Again, blogging out of order, but by now you know I can't resist bragging about my brilliant girl. I learned of this UKC nosework match just over a week ago and was able to get into it. I haven't read their rules, but couldn't pass up the chance to try it. Rather than giving Gimme more chances to show us how well she remembers where the last hide was, I entered her in both containers and interiors at both levels, novice and advanced, instead of entering for reruns.
Today I drove to Graham in snow coming down like crazy. It was too warm to stick, so didn't have to worry about the road being icy, but at times it was hard to see. The site was nice, but brrrrrrr it was cold.
Novice Containers - It was twelve boxes with one hide (birch) and 3 minutes allotted for search time, which seems like a lot of time. Gimme had the hide in 17.75 seconds for 3rd place. 1st place dog had it in 7.21 and 2nd place had it in 10 seconds. I saw Gimme tip her nose toward the odor box on the way by, but she continued to the end of the row, then indicated on her way back down the row. Maybe I should have showed her the chicken nugget I had for her.
Novice Interiors - A tiny search area marked with tape, 1 hide (birch) and 3 minutes allotted search time. While Gimme dawdled for a couple seconds checking out a cone, she still had the hide in 22.1 seconds for first place. The second place dog was just short of a minute.
Novice Overall - Gimme took High in Match with 39.85 seconds overall time.
Advanced Containers - Twelve boxes, one hide (anise) and 3 minutes allotted search time. Gimme went up and down the row three times, but still had it in 23.5 seconds and came away with 2nd place.
Advanced Interiors - Larger search area, one hide (anise) and 4 minutes allotted search time. This was our first chance to go off leash. Gimme did a quick scan of the whole area, only leaving it briefly, then came back and quickly nailed the inaccessible hide. Her time was 33.03 seconds and she got 1st place. The judge for interiors said Gimme was the only dog to find it blind (other than the "white dog"). She said another handler, who ran two dogs, found it with her second dog, but she knew where the hide was and so tended to hang near the hide. The judge thought Gimme was awesome and I had to agree.
Advanced Overall - Gimme took High in Match again with 56.53 seconds overall time.
I know it was only a match, but clearly Gimme is ready to play in UKC nosework. This group is holding a trial next year, probably in May. There is another trial nearby the weekend after Thanksgiving, but that is the weekend when we'll be playing barn hunt and weight pull.
We drove home in even stronger snow most of the way. It started petering out as we got close to home, turning to rain. As luck would have it, it became a light drizzle as we approached Lacey. I drove by Lake Lois Park in hopes we could re-video one of our parkour behaviors. The drizzle stopped and we were able to get it done. Just as we were getting back in the van, the rain came back.
Now with the heat turned up and a hot soak behind me, I am feeling thawed and normal again. And Gimme may just get some steak I have thawing as we speak... just sayin'...
Showing posts with label NW Match. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NW Match. Show all posts
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Match Container Video
Here's the video for the container element without.
BTW I discovered it was blogspot that was keeping my video's from uploading - not because of the Apple app on Linda's phone. In any case, this video is complete.
Here's what I saw:
Also the first odor bag was a much looser construction and weave than the second odor bag. So the odor from the first was probably overpowering the other, especially after she moved it closer.
Here's what I saw:
- she immediately finds the first bag (the red one) but doesn't stick it
- at one point she got caught up in fringe odor from the red bag on the black bag behind it
- when she goes from the fringe to the odor bag, there is a decided change of behavior, as well as the clear snap-back for the red bag... whenever I see that snap-back there's a 95% likelihood there's odor there, but there isn't always a snap-back for odor (depends on variables)
- the judge commented that we spent too much time away from the bags, but after looking at this, she didn't spend that much time away - just did it repeatedly, probably due to frustration and I think I can bring her back sooner; she's handling it better than she used to
- the most time wasted was the repeated skiing around on the first odor bag, which resulted, I think, from the frustration that was building up when she couldn't find the second bag
Also the first odor bag was a much looser construction and weave than the second odor bag. So the odor from the first was probably overpowering the other, especially after she moved it closer.
Match Interior Video
Again I'm finding that my memory of what happened doesn't exactly match reality. Gimme does a nice job on both these interiors. I'd totally forgotten that the judge suggested Gimme needed her Wheaties in the morning to give her more energy for nosework...
To give you another idea of how out-of-it I am regarding my surroundings - I didn't think we'd even get video's for the interior searches. The rooms were so small that I was sure there wasn't enough room for a videographer. Nevermind that there was one standing there taping the whole time. Duhhhhhh...
