part of the search, but distracting. Gimme went up the right side and across the back. I thought I saw a head check, but she pulled toward a snowman Christmas decoration. When she came back she went right to where she'd head checked and alerted. Not sure on the time, but very fast, even with the distraction.









Vehicle 2 search - In the 4H Area search there was 1 hide on 2 vehicles with 2:00. Gimme again went up the right side and showed no interest in the first vehicle. She showed slight interest in the right rear tire of the second vehicle, but then moved on and went around the front bumper. At the left rear tire she showed more interest and I called it - a false alert. It was the other tire. This was my bad, since she didn't really alert on it - I just reacted, calling "alert" without thinking about what she was actually showing me, called a "blurt alert". I don't know why I felt such time pressure - 2 minutes was an abundance of time. So the pressure was on to make no more mistakes and salvage the title. 

Vehicle 3 search - The Warming Hut search contained two vehicles, a car and a small chariot, with 2 hides and 1:30 for the search. I'm not sure why they call it a "warming" hut, it was warmer outside. Gimme left the startline and went up the right side of the car and around the front, when she saw the little chariot, she headed right for it. She went around it to the back, then back and forth until she sourced the hide on the back corner. From there she went up between the two vehicles, when she realized she'd passed the hide on the car she pivoted and went back to it.

Vehicle 4 search - At the Sheriff's Office, there were 2 vehicles, 3 hides and just 2:30 to find them. The two vehicles consisted of a big pickup towing a flat bed trailer, so there was a handling obstacle as well. Gimme went to the right side and quickly got a hide in front of the wheels there. Then she went around the back heading toward the wheels on the far side, when she doubled back and got the hide on the back corner of the trailer. From there she went up to the front of the truck and found the last hide just behind the passenger side front tire.

She did a great job, bringing in the hides we needed to complete the title, salvaging it despite my inept efforts. She was very precise in her indications on the second set of searches, probably trying to make sure I didn't do anything dopey to rob her of success. Way to Go Gimme!

I did notice in all four searches she started off toward the right side.  Maybe a coincidence, eh.  I don't remember noticing this before, but will be watching for it in the future. I don't suppose it makes any difference. I'm sure she'd go the other way if there were a clear reason detectable from the startline. Just an interesting thing I noticed. 

A One-and-One-Half Title Day

On Sunday we left early in the day for Portland and a level 2 Nosework element trial on vehicles.  It was supposed to top out at 84º, but when we were leaving (minutes after our last search), it was 87º.  Fortunately I'd gotten all the aluminet screens after the NW3 trial which got up to 103º, so Gimme and I stayed pretty comfortable.  The trial was held at the Alpenrose Dairy, which is also a dairy museum and kind of a dairy theme park.  Part of the property has been turned into a sports facility for the local community.

We had 4 searches, in two sets of two.  Gimme was the third dog on the list, so we got things out of the way quickly.

Museum Search - This was a search of just one vehicle inside, 1 hide, 1:00.  It was a finished garage, with other non-vehicle, but large, dairy related pieces.  The vehicle was a large cream-colored old-fashioned milk truck.  There was only about 3' between the truck and the other stuff, so Gimme was attracted to the other things, but I just encouraged her to come back toward the vehicle.  We entered the search from the rear of the vehicle, passed up the right side and around the front, down the driver's side.  It had big sliding doors and Gimme found the hide in the bottom part of the sliding door "hinge".  She did the search in 35 seconds (11th place).  In rewarding her I managed to drop several treats and I was sure the judge saw it, but the trial results don't show any faults.

Main Street Search - Here we had two vehicles, 3 hides and 2:00.  From the start line Gimme went up the right side of the near vehicle, then up the right side of the other vehicle.  As she got to the front she indicated on the license plate holder.  Then she started down the left side of that vehicle, taking a diagonal to the hide at the wheel.  From there I took her around the vehicles again and then between them.  I told her "check-it" pointing to the bumper of the nearest vehicle and that was when she found the third hide.  She did the search in 1:31 (11th place).  I again dropped treats, but the trial results don't show any faults.  Oddly they also didn't give us maximum time for my failure to say "finish" at the end of our search.

The whole treat dropping is because I was nervous and my hands were shaky.  Normally I use peanut butter in the go-toob, but haven't been using it in class because the co-instructor gets so impatient having to wait for Gimme to cleanse her palate.  I went back to the PB toob for the rest of the trial.

Circus Wagon Search - This search was three vehicles, 2 hides and 1:30.  The vehicles were three little mock circus wagons lined up askew in a row. Gimme went from the start line up the right side and found the first hide at the corner of the last wagon.  From there we went down the other side and she quickly alerted on the rear wheel of the vehicle closest to the start.   Gimme did this in 1:02 (19th place).

Hollywood Lights Search - This search was two vehicles, 1 hide and 1:30.  There was two vehicles lined up straight.  Gimme went up the right side, around the end and then came down the side to the first car's front tire and did a lot of sniffing.  She was pretty intent, but hadn't sourced it or alerted.  When they called "30 seconds" I walked her around to the other side and she paid a lot of attention to the other front tire.  I knew we were almost out of time and called "alert", about a tenth of a second after the timer called "time".  As it turned out, the hide was inaccessible and it was behind the first tire she showed interest in. We were assessed maximum time.

Gimme did a good job, she just ran out of time.  She didn't hesitate to come with me when I moved her away from where the hide was, so she clearly wasn't convinced it was there.  She's normally very good at inaccessible hides, but I think it was hot and it was also the last search, so she could have been a little tired.  The vehicles were standing out in the sun - all the "ring crew" were sitting in shade nearby. 

