Exterior 1 - no video (technical difficulties) - The first search was the same hides as the second search, but all the chairs were laid flat. Gimme was super fast. I don't know why, but all the other dogs really struggled with this search. I understand with the more inexperienced dogs who hadn't searched over here, but a couple of dogs had and shouldn't have had such difficulty.
Exterior 2 video - Three hides. I'm not sure what Dorothy meant by her making it hard on herself. I thought Gimme was really bold to continue searching the stool after she touched it and it sprung open and toward her. The breeze was blowing from the right, which is why Gimme overran the last hide.
Interior video - Dorothy set up puzzles, which Gimme loves. The first one was easy-peasy for her. For the first puzzle, Gimme made her own entry, but then had a little trouble finding her way out. Since she didn't come in the way it was designed, it was a confusing visual for her. The third hide just had something in the way - well it would be in the way for anyone but Gimme.
Gimme thinks we should have puzzles every week - just so she can show off her incredible puzzle solving skills.
Showing posts with label NW Exteriors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NW Exteriors. Show all posts
Monday, July 20, 2020
Nosework class (5/43)
These two exterior searches dealt with converging odor. I'm not sure it was really converging in the first search, but clearly was in the second search.
Exterior 1 video - Three hides along a sidewalk. Gimme found the first hide in seconds. The second door is the exterior storage where Dorothy keeps odor and used boxes. So she put a hide in a brick at the base of the door so the dogs wouldn't think it was an inaccessible hide and be told "no". Gimme had no trouble finding it. It took her a little longer to find the hide off the sidewalk under a rock. I think the air flowed up the side of the building, making the first two hides more obvious.
Exterior 2 video - Three hide exterior. Gimme started to pass the first hide and then whipped back to it. It was stuck in a crack on the wood upright for the mailbox. Gimme was the only dog to pay any attention to the rock hide before going to the second (high) mailbox hide. The breeze was blowing from the road, so the scent was surely stronger coming from that direction. It took her a little bit to find the rock hide, but she did. As Dorothy mentioned, the breeze blew across the mailboxes right toward it. Gimme likes to follow lines of scent out and I think in doing so she got close enough to find the rock hide.
Interior video - This turned out to be a long and challenging search and Gimme thoroughly enjoyed it. The hardest hide was the one behind the cabinet and some dogs never found it. Gimme did well finding the chair hide. From there she went straight to the stool hide. Dorothy had the overhead fans on, which I think dispersed the scent for the cabinet hide in a weird way. It was interesting to me, when she re-visited the chair hide, she checked it, but knew better than to indicate it. From the second hide until she decided and indicated was 2:40, which is a LOT for Gimme. I think it would be interesting to revisit this search, but just with the one hide behind the cabinet.
One thing which is so very cool about Gimme is how she just never gives up. One of the other dogs got frustrated and stopped searching. One got frustrated and they ended the search. August found it just a bit faster - he's a GSD so he resorted to perimeter searching, which took him right to it.
Exterior 1 video - Three hides along a sidewalk. Gimme found the first hide in seconds. The second door is the exterior storage where Dorothy keeps odor and used boxes. So she put a hide in a brick at the base of the door so the dogs wouldn't think it was an inaccessible hide and be told "no". Gimme had no trouble finding it. It took her a little longer to find the hide off the sidewalk under a rock. I think the air flowed up the side of the building, making the first two hides more obvious.
Exterior 2 video - Three hide exterior. Gimme started to pass the first hide and then whipped back to it. It was stuck in a crack on the wood upright for the mailbox. Gimme was the only dog to pay any attention to the rock hide before going to the second (high) mailbox hide. The breeze was blowing from the road, so the scent was surely stronger coming from that direction. It took her a little bit to find the rock hide, but she did. As Dorothy mentioned, the breeze blew across the mailboxes right toward it. Gimme likes to follow lines of scent out and I think in doing so she got close enough to find the rock hide.
Interior video - This turned out to be a long and challenging search and Gimme thoroughly enjoyed it. The hardest hide was the one behind the cabinet and some dogs never found it. Gimme did well finding the chair hide. From there she went straight to the stool hide. Dorothy had the overhead fans on, which I think dispersed the scent for the cabinet hide in a weird way. It was interesting to me, when she re-visited the chair hide, she checked it, but knew better than to indicate it. From the second hide until she decided and indicated was 2:40, which is a LOT for Gimme. I think it would be interesting to revisit this search, but just with the one hide behind the cabinet.
One thing which is so very cool about Gimme is how she just never gives up. One of the other dogs got frustrated and stopped searching. One got frustrated and they ended the search. August found it just a bit faster - he's a GSD so he resorted to perimeter searching, which took him right to it.
Monday, May 4, 2020
Nosework practice 200428
I haven't gotten any homework assignments in awhile, so decided to set up couple of converging-odor searches. Both sets of hides aged for 45 minutes.This first search was in the doorway of the old Pizza hut (been closed for years). Thinking it would be easier; I set one hide low and the other high.
When it came time to search the low hide was gone. Someone made off with my large Mentos container - given all the trash strewn around, it certainly wasn't a cleaning-up thing. Gimme repeatedly insisted there was a hide there. (I checked later and there was no hole the hide could have gotten pushed into) I had no choice but to treat it like lingering odor, since source was gone.
It took her a long time to find the high hide, a tin squeezed in the crack of the door. Given her love of high hides, I thought this would be very easy for her. In hindsight, the door crack could have been sucking scent into the building, leaving little for her to find. I also think this explains why she kept going to the missing low hide - it was the most scent she could find. Needless to say she got a LOT of treats when she did find this.Also, I don't know what the enclosed doorway does to the way scent moves. I'd love to have a smoke pen for instances just like this one.
I expected the second converging odor hide to be harder because both hides were on the same plane and only 5' feet apart. She went straight to the first hide under the welcome matt. From it she went straight to the hide between the rocks a few feet away.