We haven't done the food distraction practices for a couple days... so I was determined to do it today. Naturally it was pouring down rain. I went to Costco for gas and groceries, hoping the rain would stop, collecting a Beef Taquita sample for a distraction. Then went to McDonald's for some more distractions.
We lined the bags up down the length of a covered walkway outside a office building that is closed for the weekend. It was still pouring rain and so Gimme only got a very short potty walk. We went up the line six times... Gimme was only distracted by the rice krispies the first time, because she hadn't figured on the possibility of french fries or a McChicken. She didn't seem impressed by the Beef Taquita. I had fries and the rest of the McChix for her treats. She quickly figured out that the good food that she could actually HAVE was tied to the two odor bags. Of course, the minute we finished and I was packing up the bags and such, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Next time I'm hoping we'll have more room so I can try this setup in a mixed circle.
BTW Joyce has announced that we'll be doing this exercise in class, a week from this Wednesday. By then Gimme will be an expert and its a good thing, since four days between class and our trial wouldn't be enough to get her ready...
To give you another idea of how out-of-it I am regarding my surroundings - I didn't think we'd even get video's for the interior searches. The rooms were so small that I was sure there wasn't enough room for a videographer. Nevermind that there was one standing there taping the whole time. Duhhhhhh...
We haven't done the food distraction practices for a couple days... so I was determined to do it today. Naturally it was pouring down rain. I went to Costco for gas and groceries, hoping the rain would stop, collecting a Beef Taquita sample for a distraction. Then went to McDonald's for some more distractions.
We lined the bags up down the length of a covered walkway outside a office building that is closed for the weekend. It was still pouring rain and so Gimme only got a very short potty walk. We went up the line six times... Gimme was only distracted by the rice krispies the first time, because she hadn't figured on the possibility of french fries or a McChicken. She didn't seem impressed by the Beef Taquita. I had fries and the rest of the McChix for her treats. She quickly figured out that the good food that she could actually HAVE was tied to the two odor bags. Of course, the minute we finished and I was packing up the bags and such, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Next time I'm hoping we'll have more room so I can try this setup in a mixed circle.
BTW Joyce has announced that we'll be doing this exercise in class, a week from this Wednesday. By then Gimme will be an expert and its a good thing, since four days between class and our trial wouldn't be enough to get her ready...
Friday, April 12, 2013
Match Vehicle Video
Terri has been busy trying to get all the video's from the match downloaded. Its a very time consuming task for Terri to upload all of
them and I know we all appreciate it.
This is Gimme doing the vehicle. Keep in mind wind was very strong and blowing away from the startline toward the videographer. So Gimme really doesn't catch any hint of odor until she just starts to round the end of the trailer. It is pretty obvious when she does, since her tail suddenly starts wagging faster when she gets in odor. And do note how precisely she indicates where the odor is with her paw.
The lesson learned here is that when the wind is blowing away from you... there could be a benefit to passing through the startline, then moving straight through the vehicles to approach them from the other side. Of course Gimme was working her own plan, but if you watch carefully you can see her saying - "are you sure?" to me. Certainly I would want to move downwind if she hadn't found this one so quickly.
BTW I've ordered the Champion Jumbo Sports Watch (lucked out, it was on sale)... My original reason for ordering it was to know when we had a minute left and that I might need to direct Gimme's efforts. But I can also see that it would help my nerves as well. I thought we were close to 2 minutes when Gimme indicated this hide, when it was really only about 50 seconds.
I'll have more videos in the next couple days - I've downloaded the container disaster and the interiors. Haven't seen her exterior show up yet.
This is Gimme doing the vehicle. Keep in mind wind was very strong and blowing away from the startline toward the videographer. So Gimme really doesn't catch any hint of odor until she just starts to round the end of the trailer. It is pretty obvious when she does, since her tail suddenly starts wagging faster when she gets in odor. And do note how precisely she indicates where the odor is with her paw.
The lesson learned here is that when the wind is blowing away from you... there could be a benefit to passing through the startline, then moving straight through the vehicles to approach them from the other side. Of course Gimme was working her own plan, but if you watch carefully you can see her saying - "are you sure?" to me. Certainly I would want to move downwind if she hadn't found this one so quickly.