There were only 7 dogs who titled, out of 25 entered.  Gimme's total time was 4:39 (11th place).  Her placement should have been much lower, but the judge must've been half asleep and missed my two treat dropping faults.  Placement is based on faults, then time.  We had 85% which was well over the 75% needed to get a leg toward a title.  So now I have to find another L2V trial in the area.  Although I was disappointed to miss the title, I wasn't unhappy with Gimme's performance.  She tried hard, as always.

When we got home I found a notice in our email inbox notifying me Gimme had completed the requirements for her Level 1 title with All Dogs Parkour. So she now gets to add ADP-L1 to her long list of titles - this is title number 18.  East Bay Public Plaza - ADP L1

Gimme is still humble, but I'm not.  Just sayin...

Element Trial Details

The results are in and Gimme placed 4th overall in the competition!  Her time was less than two seconds behind third place and I'm sure we all know who's fault those two seconds were.  Also she got no faults, despite my expectations.

Search 3
Fort - 2 hides, 2:30

Gimme completed this search in 1:23.78 for 9th in time, with over a minute to spare.  She practically dug up the odor and I dropped the leash when she went around one of the support columns, so I was expecting at least 1 fault, if not two.





Search 4
Picnic Area - 1 hide, 1:00

I knew Gimme did well here... she came out with 3rd place with a time of 0:11.27, just two seconds behind second place and four seconds behind 1st.  We might have scored second if I hadn't taken so long to get past the certifying official's attempt to psyche me out.




Search 1
Lean-to - 2 hides, 2:30

Gimme finished this search in 1:14.75 for 4th place, with 1¼ minutes to spare.  This was her first search of the day, so I was happy with this time.






Search 2
Outside the Kitchen - 2 hides, 2:00

Gimme finished this search in 33.59 seconds, getting FIRST PLACE!  Second place was ten seconds behind her.  So this was her best search in terms of placement and it was also the hardest search because of the converging odor aspect, with only 4-5 feet between hides.  I know Gimme really loves a challenge, so its consistent to see her pull out her best work for the hardest search. 

What's not to love, eh....

New Element Title L2E

The drive was uneventful, with only one small back-up.  Signs into the site were great.  This is a boy scout camp and we've been here before for element trials.  Its a pretty nice site, though there does tend to be a lot of walking involved and somehow its all uphill.  Last time parking was ample, but this time they'd set search areas in places which created line-of-sight issues.  Thus, parking was restricted and it meant people had to move - I moved three times.

It also means there is no separate reactive dog parking and people are pretty careless about walking their dogs right next to the van.  Gimme is in her false pregnancy, so I experimented with different ways to get people to not walk so close.  Had to add a couple of visual screens and then she did much better.

There were four searches:

Before our first search, we started with the practice boxes and I was dismayed to see Gimme pass the odor box twice before stopping at it.  The second time through, she stopped for it the first time.  While we were waiting in the hold, Gimme required a LOT more interaction to keep her from wanting to get back to the baby.  I kept her busy and then when we'd taken the edge off, I switched to rewarding her "Chillax".  I can't say she was relaxed, but she was able to fake it enough to earn treats, which told me she was in her thinking brain.

Search 1
Lean-to - 2 hides, 2:30

The search area was about 30x40 oval shape, partially under a lean-to (tan), including one of the picnic tables there.  It had the edges shown with pink surveyors tape running to benches, trees, a pole with some electrical boxes on it and buckets.  There were also cones and flags.  Inside the search area was a upside down wheelbarrow, a brushy area and a fire-pit. The little arrow is the exit path.

Gimme did a lot of sniffing on the wheel of the wheelbarrow, but I bit my tongue and waited for an actual alert.  From there she went to the picnic table and around the perimeter under the lean-to before coming back to the wheelbarrow, indicating at the handle.  If I hadn't waited, the judge would have asked "where" and I would have been wrong.  Gimme hadn't checked the rest of the area and the search area was in a low spot, without air current, so I walked her along the other arc of the perimeter, which got us near the pole, where she quickly indicated an inaccessible hide.  I even remembered to say "finish".

Search 2
Outside the Kitchen - 2 hides, 2:00

This search was a covered patio outside the kitchen area, and included a couple feet of gravel out from under the patio.  The search area contained two picnic tables, two cabinets (white) and a set of lockers (dark grey).

Gimme went in and sniffed at a spot on the picnic table and then started to go with me as I kept moving.  Then she stopped and said, "No Mom, we have to get this one" and went right back to it.  Good for her!  From there we went around the room and she checked the area.  I was sure there would be a hide in the lockers, but Gimme really only sniffed toward them, without going closer.  From there she went to the support pole and alerted at a large vertical crack near the floor.  She was right and I remembered my part.   Right there I was happy as can be, since my learning curve to say "finish" has been huge.  The two hides were only 4-5 feet apart.

I decided not to use the practice boxes before the third search.  I thought Gimme would benefit from 5 minutes less time away from baby.  It was a risk, but in the past I've noticed she isn't all that interested in practice boxes the second time around, so I thought it was a good gamble.

Search 3
Fort - 2 hides, 2:30

This search was about 40x40, perimeter shown with flags and cones.  One side was the back wall of the fort and another was right along a railroad tie embedded in the ground.  There were two brooms (blue triangles) leaning against the wall, support columns and a hand-washing trough (white).  The picnic table is included for reference because the judge sat there.

Gimme was immediately attracted to the trough and the end with the small square at the spigot is where she showed interest, but she never indicated, though she checked the spot a couple of times.  She checked out the brooms and back wall and headed toward an open door outside the search area on the left side.  She thought it was very attractive and I had to talk her out of it.  As I took her around the perimeter, she found a hide stuck in the ground right next to the railroad tie and alerted.  She practically dug up the odor, so I'm sure we got a fault there for "disturbing the search area".  The support columns presented a real handling challenge and I dropped my leash once, so was afraid I may have been faulted there as well.  From there she went to the trough again, I resisted the urge to blurt-alert and she went on to alert on a garden-hose-holder on the nearest pole (about 2 feet away), which I hadn't even noticed before.  The nose knows.  I said "finish" and we were done.  In hindsight, the moisture of the spigot and proximity probably sucked scent from odor source.