Just goes to show you, the dog's nose knows. What you think is happening might not be the case at all.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Nosework practice 200407
I checked to see if homework was up before I went out on Tuesday. It wasn't, so I set up these searches. The big one was a close repeat of the search of the rubble pile from the week before. There was breeze in the same way, but not as strong as before. The single hide search was just an interesting utility pole hide.
Exterior 1 video - I had the camera set to cover the entire search area, but I think I moved the camera a little bit when I hit record. Gimme finds the first hide in 15 seconds. You'll see a little change of behavior at 35 seconds, but she decides to go on to the farthest hide. It takes her 18 seconds to find the far right hide. She finds the last hide quickly, once she decides to go for it. All in all this was a cleaner search - which I credit to pairing.
Exterior 2 video - The breeze was blowing from the brushy area behind the hide, so I was surprised when Gimme went toward the brush. I expected her to get pulled more toward the hide. I also can't really explain why she was so direct toward the hide from where she sniffed near the fence/brush. The hide had only been up 3 minutes, so I don't understand how she could have caught it so easily. Plus it was Myrrh scented, which is very low volatility (i.e. doesn't spread readily).
I hope to get out tomorrow to set up searches at the tractor sales down the road. I thought I'd be able to search there during the day, but instead have to wait until after 5:00. Who knew tractor sales was an essential business...
Exterior 1 video - I had the camera set to cover the entire search area, but I think I moved the camera a little bit when I hit record. Gimme finds the first hide in 15 seconds. You'll see a little change of behavior at 35 seconds, but she decides to go on to the farthest hide. It takes her 18 seconds to find the far right hide. She finds the last hide quickly, once she decides to go for it. All in all this was a cleaner search - which I credit to pairing.
Exterior 2 video - The breeze was blowing from the brushy area behind the hide, so I was surprised when Gimme went toward the brush. I expected her to get pulled more toward the hide. I also can't really explain why she was so direct toward the hide from where she sniffed near the fence/brush. The hide had only been up 3 minutes, so I don't understand how she could have caught it so easily. Plus it was Myrrh scented, which is very low volatility (i.e. doesn't spread readily).
I hope to get out tomorrow to set up searches at the tractor sales down the road. I thought I'd be able to search there during the day, but instead have to wait until after 5:00. Who knew tractor sales was an essential business...
Friday, February 28, 2020
Nosework class (5/42)
This was an interesting class... for the first two searches, we had to say whether the dog was checking something blank, a distraction or odor. Both of these searches were blind.
Containers video - We learned afterward - there was only one blank container, the first four had distractions, and the last one was odor. The first three Gimme ignored so completely, I called them "blank". They were intended as distractions and contained doe urine, lavender and dirt. She smells lavender at home all the time and dirt on our walks, but I would have thought doe urine would catch her attention. The one she batted around had ground turkey in it. She gets it in her soup three times a day, so I'm sure she thinks it should be hers. She ignored the blank box and quickly indicated odor.
Exterior 1 - There is no video because I forgot to hand over the camera. There were 8 tins distributed among the big cement blocks (you saw them in the videos last week). Four distractions, one blank and three hides. Gimme did really well. She paid a bit more attention to the doe urine, but less attention to the ground turkey - both of them she left readily. She quickly found all three hides and indicated clearly.
Exterior 2 video - This last search was three hides along the front and under the portico of the building. There were four distraction tins. There is a slight breeze blowing from the far end of the search area and Gimme races down to get the farthest hide in just 13 seconds. It takes her 16 seconds to find the against-the-wall bench hide, which is always a very tricky hide. I think approaching it from the other direction made it clearer. The other dogs spent a LOT more time sourcing it. She briefly sniffed the ground turkey tin again, but then got to the last hide in 16 seconds. She didn't pay any significant attention to the distractions. Even though she bypassed the first two hides to go to the one at the end, her search was still efficient. She did it in half the time of the other dogs, except August, who she beat by about 30 seconds.
She does love nosey-works.
Containers video - We learned afterward - there was only one blank container, the first four had distractions, and the last one was odor. The first three Gimme ignored so completely, I called them "blank". They were intended as distractions and contained doe urine, lavender and dirt. She smells lavender at home all the time and dirt on our walks, but I would have thought doe urine would catch her attention. The one she batted around had ground turkey in it. She gets it in her soup three times a day, so I'm sure she thinks it should be hers. She ignored the blank box and quickly indicated odor.
Exterior 1 - There is no video because I forgot to hand over the camera. There were 8 tins distributed among the big cement blocks (you saw them in the videos last week). Four distractions, one blank and three hides. Gimme did really well. She paid a bit more attention to the doe urine, but less attention to the ground turkey - both of them she left readily. She quickly found all three hides and indicated clearly.
Exterior 2 video - This last search was three hides along the front and under the portico of the building. There were four distraction tins. There is a slight breeze blowing from the far end of the search area and Gimme races down to get the farthest hide in just 13 seconds. It takes her 16 seconds to find the against-the-wall bench hide, which is always a very tricky hide. I think approaching it from the other direction made it clearer. The other dogs spent a LOT more time sourcing it. She briefly sniffed the ground turkey tin again, but then got to the last hide in 16 seconds. She didn't pay any significant attention to the distractions. Even though she bypassed the first two hides to go to the one at the end, her search was still efficient. She did it in half the time of the other dogs, except August, who she beat by about 30 seconds.
She does love nosey-works.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Nosework class (4/42)
We again started with blank searches - two of them. The second blank search was very tricksie... Then we then ended with two searches containing hides.
Exterior 1 search video - Gimme was happy to search and her enthusiasm stayed at about the same level. Partly I think it was because it was a large area. She didn't show any change of behavior, which was my only clue it was a blank search.
Vehicle 1 search video - We were told this was a blank vehicle search. We weren't told about the hide on the nearby building. The idea was to see if the dogs would be persistent, to get us to leave what we believed was the search area and take us to odor. Gimme was ready to go there almost from the start, but was willing to go with me. She's always loved the hunting as much, if not more, than the finding. Interestingly, the novice dogs were more persistent than the experienced dogs.