BTW I've ordered the Champion Jumbo Sports Watch (lucked out, it was on sale)... My original reason for ordering it was to know when we had a minute left and that I might need to direct Gimme's efforts. But I can also see that it would help my nerves as well. I thought we were close to 2 minutes when Gimme indicated this hide, when it was really only about 50 seconds.
I'll have more videos in the next couple days - I've downloaded the container disaster and the interiors. Haven't seen her exterior show up yet.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
More NW Match
Here is more detailed information about the match:
Vehicle: 1 hide - 50 seconds.
Exterior: 2 hides - 1:06.
Interior: 2 rooms & 3 hides - 1:06 and :17 seconds.
At the converging odor seminar, a friend showed me a big timer that she wears on her wrist and starts at the beginning of each search, so she knows at a glance how much time she has left. It has a big face and she wears it with the dial on the inside of her wrist so she can glance at it. It'll be a really handy tool when you get to NW3 (where she is) and have time limits in which you have to call "finished" or "clear". And now I'm seeing a use for it here. I got the info from her and need to find my notes and order one.
I also noticed how incredibly sloppy my line handling is with this shorter line. You know I'm going to nip that in the bud. Using the much longer line forces me to handle it well.
Today we set up the food distraction exercise again - twelve bags, 2 rows of six. Eight with food distractions, three blank and one with odor. I didn't plan it that way, but where I set it up, there were two large dogs behind a fence about fifty feet away. They started barking their heads off the moment I got Gimme out of the car and never stopped until I'd packed up and left. We did three quick searches and Gimme did very well. She was clearly distracted the first time and had a little difficulty sticking the odor bag, but after that paid less and less attention to the barkers. So while that wasn't the goal for our exercise... it was a nice side benefit and I was quite pleased with how well she did. Sometime soon we'll do that again and on purpose.
Again she was most distracted by the rice krispie treats. She paid no attention to the dog biscuits and very little attention to the cooked chicken. I got a slice of bread from a friend (since I no longer eat wheat), will toast and butter it and use that for a distraction. Gimme has always had a fondness for bread of any kind. I'll probably buy her an order of McDonald's french fries too; another favorite. I can get some saltine crackers when I'm at my parents' this weekend.
BTW we are working on a cute trick for my parents. Its a variation of ring toss... where I'll toss and Gimme will "catch" the ring on her nose. I made a very soft and light ring with a wrapped fleece cover. She's already catching on to how advantageous it is for Miss Gimme to carry the ring on her nose. She really will do almost anything for food, doncha know...
Vehicle: 1 hide - 50 seconds.
Exterior: 2 hides - 1:06.
Interior: 2 rooms & 3 hides - 1:06 and :17 seconds.
At the converging odor seminar, a friend showed me a big timer that she wears on her wrist and starts at the beginning of each search, so she knows at a glance how much time she has left. It has a big face and she wears it with the dial on the inside of her wrist so she can glance at it. It'll be a really handy tool when you get to NW3 (where she is) and have time limits in which you have to call "finished" or "clear". And now I'm seeing a use for it here. I got the info from her and need to find my notes and order one.
I also noticed how incredibly sloppy my line handling is with this shorter line. You know I'm going to nip that in the bud. Using the much longer line forces me to handle it well.
Today we set up the food distraction exercise again - twelve bags, 2 rows of six. Eight with food distractions, three blank and one with odor. I didn't plan it that way, but where I set it up, there were two large dogs behind a fence about fifty feet away. They started barking their heads off the moment I got Gimme out of the car and never stopped until I'd packed up and left. We did three quick searches and Gimme did very well. She was clearly distracted the first time and had a little difficulty sticking the odor bag, but after that paid less and less attention to the barkers. So while that wasn't the goal for our exercise... it was a nice side benefit and I was quite pleased with how well she did. Sometime soon we'll do that again and on purpose.
Again she was most distracted by the rice krispie treats. She paid no attention to the dog biscuits and very little attention to the cooked chicken. I got a slice of bread from a friend (since I no longer eat wheat), will toast and butter it and use that for a distraction. Gimme has always had a fondness for bread of any kind. I'll probably buy her an order of McDonald's french fries too; another favorite. I can get some saltine crackers when I'm at my parents' this weekend.
BTW we are working on a cute trick for my parents. Its a variation of ring toss... where I'll toss and Gimme will "catch" the ring on her nose. I made a very soft and light ring with a wrapped fleece cover. She's already catching on to how advantageous it is for Miss Gimme to carry the ring on her nose. She really will do almost anything for food, doncha know...