Search 4
Picnic Area - 1 hide, 1:00

This search was a small area under cover (as shown by the four corner columns) only a bit bigger than the picnic table (about 12x15).  The whole leading edge was the startline.

Gimme had hardly stepped into the area when she alerted in the same exact spot on the picnic table as the picnic table hide in the outside-kitchen search.  It was hard for me to believe they'd place a hide in the same exact spot in two different searches... but Gimme insisted, I called "alert" and then "finish" and we were done.  Good thing I didn't let them psyche me out, but it was close. ☺

Gimme had some really fast times and did a great job.  She's been so baby obsessed the last few days, so I was concerned, but when it came down to it, she got right to work.  It'll be a day or so before the results are posted online.  I'll share the info when its available.

EST Detailed Results

Here are the details for the Element Specialty Trial.  Keep in mind, many of the placings are separated only by parts of a second.  Gimme would likely place higher in the rankings if I weren't so cautious.

On May 2nd, Gimme became the first Dalmatian to get the L1V (vehicle) title and the first to get all four level one element titles.  She completed four searches successfully.
Search 1:   20.58 seconds, 11th place
Search 2:   20.21 seconds, 7th place
Search 3:   52.64 seconds, 17th place
Search 4:   36.89 seconds, 26th place
Overall position:  2:10.32 for 12th place - 20 titles awarded of 30 entrants

On May 3rd, Gimme became the first Dalmatian to get the L2C (container) title and thus the first to get a level two element title.  She completed four searches successfully.
Search 1:   24.40 seconds, 19th place
Search 2:   34.09 seconds, 9th place
Search 3:   12.68 seconds, 18th place
Search 4:   1.19.00 seconds, 14th place
Overall position:  2:30.09 for 12th place - 18 titles awarded of 25 entrants

Later on the same day (May 3rd), Gimme became the first Dalmatian to get the L2I (interior) title and thus the first to get a second level two element title.  She completed four searches successfully.
Search 1:   44.90 seconds, 4th place
Search 2:   1:07.09 seconds, 20th place
Search 3:   22.72 seconds, 14th place
Search 4:   38.01 seconds, 4th place
Overall position:  2:57.72 for 6th place - 18 titles awarded of 25 entrants

Her nose knows...

One Weekend - 3 Titles (3)

Gimme did very well, achieving the Level 2 Interior title.  We were almost certain to end the day with this title, since she already had a leg toward it from her first attempt, so we only needed to be successful for 75% of the hides.

This makes Gimme the first Dalmatian to achieve two level 2 element titles and the first to achieve the L2I.  [there was nothing special about these layouts, so I didn't spend the time to diagram them]

Sunday – Interior Level 2

Gimme was a little frustrated going into the first pair of searches, because this club has decided you can't toss treats on the ground in the waiting areas, so we couldn't play the ping-pong game.  This was announced during the briefing for the second trial  Their reasoning is because it might distract a dog who comes after and smells treats on the ground while waiting.  

Personally I think if owners haven't trained their dog well enough to get their focus back between then and entering the search area, just possibly they need more training.  Not to mention the dog likely isn't odor obedient and isn't ready to trial at this or any level.  To cap it off, this is level 2.  For NW1 they don't sanitize the search area to remove distractions.  At our second NW1 trial, there was an open bag of Fritos in a child's desk, so even then food smells as distractions are present.  At NW2 level, they also don't remove existing distractions and purposely add distractions to container searches.  So, prohibiting an exhibitor from working their dog's activity needs in a holding area because it might distract a later dog - well its just plain foolishness.

**Train - don't complain.**

Anyway I usually use the ping-pong game to bleed off any  frustration while waiting.  I was trying to come up with things I could get her to do on cue and then reward from hand – had to be simple stuff.  I did toss her a few treats – most of which she caught.  Fortunately the wait for this pair of searches was minimal.  I did better for our second set of searches.

Interior Search 1 – There were two hides and 2 minutes to find them.  It was a school room with lots of tables.  I waited at the door to see if she wanted to come back and check the threshold, but she didn't.  She found the hides quickly and I even remembered to say "finish" without looking at the timer first.

Interior Search 2 –  Again two hides in a small narrow room with 1.5 minutes to find them.  They were on chairs right across from each other – so the hides were only about 3 feet apart.  Gimme was a little stuck on the first one and kept going back to it.  So I got her attention and then directed the search from there.  When I got her to check close enough, she was able to source the second hide.  This was a really tough converging odor challenge.  Again I said "finish" without looking at the timer.

Interior Search 3 – This was a small room with just one hide.  Gimme found it very quickly on the edge of a trash can.  I remembered "finish" all on my own.

Interior Search 4 – This was a medium size room, with a long conference table down the middle and lots of office type stuff around the sides.  There were three hides.  Two were at the far end of the room kinda close to each other and presented a converging odor challenge.  The other was actually pretty close to the door.  Gimme found the first two quickly.  Then I walked with her to the end where we'd entered and paused briefly.  Gimme came near me and found the third hide.  I said "alert... finish", almost like one word.

I was really pleased to have remembered ALL 8 "finish" calls today.  This has been an issue for me before.

As soon as we got home, I wanted nothing more than to lay in a dark room, since I'd had a migraine all day, thanks to sun reflecting off stuff and giving me eye-zaps.  Gimme made it perfectly clear she hasn't done anything interesting in ages... "WEEKS!" she says.  Sometimes she exaggerates doncha know...