Vehicle 2 search video - The videographer missed the first few seconds of this search, but nothing happened there. Gimme was very efficient, going straight to the hide the moment she caught a bit of scent.
Exterior 2 search video - Gimme was again very efficient. She went straight from the start to the nearest hide. From there she headed toward the second hide and had it sourced in no time.
There is quite a bit of debate about whether to reward a dog after a blank search. Some are concerned about rewarding not-finding. After thinking it through, I've decided to just quickly cue a behavior and reward it. If Gimme is off leash, I call her to me, put the leash on and then reward. If she's on leash, I cue her "with me" (walk loosely with me) and then reward it.
She can't find a hide without searching for it, so I want to find a way to reward searching even if she didn't find anything. Rewards increase the likelihood of all the behaviors coming immediately before. Thus with unwanted behaviors you can get the I'll-be-bad-so-I-can-be-good-and-get-rewarded behavior chain. In this case, I'm happy to reward the behavior immediately before, so no worries.
Exterior 1 search video - Gimme was happy to search and her enthusiasm stayed at about the same level. Partly I think it was because it was a large area. She didn't show any change of behavior, which was my only clue it was a blank search.
Vehicle 1 search video - We were told this was a blank vehicle search. We weren't told about the hide on the nearby building. The idea was to see if the dogs would be persistent, to get us to leave what we believed was the search area and take us to odor. Gimme was ready to go there almost from the start, but was willing to go with me. She's always loved the hunting as much, if not more, than the finding. Interestingly, the novice dogs were more persistent than the experienced dogs.
Vehicle 2 search video - The videographer missed the first few seconds of this search, but nothing happened there. Gimme was very efficient, going straight to the hide the moment she caught a bit of scent.
Exterior 2 search video - Gimme was again very efficient. She went straight from the start to the nearest hide. From there she headed toward the second hide and had it sourced in no time.
There is quite a bit of debate about whether to reward a dog after a blank search. Some are concerned about rewarding not-finding. After thinking it through, I've decided to just quickly cue a behavior and reward it. If Gimme is off leash, I call her to me, put the leash on and then reward. If she's on leash, I cue her "with me" (walk loosely with me) and then reward it.
She can't find a hide without searching for it, so I want to find a way to reward searching even if she didn't find anything. Rewards increase the likelihood of all the behaviors coming immediately before. Thus with unwanted behaviors you can get the I'll-be-bad-so-I-can-be-good-and-get-rewarded behavior chain. In this case, I'm happy to reward the behavior immediately before, so no worries.
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Nosework class (4/41)
Usually we do a lot more container searches (i.e. indoor searches) when the weather is rainy and cold, but Dorothy wanted to take advantage of the cold for exterior and vehicle searches. The class focus was elevated hides.
Exterior search video - This search demonstrated how scent sometimes arcs out from a high location leaving a large dead space under the arc. Gimme loves elevated hides, so the challenge was the abnormal arc-affect. She's smarter than the other dogs, so she finds it faster than they did, but it was still slower than normal.
Watch Gimme and you'll see she finds the scent 4' from where it is and then is challenged to find the high hide at 4' high. If you watch her on the first hide, you'll see she practically draws a half circle 4' around the hide location. Pretty interesting to see. She goes almost straight to the second hide once she realized she was gonna get to "go high".
Vehicle search video - Fortunately the hide was on the side of the truck closest to the street light, so you can see what is happening. Gimme found this very quickly - 9 seconds.
Interior search video - Gimme takes a straight line from the start line to the hide location high on the cart. Look how far it is and she just knew it was there. Note she's not the least bit concerned by the movement of the stool or cart - Parkour rules... It took her 6 seconds to get to where the hide is and just 3 seconds to source it. Awesome girl.
I keep thinking Gimme should learn to take her time finding hides to "get our money's worth". She said her need to get a chicken nugget is more important than my money's worth.
Exterior search video - This search demonstrated how scent sometimes arcs out from a high location leaving a large dead space under the arc. Gimme loves elevated hides, so the challenge was the abnormal arc-affect. She's smarter than the other dogs, so she finds it faster than they did, but it was still slower than normal.
Watch Gimme and you'll see she finds the scent 4' from where it is and then is challenged to find the high hide at 4' high. If you watch her on the first hide, you'll see she practically draws a half circle 4' around the hide location. Pretty interesting to see. She goes almost straight to the second hide once she realized she was gonna get to "go high".
Vehicle search video - Fortunately the hide was on the side of the truck closest to the street light, so you can see what is happening. Gimme found this very quickly - 9 seconds.
Interior search video - Gimme takes a straight line from the start line to the hide location high on the cart. Look how far it is and she just knew it was there. Note she's not the least bit concerned by the movement of the stool or cart - Parkour rules... It took her 6 seconds to get to where the hide is and just 3 seconds to source it. Awesome girl.
I keep thinking Gimme should learn to take her time finding hides to "get our money's worth". She said her need to get a chicken nugget is more important than my money's worth.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
UKC nosework trial, 4 New Titles
This trial was less than 1:00 drive from home at Emerald Downs. We've been there for trials twice before. Gimme already has her Superior Interior (SI) title and just needed one leg each for container, vehicle and exterior titles. If she got all three, she would also get her Superior Nosework title. So there was a possibility of 4 titles.
Right before our morning container search, Gimme stepped on a blackberry vine and started limping. It kind of came and went. She was fine walking up to the staging area, but the longer she was on her feet the worse it got.
Container search -
3:00 to search and 2 hides. Gimme was pretty distracted by her owie, but managed to pull it off, completing her Superior Container (SC) title. She even got second place with a time of 1:05. The first place dog found both hides in 14 seconds! I would love to see them work.The judge asked to talk to me and I explained what happened. She let the Q stand, but said if Gimme was still limping in the afternoon she wouldn't be allowed to search in vehicles. Certainly reasonable... Another competitor gave me some arnica and I did energy work on her paw. Then we just had to wait. Fortunately by the time of her next search, her paw was mostly back to normal. I could see her gait was a little "off", but she wasn't limping.