Monday, April 8, 2013
NW2 Match
Yesterday Gimme and I went to a match on the Washington-Oregon border, a two hour drive. Best friend Linda came along to help with volunteering and see what all this nosework stuff is all about. Since she's not a dog person - its a mark of true friendship that she's interested enough to devote an entire day to learning more about what I care about. Even though it was a cold and wet day... we three had fun.
Gimme is in season and had to wear her hot-pants, not that she thinks that is relevant. She really doesn't pay any attention to them. One of the judges commented, "don't you know its a fashion faux pax to wear stripes with spots?" I told her, "If its good enough for Princess Di, its good enough for the Empress of the Cosmos."
Gimme did a fabulous job on three of her elements: vehicle, exterior and interiors. The great thing about NW2 is that they tell you how many hides there are. You don't know how many there are in NW3.
Vehicle took less than a minute, with no help from me. The wind was blowing away from us... so she was pretty much just scan-sniffing the vehicles, really staying with them, until she got into a spot where she got a drift of odor - then she went really direct and detailed until she was sure where it was. Her change of behavior when she was on odor was very clear. The paw whack was decisive.
Exterior had two hides and covered a very large area, containing 5 park benches, a dozen trees, a trash container and a picnic table and benches, along with miscellaneous other things. Again, the wind was blowing away from us. Gimme got down along the far edge of the area right away and headed immediately to the trash can. She stood up and sniffed in the can and then sniffed the base and found her first odor, again with the very clear paw whack right where it was. Then she continued to scan the rest of the area and got on the other side of the odor again. So I took her around to the benches and trees, which got us downwind of the second odor source. Gimme found that pretty quickly - under the edge of a cover to the lighting electrical unit. Getting both hides in about 2 minutes.
Interior had two rooms, two hides in the first room and one hide in the second room. Gimme got the first hide very quickly - it was on the foot to a cabinet. The rooms were so small that they didn't close the door and the judge stood in the doorway. Gimme squirted out past her knees and when I called her an instant later, she turned on a thin dime and got right back past those same knees. That put her in the ideal spot to find the second hide, which was right near the threshold. I don't remember the exact time... somewhere around one and a half minutes. I do remember the time on the only hide in the second room - just a smidgen over 16 seconds! She was on it so quickly, I really didn't have time to get in gear mentally. Not that it affected Gimme, the Hottie Spottie Dottie.
One thing I noticed about this judge is that every hide she set, other than the trailer hitch, were low, almost on the ground. Its a good thing I did that little exercise a few weeks ago when I noticed that Gimme was spending all her time trotting around with her nose straight up scanning for odor.
Container was our first element and the one we had trouble with. And not a surprise at that. Linda tried to take a video with her phone because someone forgot to bring her camera. So I'm trying to turn it into a video for you guys to watch, but so far am not having luck with it.
Basically Gimme was caught up by two issues. One seemed to be converging odor, but the main issue was the food distraction (saltine crackers) in one of the containers. It was very close to the one hide she did find and so she kept going back to that hide to ski on the bag - though I really think she was being drawn by the food distraction. From what I can see on the video, she never even sniffed the second odor container, which was one in from the far left corner - instead she was rounding that corner, though she did hit the far left corner container once.
When I saw she was having difficulty, I should have gotten more involved and given her more direction. Though in my defense, we've never searched that way - clearly something I need to practice for just this situation. To a large degree I blame this on lack of adequate training in classes. We should have been doing a lot more container work and have addressed the food/toy distraction issue long before now. Gimme isn't distracted by toys, though Tucker (a classmate who is entered in the same trial) is a real toy fanatic.
I did get to talk to a number of people and pick their brains on how to train through the food distraction issue. What I've been doing isn't bad, but there is an exercise out there that is much more direct to the issue. Basically you set up a bunch of containers and have food distraction in every one... then further away you have a series of containers, mostly blank and one with a ton of odor in it. The dog gets to walk through the food distractions and if they alert you ignore it and keep walking - then when they get to the odor container and alert, you reward with the biggest party ever.
Last night I gathered up every bag I could find. I had a bunch that I'd already started collecting. I planned to do the exercise after work today and was going to use a covered sidewalk near a vacant office building across the parking lot from my store, but there was a creepy looking guy hanging out in that area. So I picked another spot and set the 13 bags in a long line. I put food distraction in the first 8... mostly boring dog cookies, a bit of chicken, kitty kibble and then rice krispie treats in two. I put the odor in the third of the four bags on the far end. The line was set up so the breeze was blowing toward us. We did five searches and I'd read for about ten minutes between searches...