 

One Weekend - 3 Titles (2)

I didn't feel as confident about this title as I did about other (interiors), mostly because we haven't worked on her indication lately and while they usually don't, they can use boxes at level 2 and beyond.  Fortunately in class Tuesday, they did three container searches set up like element trials.  Gimme did really well on all her searches today.  I admit I was a little concerned to start with because she wasn't interested in the practice boxes – I think she sometimes finds them boring.  She was interested in them yesterday, but this was the second day and she'd already seen them there.

In any case, this success made Gimme the first Dalmatian to achieve a Level 2 element title and the first to achieve a Level 2 Container element title.  

Sunday – Container Level 2 

Container Search 1 – This search was a dozen large pieces of luggage in a grassy area, with four picnic tables, the bags where snugged up to the picnic tables.  There were 2 hides and Gimme did a good job of finding them quickly.  I was ready to leave and noticed the timer was still holding the stopwatch up in still-timing pose, which reminded me to say "finish". (yeah me)

Container Search 2 – This search was a dozen medium size bags in a smallish office area, with various chairs, filing cabinets and bookcases.   The bags were around the edge of the room with just one hide.  We had the option of doing this search off leash, but I didn't, because I didn't know what the search area would be like until they opened the door (remember we don't get any walk-through at element trials).  This would have been okay to do off leash, but she found odor so quickly there was no reason to take her off once we started.  Gimme located it pretty quickly.  Again I noticed the still-timing pose and remembered to say "finish".

Container Search 3 – There were 15 identical black bags with blue trim, laid out in a conference room – with 3 odors.  I knew we were in big trouble from the startline.  Gimme was practically hovering at seeing this search, she could have glowed in the dark.  Her search style was barely contained mayhem.  She interacted roughly with almost every bag.  She was pawing and scratching excessively at both odor and distraction bags.  I remembered to keep moving around her when she stopped at a bag, which is how I knew when it was odor vs. distraction (she won't leave odor).  She found two hides on her own.  Then I looped her around the room once more and she kept going back to hides she'd already found, so I took charge of the search.  I started walking the bags, cuing "check-it" at each bag and just past halfway around she settled on one.  Seeing the still-timing pose, I said "finish".  I was certain we'd be faulted and was glad to know you can only receive one fault of the same type in a search.  I said to the judge, "I assume you faulted her for the aggressive indication".  She said no, and said she'd explain after the fourth search.

Container Search 4 – This was a very small room, about the size of a walk-in closet, with 8 plastic shoeboxes on the floor, full of pens, pencils, crayons and the like.  Gimme stopped at one box, but didn't indicate, so I started moving her toward the end of the room.  She decided on her own not to bother checking the room and went back to indicate the one she'd shown interest in.  In a room so small its pretty clear when there is only one odor source and she was very definite in her indication.  Again I remembered to say "finish".

The judge explained she would have faulted us if she saw that kind of rough indication in an interior search, but not on bags.  She was entirely too generous.  I certainly would have assessed a fault no matter what element it was.  Gimme was pretty close to out of control.  Fortunately I don't usually see rough indications in other elements, so I wasn't worried about the afternoon trial.  Then again, as Gimme's reaction to the field of identical bags showed, one never knows with my wild little Demolition Gimme.

One Weekend - 3 Titles (1)

[My laptop now has a new battery, so I was able to write the blog while on site.  Of course, being fresh in my mind, it has a lot of details, so I've broken it into 3 entries.]

Over the weekend of three Element Specialty Trials - we were 100% successful at all three.  Gimme was amazing all weekend, despite still being in a false pregnancy.  She was concerned about leaving the baby the first time, but then was fine with it afterward.  This lends weight to my belief it is the prolonged time out of the car which throws her in barn hunt.  At this trial, I got the potty walk out of the way and then back to the car.  I was able to get her out at the last moment and go almost directly to the first waiting station.  So for her searches, the longest she was out of the car was 20 minutes and barn hunt is usually 30 minutes or more.  Then again it could simply be because she is so much farther along in her motherhood experience.

Saturday Level 1 Vehicles 

After this day's success, Gimme became the first Dalmatian to get all four Level 1 element titles.  The searches were easy and to be honest, I think Gimme was a little bored with how simple they were.  She likes a good challenge and she clearly didn't think these searches measured up.  I don't know the exact times, but I'm sure they were pretty good.

Vehicle Search 1 – This consisted of two ambulances.  Gimme found this right away and spent some time locating source, but didn't indicate.  I was determined not to blurt alert.  She went around the vehicles and then came back down the same side and I re-cued "wherezit".  She went directly to it and alerted. 

Vehicle Search 2 – This was two firetrucks.  Gimme started down the right side, sniffing around the front tire on the first truck.  Then as we got to the second vehicle she lost interest.  When we got to the other side, she wanted to leave the area.  I encouraged her back to the search area and when she got back to the front end of the first truck, she quickly indicated on the front right tire.

Since she is 3½ weeks into a false pregnancy, I thought she was unfocused because of baby concerns.  However, when we left the second search, just 50 yards into the grassy area, she stopped to poop.

Vehicle Search 3 – There was a horse trailer and a small silver car.  Gimme started down the right side, sniffed around the hitch of the trailer and started to leave it, but quickly came back to indicate.  Clearly I need not have worried about her being distracted by horse poo smells.

Vehicle Search 4 – We had just one small car.  It was in an indoor bay, with other vehicles all round it – some as close as ten feet.  Gimme wanted to check them out, but I encouraged her to stick with the one we had.  When she got around to the front end, she quickly indicated at the license plate.

All in all, a lovely day with a nice success, all spent with the prettiest girl on the planet.

Tracking Genius (8)

It has taken me nearly two weeks to blog about this track.  It was our most audacious track yet and 490 yards long.  It really isn't a track we expected Gimme to be ready for, but Nadine wanted a more advanced track for her dog.  I was prepared to pull Gimme off if she had big problems, but she did surprisingly well.  Plus she can be rather tenacious about solving challenges.