Vehicle search video -
3:30 to search and 2 hides. Gimme did a nice job, finding the first hide behind the front license plate of the black vehicle (far left). From there she went here and there, but wasn't finding the second one. I realized she had gotten to the far side of the silver vehicle (far right), but hadn't searched it. You can see in the video as she goes there, I'm actually between her and the hide. I asked her to humor me and search there again. When we get in there the second time I was still between her and the hide, but she catches the drift of it and snaps back to indicate. This completed her Superior Vehicle (SV) title. She got second place with a time of 1:30.
We came back on Sunday afternoon for our last search.
Exterior search -
The search area was in one of the horse barns and we had 4:30 to find 2 hides. We had a long aisle with 4 of the 5 stalls along side it (tan), the open sided attached shed (brown) and the horse washing station (grey). This seemed larger than 1500 sqft., but I could be wrong. In any case the time to search it was generous. There was a bit of fresh poop as an added attraction. 
Gimme was immediately drawn into the shed area, but was ready to leave it after only searching the far half of it. I asked her to check the near end and we were rewarded by finding our first hide (see red arrow). 
Gimme was not interested in the stalls, only looking at them as she went by. We went out into the washing area and she wasn't interested in any of it. I asked her to check the pipe/faucet (blue dot), which she did but was uninterested in it. We went back into the main aisle and I got her into second stall (from the start line) and only got a perfunctory sniff. I asked her to go into the third stall and she was quite interested in a large hole (nose level, large black half-circle in the diagram) in the wall, but didn't try to make anything of it. 
As we left the stall I was trying to take her to the fourth stall, but she became interested in the wall between the aisle and the washing area. She began with the far end, sniffing it, started to go to the far side, but quickly came back. As she got to the other half she began strong detailing and finally indicated up under the top edge for our second hide. (see red arrow in second picture)
Three of the four dogs to NQ indicated low on the wall, so her precision was a great boon. This completed her Superior Exterior (SE) title. She got another second place with a time of 1:56.
These three searches mean we have all four elements at the Superior level, so Gimme earned her Superior Nosework (SN) title. One weekend, four new titles. This brings Gimme's total title count to 70. YAY GIMME!!!!!
Monday, October 7, 2019
Nosework class (4/40)
We had two somewhat complicated searches.
Exterior search video - Gimme races up the left side to the first hide, indicating in 15 seconds. The second hide was a little harder and while Dorothy is talking to me about it, I slackened the leash (unintentionally), which was all Gimme needed to go to the other side and alert. Then I let her be the boss-of-me, so she checked out the back area briefly, then went up the wall. We think the hide on the wall was drifting onto the truck. Gimme briefly checks the truck on the far side, came up between the wall and the truck, checked the truck a bit more, then finds the hide on the wall.
Next we had two "related" vehicle searches with 4 minutes. Once we left the first area, we weren't allowed to go back to it.
Vehicle search video - Gimme goes down the line of trucks, checks the far side of the last one, then doubles back to find the hide in the wheel well of the rear tire of the other side. She checks the other vehicles, but seems to be waffling and never detailed, so we moved on to the other area. She quickly starts detailing the machinery and when we get to the other side she alerts. As we get to the far end of the machinery I called finished. Dorothy asked me why we didn't check the van. I said she hadn't shown any interest in the van as we approached that part of the search area. Likewise, I brought Gimme up between the machinery and the van and she had no interest in the van, which confirmed that she didn't think there was anything there. Maybe I called finish early, but I didn't want to run over time and my instinct was proven correct.
I have an NW3 trial this weekend. It's in Carson, WA, a 2:30 hour drive. Prayers are welcome and needed. Then we have class the next week, followed by a two-week break.
Exterior search video - Gimme races up the left side to the first hide, indicating in 15 seconds. The second hide was a little harder and while Dorothy is talking to me about it, I slackened the leash (unintentionally), which was all Gimme needed to go to the other side and alert. Then I let her be the boss-of-me, so she checked out the back area briefly, then went up the wall. We think the hide on the wall was drifting onto the truck. Gimme briefly checks the truck on the far side, came up between the wall and the truck, checked the truck a bit more, then finds the hide on the wall.
Next we had two "related" vehicle searches with 4 minutes. Once we left the first area, we weren't allowed to go back to it.
Vehicle search video - Gimme goes down the line of trucks, checks the far side of the last one, then doubles back to find the hide in the wheel well of the rear tire of the other side. She checks the other vehicles, but seems to be waffling and never detailed, so we moved on to the other area. She quickly starts detailing the machinery and when we get to the other side she alerts. As we get to the far end of the machinery I called finished. Dorothy asked me why we didn't check the van. I said she hadn't shown any interest in the van as we approached that part of the search area. Likewise, I brought Gimme up between the machinery and the van and she had no interest in the van, which confirmed that she didn't think there was anything there. Maybe I called finish early, but I didn't want to run over time and my instinct was proven correct.
I have an NW3 trial this weekend. It's in Carson, WA, a 2:30 hour drive. Prayers are welcome and needed. Then we have class the next week, followed by a two-week break.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Nosework class (3/40)
Class consisted of two container and one exterior searches. Gimme got a manicure just before we drove to class, so I was interested to see how it would affect her (getting her nails done is stressful). She was fine during her searches, but when we got home she crashed on the bed for 90 minutes.
Container 1 search video - Gimme drives down the line to alert on the first hide in 8 seconds. When I called alert the second time, it was my mistake. Gimme looks toward me, but not at me, which is her way of alerting (when she's not in pawing mode). She was much more definite at the container with the green tissue. She looks strongly at me and then when I don't call it, she baps it with her foot.