Round 1 - Gimme raced down the line barely sniffing the food and got to the odor bag really fast. Partly I'm sure it was because I'd just set it up, so the food distractions hadn't had time to really cook. There were 10 q-tips in the 2 odor tins. The party was prolonged...
Round 2 - She kept getting distracted off to one side - maybe odor was drifting that way. This time she paid more attention to the food bags... in particular one that had a rice krispie treat in it. That one continued to attract her attention. Again she got to the odor bag quickly and enjoyed her party.
Round 3 - She again was getting distracted off to one side. Again interested in the rice krispie treat bag. I'd flipped the odor bag over, so she didn't catch it until she came back toward it from the other direction the second time... the breeze had picked up. On this round I noticed she was sticking the odor more intensely and naturally we partied.
Round 4 - I moved the bags around a little moving the odor bag between the two bags with rice krispies. I also moved her along more quickly when she got distracted. She got all the way to the end of the line and then found odor bag on the way back. We had a hearty party.
Round 5 - I took one of the odor tins and moved it to the last bag, so she would have two. She found the first odor bag quickly, we partied. We went to the end and past the second odor bag... she didn't find it until the third time. That's probably not surprising, since it hadn't had that much time to cook - at least not compared to the other odor bag. Again, we partied.
I found that the partying really intensified her stickiness on odor... a very good thing. I'm trying to do more of that in all our searches. That's one thing I'd learned from the seminar with Josh McCorkle - that there's more to rewarding than just the food. I knew that, but hadn't really internalized it, so wasn't actually doing it.
Gimme also seemed okay with being drawn away from distraction and didn't show any signs of frustration. So, I can start doing that sooner and a bit more directly/forceful in the future. I think that means she may also be okay with some directed searching... to get her used to the idea for some time when we need it in the future.
I was going to do this every other day... but that would put us on Wednesday and that is our nosework class day. So I may do a quick session tomorrow.
BTW I had noticed that she never sniffed the first two bags in the line, even though one had that cooked chicken in it. Those were 2 of 3 bags I'd found in the woods. I'd washed them when I got them; tonight they are getting washed again. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to them tomorrow. If she continues to pointedly ignore them - they'll find their way into the trash - easy-come-easy-go.
Gimme is in season and had to wear her hot-pants, not that she thinks that is relevant. She really doesn't pay any attention to them. One of the judges commented, "don't you know its a fashion faux pax to wear stripes with spots?" I told her, "If its good enough for Princess Di, its good enough for the Empress of the Cosmos."
Gimme did a fabulous job on three of her elements: vehicle, exterior and interiors. The great thing about NW2 is that they tell you how many hides there are. You don't know how many there are in NW3.
Vehicle took less than a minute, with no help from me. The wind was blowing away from us... so she was pretty much just scan-sniffing the vehicles, really staying with them, until she got into a spot where she got a drift of odor - then she went really direct and detailed until she was sure where it was. Her change of behavior when she was on odor was very clear. The paw whack was decisive.
Exterior had two hides and covered a very large area, containing 5 park benches, a dozen trees, a trash container and a picnic table and benches, along with miscellaneous other things. Again, the wind was blowing away from us. Gimme got down along the far edge of the area right away and headed immediately to the trash can. She stood up and sniffed in the can and then sniffed the base and found her first odor, again with the very clear paw whack right where it was. Then she continued to scan the rest of the area and got on the other side of the odor again. So I took her around to the benches and trees, which got us downwind of the second odor source. Gimme found that pretty quickly - under the edge of a cover to the lighting electrical unit. Getting both hides in about 2 minutes.
Interior had two rooms, two hides in the first room and one hide in the second room. Gimme got the first hide very quickly - it was on the foot to a cabinet. The rooms were so small that they didn't close the door and the judge stood in the doorway. Gimme squirted out past her knees and when I called her an instant later, she turned on a thin dime and got right back past those same knees. That put her in the ideal spot to find the second hide, which was right near the threshold. I don't remember the exact time... somewhere around one and a half minutes. I do remember the time on the only hide in the second room - just a smidgen over 16 seconds! She was on it so quickly, I really didn't have time to get in gear mentally. Not that it affected Gimme, the Hottie Spottie Dottie.