The darker grey is a paved road, which we crossed twice - a first.  The light green backwards L shape is some very short grass.  The two clumps of green squiggles is a bit of woods - the track went up a dirt path through the woods - another first.  The thinner line of grey is a mixed dirt/gravel road we went on briefly as we came out of the woods - another first.  And a challenge we didn't plan - the dashed purple line is another tracker who came into the area right behind us, crossing our track in two places and completely overlaying our track on the dirt path - a huge first. 

Gimme went first, because Nadine had dropped treats for her every 10 yards.  She did well up to the road, but then wasn't sure about crossing the pavement.  I encouraged her and when she got to the other side, there was a treat waiting for her.  She did really well in the short grass, just charged down it, barely a blip when she hit the cross track and then nailed the right turn.  Gimme had a lot of difficulty deciding to turn up the path into the woods.  Since the other tracker had gone up the same path and right over the top of where Nadine had gone, this wasn't a surprise.  The next difficulty was making the left turn onto the mixed dirt/gravel road, because the other tracker had gone straight and Gimme seemed to get confused about who she was following, crossing into the grass path.  I encouraged her to come back to where we had sliced off to the left and then she did good following our track.  The second road crossing wasn't nearly as challenging and the rest of the track was pretty simple.  There was a bit of notice given where the tracker had cross tracked on the last leg, but no inclination to follow it.

I followed Nadine a couple of times and on her last track, I dropped treats for Gimme, with extra ones to help her with the areas which had been most challenging.  By this time the other tracker had gone by again with another person and a dog.  Gimme did very well the second time around.  The road crossings didn't seem to bother her, though she was off to the left of the track.  She went up the path through the woods more readily and there was only a momentary casting about when the two tracks diverged again at the dirt/gravel road.  

So I was pleased with her efforts on a track which is far advanced for her.  Since she was in an early part of her false pregnancy when it was most intense, I was especially pleased with how well she did and her level of focus.

Speaking of the false pregnancy, Gimme continues to do well.  I've been working in the yard a lot for the last few days to keep it from turning into a jungle.  I leave the door open so Gimme can come and go from the house.  She stays with me pretty much the whole time.  She will bring a "baby" out and have it out for awhile.  Sometimes she carries it around, sometimes it lays by itself.  About every half hour she carries it back in the house and within minutes she comes out with another "baby".  I guess she thinks they need the fresh air. 

We've been walking a lot and there is a section where I can have Gimme off leash.  The other day she was walking along and then all the sudden dashed ahead.  Out of reflex I called her back and she turned on a thin dime to come back.  It was just then when I saw what she was dashing toward - a bunny on the side of the rails-to-trails paved path.  I was awed to have her come back to me from such a huge distraction.  Needless to say she got a LOT of peanut butter for being such a good girl.

We have nosework class tomorrow night.  Thursday morning I'll meet Nadine for tracking.  On Saturday afternoon we have a level 1 vehicle element trial.  On Sunday we have two level 2 element trials - containers and interiors.  We are lucky to have these so close to home with just an hour drive each way.  So we can come home to sleep in our own bed each night.  Do cross your fingers for us.

Nosework (5/6)

First let me tell you, Dorothy confirmed we can qualify and get a leg or title with up to 3 total faults and no more than two faults in one search area for an element trial.  Clearly my understanding was "faulty" (pun intended).

Class tonight was about seeing how the dogs would deal with an exceptionally high inaccessible hide.  The red square was a canopy with the hide inside at the center apex.  The white rectangles is a configuration of tables with a green plastic tub on the table.  The green chair symbols were single chairs.  The two blue chair symbols were stacks of three chairs and the pink chair symbol was a stack of ten plastic chairs.  In addition to this layout, there were about 15 small plastic containers with novel scents in them, everything from household cleansers to garlic to strawberry extract.  Dogs are often drawn to novel odors, not just food odors.

The first search was simply this layout with the one hide in the canopy.  All the dogs were challenged by it.  Gimme probably gave the strongest indication and even her indication was weak - I would never have called it.  Mostly the dogs tended to follow scent up the legs, but none of them ever acted like they knew where the odor was - even after they'd seen it three times.  Whatever they did that tended to indicate "up" while they were under the canopy we rewarded by putting our reward hand as high as we could under the apex and bringing it down to them.  They were happy to get the rewards, but there was no sign our rewarding made sense to them.  It sure would have been handy to have smoke matches to see how scent was actually moving.  

For the second search, the odor in the apex of the canopy remained and she added a hide under the bottom of the tote on the tables after moving it to an edge.  With easier odor to find, the dogs were even less interested in chasing down the odor under the canopy.  Gimme found the tote odor quickly and then when she happened to chase some scent up a canopy leg I rewarded her.  

For our third search, the tote with odor was moved to another spot on the table.  Dorothy also added odor to a chair third down from the top in the stack of ten.  These are plastic chairs, so they have slots in the seats and based on the way the dogs acted, the odor fell through them to the floor and/or lower chairs and also drifted to the two shorter stacks nearby (blue).  

Gimme headed over to the chairs right away, but when I didn't accept her indications lower on the chairs, she left them.  From there she went to find the odor under the tote.  Then she came back to the chairs and tried again, but I still wouldn't accept her indication because I wanted her to make more effort to get to source.  So she left again and went to the canopy and was rewarded for chasing scent up a canopy leg.  Afterward I encouraged her back toward the chairs again and stayed there with her.  