Exterior search video - She drove down the left side and directly to the first hide at the base of the column in 13 seconds. I distracted her when I got the treat out of my bag. I need to develop the habit to get the treat out right away as we leave the start line or the prior hide. Because I distracted her I have to wait for her to indicate source, which she does. As we clear the large area behind where the second hide was on the dumpster, Gimme isn't very interested, though she did note the flat, dead rat in the middle. Then we cleared the rest of the area and I called finish.
Container 2 search video - Several distractions were added, but they don't fool her. Note she goes to the nearest container where she last found a hide - she never forgets - and looks toward me (not exactly alerting), then moves on. After she finds a hide in the far corner, when she comes back to this hide, she gets serious about alerting. Then we move through several distractions to a last hide by the door.
She did a good job despite the stressful manicure 2 hours earlier.
Container 1 search video - Gimme drives down the line to alert on the first hide in 8 seconds. When I called alert the second time, it was my mistake. Gimme looks toward me, but not at me, which is her way of alerting (when she's not in pawing mode). She was much more definite at the container with the green tissue. She looks strongly at me and then when I don't call it, she baps it with her foot.
Exterior search video - She drove down the left side and directly to the first hide at the base of the column in 13 seconds. I distracted her when I got the treat out of my bag. I need to develop the habit to get the treat out right away as we leave the start line or the prior hide. Because I distracted her I have to wait for her to indicate source, which she does. As we clear the large area behind where the second hide was on the dumpster, Gimme isn't very interested, though she did note the flat, dead rat in the middle. Then we cleared the rest of the area and I called finish.
Container 2 search video - Several distractions were added, but they don't fool her. Note she goes to the nearest container where she last found a hide - she never forgets - and looks toward me (not exactly alerting), then moves on. After she finds a hide in the far corner, when she comes back to this hide, she gets serious about alerting. Then we move through several distractions to a last hide by the door.
She did a good job despite the stressful manicure 2 hours earlier.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Nosework class (1/40)
This may be our last set of exterior hides for awhile, since the weather is turning to Fall, which for us means lots of rain.
Exterior 1 video - This search had 6 hides, three sets of two. Gimme went quickly to the first hide, and then quickly sources the other in the set. In the next set, there's a hide at the bottom of the utility box, but Gimme shows no sign of noticing it as she goes by. She finds the hide in the stock water tank easily and very obviously. I didn't get any signs from her about the utility box hide and in a trial I think we'd have missed it. She finds it only because I took her back that way, though she was willing to go there. You'll see she quickly shows signs of knowing it's a high hide. She finds the hide on the pallets almost immediately, once she travels back there - which she did in a hurry. She almost gets whiplash turning back to the last hide. It was a 3:45 search, for a very large search area and 6 hides. Nice job Gimme...
Exterior 2 video - This search had just one hide in a very large area. Gimme was quick to find it. She would have been faster doing the perimeter in the other direction, but I can't fault her strategy. She didn't dawdle anywhere.
It's nice to see her having so much fun again.
Exterior 1 video - This search had 6 hides, three sets of two. Gimme went quickly to the first hide, and then quickly sources the other in the set. In the next set, there's a hide at the bottom of the utility box, but Gimme shows no sign of noticing it as she goes by. She finds the hide in the stock water tank easily and very obviously. I didn't get any signs from her about the utility box hide and in a trial I think we'd have missed it. She finds it only because I took her back that way, though she was willing to go there. You'll see she quickly shows signs of knowing it's a high hide. She finds the hide on the pallets almost immediately, once she travels back there - which she did in a hurry. She almost gets whiplash turning back to the last hide. It was a 3:45 search, for a very large search area and 6 hides. Nice job Gimme...
Exterior 2 video - This search had just one hide in a very large area. Gimme was quick to find it. She would have been faster doing the perimeter in the other direction, but I can't fault her strategy. She didn't dawdle anywhere.
It's nice to see her having so much fun again.
Monday, September 2, 2019
Nosework class (6/39)
Tonight's class was a series of exterior hides. They are trying to get in as many exterior searches as possible, before the weather turns rainy for winter - which could happen any minute now. There are three hides - all on chairs.
Exterior 1 video - Gimme had the first hide right from the startline. I don't see what Dorothy commented on that indicated Gimme didn't have another hide "in her radar" when she left the first hide. She went by the chair against the garage door, but came back to it quickly. The other dogs had a much harder time with it. It took her a little longer to find the third hide because of the wind direction, but she gets it quickly.
Exterior 2 video - Gimme is really fast with these hides. She has all of them, including the time to get rewarded, in under a minute.
There were a lot of dogs in class, so we only got the two searches. Gimme was the fastest, by far, so it seemed like a very short class for us. It is so nice to see her nose is back.
She's been getting better and better about her anxiety, until the invisible monster bit her this morning. Just one day short of three weeks from the last time. She got off, then back on the bed and under the covers. She laid down and two seconds later, squealed and ran for her life. She wants to hide in the basement, but I won't let her. I just scheduled another chiropractic appointment for her this Thursday. Poor baby is scared again...
We are going off for a long walk as soon as I finish paying bills. Hopefully she'll be more relaxed afterward.
Exterior 1 video - Gimme had the first hide right from the startline. I don't see what Dorothy commented on that indicated Gimme didn't have another hide "in her radar" when she left the first hide. She went by the chair against the garage door, but came back to it quickly. The other dogs had a much harder time with it. It took her a little longer to find the third hide because of the wind direction, but she gets it quickly.
Exterior 2 video - Gimme is really fast with these hides. She has all of them, including the time to get rewarded, in under a minute.
There were a lot of dogs in class, so we only got the two searches. Gimme was the fastest, by far, so it seemed like a very short class for us. It is so nice to see her nose is back.
She's been getting better and better about her anxiety, until the invisible monster bit her this morning. Just one day short of three weeks from the last time. She got off, then back on the bed and under the covers. She laid down and two seconds later, squealed and ran for her life. She wants to hide in the basement, but I won't let her. I just scheduled another chiropractic appointment for her this Thursday. Poor baby is scared again...