She expressed her frustration with whining and by repeating her low indications - honestly in a trial I would have called alert with what she was giving me.  Without helping her solve the puzzle, I just encouraged her to keep trying.  When she did put her feet up and got really close to source I made a big deal about it, partying with her and gave her probably a tablespoon sized squeeze of peanut butter.  Frustration is her Achilles heel, so I wanted to make it memorable and well worth her efforts to have worked through it.  Dorothy said I handled the challenge "perfectly" and spent time pointing out to the class a number of things I did which were noteworthy. 

After I came back in from returning Gimme to the car, I asked Dorothy about the setup.  Since Gimme had given me solid indications which were not to source and I was sure I would have called "alert" in a trial situation, I wanted to know whether the judge would have accepted the call.  She said, first, we would never see this hide in an NW1 trial - there might be odor in a stack of chairs, but it would be likely to be on the bottom chair or under the bottom chair.  For an
NW2 or NW3 trial, she said any call on the stack (the way it was set) should be accepted.  

Of course the purpose was for the dogs to learn to put extra effort into getting to source.  After having a completely inaccessible hide three times (the canopy apex), Dorothy thought it was important the dogs also experience success on a hide which was more challenging to get to source, but which was also doable.

8th Title, L1C

This is our last competition for the year and Gimme came away with her 8th TITLE - of course, I'm not bragging, just "highlighting" a fact. 

Saturday Level 1 Containers trial
Gimme did  an awesome job on Saturday, getting her L1C with a full titling round (means the “leg” from her last trial wasn’t needed).  She was focused and determined, doing a great job.  Her overall time was 59.93 seconds for 15th place overall (she’d have been 8th place based on time alone, i.e. without the fault).

Our first search was 6 boxes on the benches in a boy’s locker room.  She was briefly distracted by heading toward the toilet stalls.  I called her back and she walked down the benches, indicating the fifth box.  Even with the sniff toward the toilets she finished in 8.34 seconds for 7th place.

The second search was 8 boxes in a bunkhouse… with not much floor space.  Gimme sniffed one of the bunk beds then got right down to indicating the box.  She pawed it lightly, but it was such a flimsy box it crushed.  She didn’t get a fault.  This search was 24.26 seconds and 12th place.

Her third search was 9 triangle shaped shipping tubes along a sidewalk in a tiny courtyard.  She walked right up the left side, briefly crossed to the right side and then went straight to hit on the end box.  Gimme finished this search in 5.57 seconds for 2nd place.  First place was just ½ second faster!

The fourth search was our most challenging search.  It was a large open area with just 20 boxes set in a random pattern.  Gimme doesn't get excited about boxes mixed in with other stuff, but show her a field of just boxes and she goes into full demolition mode.  In this case stepping on most boxes, crushing five with a full throttle pounce and demolishing the odor box.  She earned a fault here.  Even with her style points, she finished the search in 21.76 seconds for 25th place.  Not counting the fault, she was actually the 14th fastest.

Sunday Level 2 Interiors trial
This was another great bunch of searching for Gimme.  She was focused and determined as always.  There were three searches with a total of 7 hides.  You have to get 75% of the hides to get a qualifying leg, which in this case means 6 out of 7.  This we did.  Twelve dogs titled, exactly half of the entries and 8 more got a leg toward a title. 

Our first search was a small cabin with just two rooms, bunk/living area and dressing area, with one hide.  Gimme found it quickly in the leg of a bunk, but I didn’t call “finish” until prompted by the judge.  Our time shows up at 52.34. (Gimme was a LOT faster than our time would indicate)

The second search was an identical cabin with two hides.  This time I did remember to say the “f-word”.  There was a hide under the edge of a bunk and the other was in the baseboard next to a closed door (in the dressing room). He assessed our time as 1:14.59 for 19th place and gave us a fault (Gimme was a LOT faster than our time would indicate). Our time here shows as 1:14.59.

I don’t know why, but the second search shows a fault and the first one didn’t.  I’m sure the fault should have been with the first search where the judge prompted me to say the f-word.  So either the score room erred and entered the data wrong or the judge wrote it in later and put it on the wrong score sheet. 

Our third search was a tough one, a four room cabin with 4 hides.  We entered through the kitchen and I held up in the doorway hoping Gimme would come back to the threshold, which she did briefly, but didn’t commit to anything.  From there she got her first hide under the edge of the couch, second hide on the leg of the bed in one bedroom and the third hide under the edge of the bed in the other bedroom.  She tried going back to the hide in the living room, but I only thanked her and reminded her to find me another. 

Then she went back to the kitchen and spent a lot of time detailing there.  She sniffed around the refrigerator (light blue) and stove (black) and between the stove and trash can (green oval), but didn’t indicate.  Then she spent a LOT of time at the doors under the sink.  They had no handles, but instead had slots cut in the doors and she sniffed those a lot.  Being a Level 2 trial, there was the possibility of an inaccessible hide, but she never really committed to this.  I didn’t want to block her ability to leave the kitchen if she wanted and ended up standing where you see the “X”.  I tried to move a bit in the small space (indicated by the purple arced line).  When they called the "30 second" warning, I counted to ten and then called "alert", hoping she was close enough, not.  Odor was actually between the trash can and the stove, so I was effectively standing between her and odor.  In hindsight I should have edged over to stand next to the entry door.


Another point – I thought we could only get one fault per search and no more than two faults overall to qualify for a leg in an element trial.  Gimme got two faults on her last search and three total and yet it shows under her stats page as a qualifying leg.  So I must be mistaken.  I'll ask Dorothy in class tonight.  She's working on becoming a certifying official, so I'm sure she'll know. 

Element Trial results

The information for the element trial is posted.

As you know, Gimme did not title in the container element, though she did get a leg toward a title.  Her overall time for the 5 searches, including one search where we timed out, was 2:11.  She was ranked 13th overall, in a system of score then time.  She was the fastest dog of the 8 dogs who got 80%.   This made her faster than 6 of the dogs which titled.