We are going off for a long walk as soon as I finish paying bills. Hopefully she'll be more relaxed afterward.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Nosework class (5/39)
Sadly I forgot to take my camera to class, so no videos.
Exterior 1 search - Our first search was a long narrow and turning search with four hides. It starts at one end of the parking lot along a stack of light poles and a platform of cinder blocks (40'). From there it turns right along the face of the building (100'), then turns left down the sidewalk to the back of the building (75'). Naturally Gimme zooms into the search area and overruns the hide in the pallet of cinder blocks. When she gets to the wall I turned her back to re-search the first part of the search. When she gets to the cinder block hide she quickly alerts. Then she goes along the front of the building and speeds up to get to the second portico where she finds the hide in a bit of angle iron at the base of a column. From there she goes along the rest of the front, after thinking about snooping inside the open van containing a dog in a crate. As she rounds the corner she swings wide and quickly pees in the grass. I told her "no" and took her from the search area. For consistency, she always loses her turn if she pees in a search - though it's possible she didn't realize this was still part of the search area, because it was so long and narrow.
Exterior 1b search - Dorothy offers us the opportunity to come back and finish the search from where we left off. Gimme is quite funny - shunning the pee spot, as if to say she doesn't know what bad dog did it, but she doesn't want to be blamed. She races about halfway down the sidewalk and finds a hide at the base of the utility boxes. From there she gets to the end of the search area, having only briefly sniffed along the way. When I swing her back she very quickly went to the brick she had sniffed and alerted there.
Exterior 2 search - The second search was one hide very high (7') on one of the plate glass holders in the business across the street. There's a long stretch of them and it was in the first one. The wind was really strong. Gimme quickly followed the line of the holders all the way to the end, then turned and worked her way back up the line. As she got to the holder third from where the hide was she slowed down and started working more carefully. It became apparent, due to a lot of upward casting, Gimme knew it was a high hide. She put her feet up and sniffed high a couple of times on the nearest and then the actual holder, but she clearly decided it wasn't just there. When she got right under the hide she put both feet up, glanced back at me and then kind of kicked off with her back feet. I wish I had it on video, because for a second she was hanging by her front feet. She got lots of chicken- nuggets for such a lovely clear indication.
I didn't know if we had another search coming, so I put her back in the van with her harness on. When I knew we were done I asked her to come out of her space so I could take her harness off and she acted concerned, and wouldn't come out. I tried to bribe her with a nugget, but she wasn't having it. I probably could have lured her out with peanut butter, but I don't want to get in the habit of doing it and risk her learning if she acts concerned I'll bring out the peanut butter. So, I asked her if she wanted to "go potty" and then she came out without hesitation. I walked her briefly and then took her harness off before letting her get back in the van. I don't know why she had this bit of weirditude, but was happy we could resolve it without much drama.
Exterior 1 search - Our first search was a long narrow and turning search with four hides. It starts at one end of the parking lot along a stack of light poles and a platform of cinder blocks (40'). From there it turns right along the face of the building (100'), then turns left down the sidewalk to the back of the building (75'). Naturally Gimme zooms into the search area and overruns the hide in the pallet of cinder blocks. When she gets to the wall I turned her back to re-search the first part of the search. When she gets to the cinder block hide she quickly alerts. Then she goes along the front of the building and speeds up to get to the second portico where she finds the hide in a bit of angle iron at the base of a column. From there she goes along the rest of the front, after thinking about snooping inside the open van containing a dog in a crate. As she rounds the corner she swings wide and quickly pees in the grass. I told her "no" and took her from the search area. For consistency, she always loses her turn if she pees in a search - though it's possible she didn't realize this was still part of the search area, because it was so long and narrow.
Exterior 1b search - Dorothy offers us the opportunity to come back and finish the search from where we left off. Gimme is quite funny - shunning the pee spot, as if to say she doesn't know what bad dog did it, but she doesn't want to be blamed. She races about halfway down the sidewalk and finds a hide at the base of the utility boxes. From there she gets to the end of the search area, having only briefly sniffed along the way. When I swing her back she very quickly went to the brick she had sniffed and alerted there.
Exterior 2 search - The second search was one hide very high (7') on one of the plate glass holders in the business across the street. There's a long stretch of them and it was in the first one. The wind was really strong. Gimme quickly followed the line of the holders all the way to the end, then turned and worked her way back up the line. As she got to the holder third from where the hide was she slowed down and started working more carefully. It became apparent, due to a lot of upward casting, Gimme knew it was a high hide. She put her feet up and sniffed high a couple of times on the nearest and then the actual holder, but she clearly decided it wasn't just there. When she got right under the hide she put both feet up, glanced back at me and then kind of kicked off with her back feet. I wish I had it on video, because for a second she was hanging by her front feet. She got lots of chicken- nuggets for such a lovely clear indication.
I didn't know if we had another search coming, so I put her back in the van with her harness on. When I knew we were done I asked her to come out of her space so I could take her harness off and she acted concerned, and wouldn't come out. I tried to bribe her with a nugget, but she wasn't having it. I probably could have lured her out with peanut butter, but I don't want to get in the habit of doing it and risk her learning if she acts concerned I'll bring out the peanut butter. So, I asked her if she wanted to "go potty" and then she came out without hesitation. I walked her briefly and then took her harness off before letting her get back in the van. I don't know why she had this bit of weirditude, but was happy we could resolve it without much drama.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Nosework class (4/39)
We had four searches, one for each element. They were supposed to be blind searches, but I asked to know how many hides there were. Gimme had been so anxious earlier in the day, so I wanted to be able to support her very well.
She had been afraid of getting her harness put on earlier in the day, so I really took my time with it and used peanut butter to lure her through it.
Vehicle search video - On the surface this looks like it should be a simple search, but... Did you see the drain right behind the big white truck? I didn't notice it at the time, but we know from other searches (and from tracking) how drains do weird things to scent. This one apparently sucked a lot of scent from the hide all the way over and onto the white truck.