Container search #1:  We had a bunch of boxes in a railroad boxcar.  It was a rather narrow and poorly lighted area with weird little alcoves.  Her time was 17.1 seconds and she was first in her class.  They don't award placements, so no ribbon or any recognition other than the listing in the results.

Container search #2:  This search was outdoors on grass in the courtyard between the 6 boxcars.  Right in front of us was a table with boxes on top, surrounded by chairs with boxes in the seats, surrounded by more boxes in the grass.  To the left and were two sets of stairs leading into 2 of the boxcars and on the landing for each was 1 or 2 boxes.  Gimme's time was 21.45 seconds, it sure didn't seem so long.  The fastest dog was 7.32 seconds, which is amazing.

Container search #3:  Our third search was boxes in chairs and on "stuff" in an exterior courtyard.  Gimme was pretty quick on this search, finding odor in a box on a chair.  Her time was 16.64 seconds.  The fastest dog was about 11 seconds. 

Container search #4:  This was the search which tripped us up.  The search area was split between two "rooms" through a wide archway.  There were a lot of chairs, but not a whole lot of boxes overall and we only had 1 minute.  Here we got the full 1:00 time.

Container search #5:  This was outside on a long patio with picnic tables.  Boxes were on the ground, the seats and the tables.  Gimme went almost straight to odor - really fast, in just 16.5 seconds.  The fastest dog was just under 10 seconds.

For the exteriors where we titled, Gimme's combined time was1:45.44, putting her in sixth place overall.  The fastest overall time was 57.4 seconds - handler must be a track star, eh. 

Exterior search #1:  Our first search was in a campfire area deep in the trees behind the boxcars - no apparent air movement.  Even with the delay catching odor, Gimme still did this quickly in just 24.59 seconds.

Exterior search #2:  This was another campfire area, surround on all sides with trees and brush.  Again, very little breeze.  Gimme did this in 37.56 seconds, our slowest successful search of the day, but still fast given the size of the area. 

Exterior search #3:  This was a sidewalk between the building and a brick wall.  I knew this was speedy, Gimme did it in 5.59 seconds, the third fastest time.  The two dogs faster were 4.4 and 4.81 seconds.  That little time could easily be human factor on the timer or just as likely my  momentary hesitation in calling the alert.  Gimme was awesome - don't blink or you miss the search. 

Exterior search #4:  The area was partly out in the open on cement, but most was in a covered area, with brick walls on three sides.  This seemed a much longer search to me.  Gimme did it in 6.69 seconds to be the fourth fastest.  The fastest dog had less than a second less time than Gimme.

Exterior search #5:  Our last search was on the same long patio with picnic tables we'd had for the 5th container search.  Gimme did this in 31.01 seconds.  It didn't seem to take this long to me.

The numbering of their searches is different than the order we ran them in, so its possible I don't have the times matched to the right searches.  No matter - I'm still very proud of the fastest brown nose I know attached to the sweetest and smartest spotty-dottie ever

Agility (1/6)

Class tonight went great.  I worked my plan and Gimme's first session was fabulous.  I started with brain-warm-up in the foyer and then just continued parts of the drill on the way to the startline.  I lost her briefly at the start, but a touch on her heiney and the cue "set-up" was all she needed.  From then on I couldn't have gotten away from her.  I did a few lead-out and then return to reward her stay.  Then I rewarded one jump, then two jumps, then two jumps and tunnel.  After this warm-up on course I was able to do much of the course until my handling threw her off.  

I was very pleased with her totally focused efforts and clearly it showed.  Everyone was asking me why she was so much better focused (usually her first turn is the worst).  They all thought it was some special treats or something - can't believe they didn't notice the difference in what I was "doing".  My plan was to heavily reinforce focus - you get what you pay for - and to be careful not to get sucked into trying to do the course before I had her focus. 

Our second run was not as pretty because I didn't walk it well and there were challenges I didn't have a good plan for.  However, there was nothing wrong with Gimme - she was as focused as I could ever hope for.  I just didn't have a plan to get her through the course smoothly. 

BTW I have decided to discontinue editing and uploading to youtube our agility class runs.  The vast majority of them have no views.  So I'm only going to put the time into those with something really special to show.

It does not appear NACSW is going to add a module which includes element titles anytime soon to the breed statistics feature on their website, so I spent a few minutes checking on the trial results for all the trials since inception of element titles/trials April this year.

Gimme is indeed the first Dalmatian to achieve an element title and also the first to achieve an L1I (interiors), on July 13, 2014, in LaCenter, WA. Jennifer Jackson and Steeler, along with Renelle Grajales and Sprinkles, both achieved an L1C (containers), on August 17, 2014, in Uxbridge, MA.  Its hard to know who was first without knowing the run order.  Wonderful to see two Dalmatians show their stuff in such a nice way.  I believe I mentioned I've entered Gimme for another chance at the L1C for a trial upcoming in Stevenson, WA.  I've just learned we are 15th alternate, so its just possible we'll get in.

Gimme achieved an L1E (exteriors), on September 21, 2014, in Happy Valley, OR, making her the first Dalmatian to achieve the L1E and the first to have two element titles.  The name for the location is certainly appropriate, since I was very "happy" to have success in the "valley". 

☺☺☺

Tomorrow we'll be driving down to Albany for a weekend of four barn hunt trials in Brownsville, OR.  Its a 3 hour drive just to the hotel, so I'm going down the night before.  We have to get 5 qualifying legs to get the masters title (RATM) and we don't have any yet, so there is no chance for a title this weekend.  Personally I'd be thrilled to come home with a leg since its such a huge skill jump for the human half of the team.  Cross any body parts you can spare for us.