Interior search video - Gimme was so fast in this search, getting both hides in 30 seconds. Sure shows what a difference it makes to work in an enclosed space with no breeze.
Container search video - Gimme did a nice job finding three hides in 43 seconds. Clearly I need to get back to work on her indication for boxes.
Exterior search video - She did a nice job here. She went down to the end where one hide was high, but didn't indicate. Instead she went back to the middle and found a hide in the pallets. Then she checked beyond the first hide before going back to the high hide. I liked how she took herself back to the one she'd caught from the start line.
This was a fun search. Grass pollen is starting to reduce and I think searching is becoming easier for her again.
She had been afraid of getting her harness put on earlier in the day, so I really took my time with it and used peanut butter to lure her through it.
Vehicle search video - On the surface this looks like it should be a simple search, but... Did you see the drain right behind the big white truck? I didn't notice it at the time, but we know from other searches (and from tracking) how drains do weird things to scent. This one apparently sucked a lot of scent from the hide all the way over and onto the white truck.
Interior search video - Gimme was so fast in this search, getting both hides in 30 seconds. Sure shows what a difference it makes to work in an enclosed space with no breeze.
Container search video - Gimme did a nice job finding three hides in 43 seconds. Clearly I need to get back to work on her indication for boxes.
Exterior search video - She did a nice job here. She went down to the end where one hide was high, but didn't indicate. Instead she went back to the middle and found a hide in the pallets. Then she checked beyond the first hide before going back to the high hide. I liked how she took herself back to the one she'd caught from the start line.
This was a fun search. Grass pollen is starting to reduce and I think searching is becoming easier for her again.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Nosework class (2/39)
Gimme was better at searching than the week before, but still not quite her usual self. I did discover this was her special day - she was flagging her tail as I was putting her panties on. She was really goosey about everything Monday and Tuesday, which is explained by it being her special day.
Since then we met Nadine for tracking and did article circles again. She laid two circles and Gimme was a bit blasé for the first one, but got into what she was doing for the second circle. This makes me wonder if she is having trouble with the grass pollen, even though she's taking bee pollen. Perhaps her nose isn't it's usual excellent self and in combination with her other concerns, it's enough to throw her off her game.
Exterior 1 video - The search area was a large exterior, which was freshly bulldozed and trees removed. There were three hides. A dog before Gimme peed and I tried to avoid the area, but I marked it wrong in my head. She did a lovely job getting to the nearest hide so quickly. Gimme and August were the only dogs in class to go straight to the rock pile at the back after finding the near hide. Gimme got back there quickly, but it took her a little bit to source the hide since the breeze died down as we got there. It took her 28 seconds to decide exactly where the hide was, but then she was very clear. Unfortunately from there she got to the pee spot. The sharp "no" is just a reflex, but it's just as well and I ended the search and took her away from the search area - to make sure she always understands the rule. This is only the 6th time she's ever marked during a search in her whole career of 8 years.
Exterior 2 video - There were two hides in this area. The same person's other dog marked in this search at the very end of the area. You'll see Gimme moved wide of the spot, being careful to avoid it - she doesn't make the same mistake twice, even in her special condition. We quickly walked the length of the search area (with one brief diversion) and she went right up the side of the dumpster to indicate the hide. It was interesting that she went a bit past the mailboxes, then swung back. She sniffs high on the chainlink and must've caught some scent, since she went directly to the hide from there. Way to go Empress...
I'm glad to see she's getting her nose back, since she needs some positive outlets. She's been in a weird place mentally for several weeks and getting worse. I've thought it was this thing or another, but have come to believe it's really this whole period of time, starting in late June through the present.
I plan to keep her on relatively smooth surfaces, though my yard is anything but smooth. And, honestly she hasn't had any trouble field tracking. I am planning to make her a set of steps onto the bed, since hopping up has caused a few squeaks. I think as she "lands", her weight pushes into the soft bed, but the bedding forces the toenail upward, thus the pain. I have a lot of cinder blocks I can bring in to form a set of steps (left from when other dogs have gotten very old).
Can't wait for this nail to heal - just wish there were something I could do for it.
Since then we met Nadine for tracking and did article circles again. She laid two circles and Gimme was a bit blasé for the first one, but got into what she was doing for the second circle. This makes me wonder if she is having trouble with the grass pollen, even though she's taking bee pollen. Perhaps her nose isn't it's usual excellent self and in combination with her other concerns, it's enough to throw her off her game.
Exterior 1 video - The search area was a large exterior, which was freshly bulldozed and trees removed. There were three hides. A dog before Gimme peed and I tried to avoid the area, but I marked it wrong in my head. She did a lovely job getting to the nearest hide so quickly. Gimme and August were the only dogs in class to go straight to the rock pile at the back after finding the near hide. Gimme got back there quickly, but it took her a little bit to source the hide since the breeze died down as we got there. It took her 28 seconds to decide exactly where the hide was, but then she was very clear. Unfortunately from there she got to the pee spot. The sharp "no" is just a reflex, but it's just as well and I ended the search and took her away from the search area - to make sure she always understands the rule. This is only the 6th time she's ever marked during a search in her whole career of 8 years.
Exterior 2 video - There were two hides in this area. The same person's other dog marked in this search at the very end of the area. You'll see Gimme moved wide of the spot, being careful to avoid it - she doesn't make the same mistake twice, even in her special condition. We quickly walked the length of the search area (with one brief diversion) and she went right up the side of the dumpster to indicate the hide. It was interesting that she went a bit past the mailboxes, then swung back. She sniffs high on the chainlink and must've caught some scent, since she went directly to the hide from there. Way to go Empress...
I'm glad to see she's getting her nose back, since she needs some positive outlets. She's been in a weird place mentally for several weeks and getting worse. I've thought it was this thing or another, but have come to believe it's really this whole period of time, starting in late June through the present.
- It started with two sore/jammed toes on her left front paw.