7th Title in 2014

Today was a lot of fun with 10 interesting searches.  Remember the searches for element trials are different than what you'd see at a nosework trial for the same level.  There is no walk through and you only find out how much time you have for the search just moments before seeing the search area.  Because of this I sort of saunter to the start line and take about 10 seconds getting her ready to search - really I'm just looking and seeing what I can see.  This weekend I added into my exterior search a few questions of where the boundaries are, so this gives me more time to look at the area.  Also, the time is much reduced and the search areas are often unusual.

We started the morning with Containers and Gimme did a really nice job overall.  I'll get to see the actual times probably tomorrow night, certainly by the next day.  

Container search #1:  We had a bunch of boxes in a railroad boxcar.  It was a rather narrow and poorly lighted area with weird little alcoves.  Gimme pretty much pushed through to the far end, I let her.  As she turned to come back she caught the drift of odor to left and went straight to the box and bopped it.  I could have slowed her down and we might have gotten a faster time, but would have risked frustrating her.  I actually got several compliments about how I handled this search.  In the afternoon I talked to a lady who was volunteering in the morning and saw our first two searches and she said there were a lot of favorable comments from the judge and certifying official about how I supported Gimme and didn't interfere with her - which was opposite to what so many others did, mostly with unfavorable results.  This search tripped up many teams.

Container search #2:  This search was outdoors on grass in the courtyard between the 6 boxcars.  Right in front of us was a table with boxes on top, surrounded by chairs with boxes in the seats, surrounded by more boxes in the grass.  I looked off to the left and saw there were two sets of stairs leading into 2 of the boxcars and on the landing for each was 1 or 2 boxes.  I clarified whether those boxes were part of the search and upon learning they were, concluded there would either be odor in one of them, or it was a head game for me.  I let Gimme do what she does best.  She started toward the main grouping of boxes, briefly paused and her nose went up and to the left.  Then she started toward the main grouping again, before turning to make a beeline toward the second set of stairs.  She smelled each box and then stuck her foot in the second one.  She was right - they were about 20 feet from the main grouping.  This was such a neat search and she did such a great job, I really wish I had it on video. 

Container search #3:  Our third search was boxes in chairs and on "stuff" in an exterior courtyard.  Gimme was pretty quick on this search, finding odor in a box on a chair. 

Container search #4:  This was the search which tripped us up.  The search area was split between two "rooms" through a wide archway.  There were a lot of chairs, but not a whole lot of boxes overall and we only had 1 minute.  Gimme went to one box and sniffed it strongly and then sniffed another near it, but didn't commit to either.  Then I heard the 30 second warning, so I encouraged her to go around the area and check the other boxes, ending up back near the first boxes she showed interest in.  I knew time was about up and I cued her "show me", so she bopped one and I called "alert" about half a second after time was called.  It wasn't the right one.  When the judge showed us the correct one, as Gimme got closer to it, she went right in and indicated.  In guiding her around the room, I never got her close enough to catch scent from source - especially given the dead air in the room.  BTW I described the search to Dorothy, my instructor, and she threatened to slap me for saying "show me", which she has pointed out only works if Gimme is near odor - otherwise she just indicates to make me happy. 

Container search #5:  This was outside on a long patio with picnic tables.  Boxes were on the ground, the seats and the tables.  Gimme went almost straight to odor - really fast.  

The end results were 11 dogs qualified out of 34.  Gimme's total time was faster than four of the qualifiers, even given the full time from the 4th search.  She had no faults; she did a great job and her indications were mostly moderate.  I think seeing all boxes broken up by other furniture/features just isn't as exciting for her as they are when they are all in plain view.  We got a score of 80, so this gives us a leg toward our L1C.  This went a lot better than I expected and I was very happy with Gimme's efforts.

Exterior search #1:  Our first search was in a campfire area deep in the trees behind the boxcars - no apparent air movement.  Gimme dashed off the startline off to our right just along the boxcar and then about ten feet in slowed down and was clearly casting around getting no scent at all.  She looked at me as if to ask if I was sure there was something here.  Keep in mind, she doesn't know the search area.  I encouraged her to continue, kind of following the perimeter, when we got almost to the point directly across from the startline, I saw her demeanor change, becoming a bit more lively and then she turned left.  She got to a pipe thingamajig and checked it out, indicating quickly.  She was right.  The place where she indicated was about 6 feet from the startline, so clearly, any breeze there was was blowing from our backs at the startline.  I was happy to realize I'm starting to be able to read her carriage and thus able to tell if she is getting odor or not.  This will be very important before I can hope to compete at NW3. 

Exterior search #2:  This was another campfire area, surround on all sides with trees and brush.  Again, very little breeze and again, Gimme didn't get any scent until we got on the far side from the startline.  Once she caught it, she detailed and then indicated in just a couple seconds.  It was a fast search given the size of the area.

Exterior search #3:  This was a sidewalk between the building and a brick wall.  It was a long narrow area, about 6 feet wide at the start end, narrowing to 4 feet at the other end.  She smelled odor from the startline, went straight along the wall 8 feet, detailed and indicated immediately.  Our search time was mere seconds. 

Exterior search #4:  The area was partly out in the open on cement, but most was in this covered area, with brick walls on three sides.  Gimme took me into the covered area pretty quickly and was surely in odor and bouncing from thing to thing, trying to figure out where it was.  We had very little time for this search, especially given the complexity of all the stuff in the area - so I had to really restrain myself and let her sort it out.  She did, indicated and was right again. 

Exterior search #5:  Our last search was on the same long patio with picnic tables we'd had for the 5th container search.  Gimme drove straight ahead, sniffing a few spots along the way and then went directly to odor under the edge of the bench seat.  Another search time which will likely be mere seconds.  

Here's a picture of Gimme with her new title ribbon.  It was a long day and the little girl is very tired.  

Next weekend is barn hunt - so keep your fingers crossed for us.  It takes 5 legs to get the master title, we'll have four tries - I'd like to come home with some legs...