- Then her atlas vertebra (the top one) was out of alignment. Doc said this often feels like a migraine - I know I get migraines when mine is out. This likely contributed to what came next...
- I've already talked a bunch about the grand mal seizure
- I took her in see the chiropractor, Dr. Powell, to double-check her atlas, only to discover her shoulder was badly locked up and quite painful.
- Yesterday we went in for another checkup and found the atlas and shoulder were fine, but her toes are still bothering her. I already noticed one toenail has a bit broken off and Doc saw a long crack running the length of it.
I plan to keep her on relatively smooth surfaces, though my yard is anything but smooth. And, honestly she hasn't had any trouble field tracking. I am planning to make her a set of steps onto the bed, since hopping up has caused a few squeaks. I think as she "lands", her weight pushes into the soft bed, but the bedding forces the toenail upward, thus the pain. I have a lot of cinder blocks I can bring in to form a set of steps (left from when other dogs have gotten very old).
Can't wait for this nail to heal - just wish there were something I could do for it.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Nosework class (2/39)
I saw "color" just a couple hours before class started, confirming Gimme is in season. She's not very poofy, but some. Based on her behavior and total lack of focus I think she's further into the season than is apparent. Nosework is normally not affected, except on "the day".
Exterior 1 video - This should have been such an easy search for Gimme, but she walks hides. The first hide was on the mailboxes, which she goes toward, but doesn't investigate further. There's a hide on the second mailbox, which she passes in favor of the fire hydrant on the right. Notice toward the end of the sidewalk she just stops and repeatedly looks at me, as if she's not sure why we are here. She finally catches drift of the hide under the concrete barrier. To get the hide on the blue pole and on the mailboxes, I basically have to move her close to the hide and then encourage her to stay there.
There have been times because of pollen and such where Gimme's nose wasn't working and to someone who doesn't know her, this could look as if her nose wasn't working. But, having seen it, I know Gimme continues trying to work the puzzle, with strong searching behavior. She wasn't searching with persistence here, just kinda doing a la-la-la search, as if her mind wasn't in it.
Exterior 2 video - Here there are five hides in the concrete barriers and on the fire hydrant. Gimme is a little more into it, but doesn't seem to be interested in putting forth the effort for the one with the hide on top. She finds the low hide (from the last search) immediately and she gets right on the second one where it's on top and close to the edge. The third one has the hide on the top and in the middle, but after finding a treat on the ground she just moves on. She normally loves high hides, but not this night. I tried keeping her by the fire hydrant, but she just wasn't going there. She does go back to the last hide and finds it from the other end, so I pay her again. The second time I bring her toward the fire hydrant she gets it easily. Then when I get her back to the one she missed, she starts working it and finally gets it.
From watching her videos, it's like she has divided attention. She wants to play the game and win treats, she just can't concentrate.
Vehicle 1 video - Her attitude was much better for this last search. She finds and alerts on the first hide in 20 seconds. Normally she isn't fooled by odor drifting under a car, but this time she seems to be; though, the instructor says there are fries on the ground under the car, which could be a factor. She hasn't put her feet on a car in years and yet does it here three times. I think she was just throwing stuff out to see if it'd stick. She finally finds the last hide - it took 2 minutes from the first hide!
I'm just not used to her being less than brilliant. I don't know how people with dogs of just-average intelligence stand it.
She was freaked out by getting her collar put on this morning, so I decided a walk was not in our future. Our tracking friend has a conflict, so we won't meet up tomorrow. I plan to go by Game Farm Park again and lay an article circle for Gimme. I think she needs the outlets until she gets back to normal and she always enjoys article circles.
Exterior 1 video - This should have been such an easy search for Gimme, but she walks hides. The first hide was on the mailboxes, which she goes toward, but doesn't investigate further. There's a hide on the second mailbox, which she passes in favor of the fire hydrant on the right. Notice toward the end of the sidewalk she just stops and repeatedly looks at me, as if she's not sure why we are here. She finally catches drift of the hide under the concrete barrier. To get the hide on the blue pole and on the mailboxes, I basically have to move her close to the hide and then encourage her to stay there.
There have been times because of pollen and such where Gimme's nose wasn't working and to someone who doesn't know her, this could look as if her nose wasn't working. But, having seen it, I know Gimme continues trying to work the puzzle, with strong searching behavior. She wasn't searching with persistence here, just kinda doing a la-la-la search, as if her mind wasn't in it.
Exterior 2 video - Here there are five hides in the concrete barriers and on the fire hydrant. Gimme is a little more into it, but doesn't seem to be interested in putting forth the effort for the one with the hide on top. She finds the low hide (from the last search) immediately and she gets right on the second one where it's on top and close to the edge. The third one has the hide on the top and in the middle, but after finding a treat on the ground she just moves on. She normally loves high hides, but not this night. I tried keeping her by the fire hydrant, but she just wasn't going there. She does go back to the last hide and finds it from the other end, so I pay her again. The second time I bring her toward the fire hydrant she gets it easily. Then when I get her back to the one she missed, she starts working it and finally gets it.
From watching her videos, it's like she has divided attention. She wants to play the game and win treats, she just can't concentrate.
Vehicle 1 video - Her attitude was much better for this last search. She finds and alerts on the first hide in 20 seconds. Normally she isn't fooled by odor drifting under a car, but this time she seems to be; though, the instructor says there are fries on the ground under the car, which could be a factor. She hasn't put her feet on a car in years and yet does it here three times. I think she was just throwing stuff out to see if it'd stick. She finally finds the last hide - it took 2 minutes from the first hide!
I'm just not used to her being less than brilliant. I don't know how people with dogs of just-average intelligence stand it.
She was freaked out by getting her collar put on this morning, so I decided a walk was not in our future. Our tracking friend has a conflict, so we won't meet up tomorrow. I plan to go by Game Farm Park again and lay an article circle for Gimme. I think she needs the outlets until she gets back to normal and she always enjoys article circles.
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