One thing I noticed about this judge is that every hide she set, other than the trailer hitch, were low, almost on the ground. Its a good thing I did that little exercise a few weeks ago when I noticed that Gimme was spending all her time trotting around with her nose straight up scanning for odor.
Container was our first element and the one we had trouble with. And not a surprise at that. Linda tried to take a video with her phone because someone forgot to bring her camera. So I'm trying to turn it into a video for you guys to watch, but so far am not having luck with it.
Basically Gimme was caught up by two issues. One seemed to be converging odor, but the main issue was the food distraction (saltine crackers) in one of the containers. It was very close to the one hide she did find and so she kept going back to that hide to ski on the bag - though I really think she was being drawn by the food distraction. From what I can see on the video, she never even sniffed the second odor container, which was one in from the far left corner - instead she was rounding that corner, though she did hit the far left corner container once.
When I saw she was having difficulty, I should have gotten more involved and given her more direction. Though in my defense, we've never searched that way - clearly something I need to practice for just this situation. To a large degree I blame this on lack of adequate training in classes. We should have been doing a lot more container work and have addressed the food/toy distraction issue long before now. Gimme isn't distracted by toys, though Tucker (a classmate who is entered in the same trial) is a real toy fanatic.
I did get to talk to a number of people and pick their brains on how to train through the food distraction issue. What I've been doing isn't bad, but there is an exercise out there that is much more direct to the issue. Basically you set up a bunch of containers and have food distraction in every one... then further away you have a series of containers, mostly blank and one with a ton of odor in it. The dog gets to walk through the food distractions and if they alert you ignore it and keep walking - then when they get to the odor container and alert, you reward with the biggest party ever.
Last night I gathered up every bag I could find. I had a bunch that I'd already started collecting. I planned to do the exercise after work today and was going to use a covered sidewalk near a vacant office building across the parking lot from my store, but there was a creepy looking guy hanging out in that area. So I picked another spot and set the 13 bags in a long line. I put food distraction in the first 8... mostly boring dog cookies, a bit of chicken, kitty kibble and then rice krispie treats in two. I put the odor in the third of the four bags on the far end. The line was set up so the breeze was blowing toward us. We did five searches and I'd read for about ten minutes between searches...
Round 1 - Gimme raced down the line barely sniffing the food and got to the odor bag really fast. Partly I'm sure it was because I'd just set it up, so the food distractions hadn't had time to really cook. There were 10 q-tips in the 2 odor tins. The party was prolonged...
Round 2 - She kept getting distracted off to one side - maybe odor was drifting that way. This time she paid more attention to the food bags... in particular one that had a rice krispie treat in it. That one continued to attract her attention. Again she got to the odor bag quickly and enjoyed her party.
Round 3 - She again was getting distracted off to one side. Again interested in the rice krispie treat bag. I'd flipped the odor bag over, so she didn't catch it until she came back toward it from the other direction the second time... the breeze had picked up. On this round I noticed she was sticking the odor more intensely and naturally we partied.
Round 4 - I moved the bags around a little moving the odor bag between the two bags with rice krispies. I also moved her along more quickly when she got distracted. She got all the way to the end of the line and then found odor bag on the way back. We had a hearty party.
Round 5 - I took one of the odor tins and moved it to the last bag, so she would have two. She found the first odor bag quickly, we partied. We went to the end and past the second odor bag... she didn't find it until the third time. That's probably not surprising, since it hadn't had that much time to cook - at least not compared to the other odor bag. Again, we partied.
I found that the partying really intensified her stickiness on odor... a very good thing. I'm trying to do more of that in all our searches. That's one thing I'd learned from the seminar with Josh McCorkle - that there's more to rewarding than just the food. I knew that, but hadn't really internalized it, so wasn't actually doing it.
Gimme also seemed okay with being drawn away from distraction and didn't show any signs of frustration. So, I can start doing that sooner and a bit more directly/forceful in the future. I think that means she may also be okay with some directed searching... to get her used to the idea for some time when we need it in the future.
I was going to do this every other day... but that would put us on Wednesday and that is our nosework class day. So I may do a quick session tomorrow.
BTW I had noticed that she never sniffed the first two bags in the line, even though one had that cooked chicken in it. Those were 2 of 3 bags I'd found in the woods. I'd washed them when I got them; tonight they are getting washed again. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to them tomorrow. If she continues to pointedly ignore them - they'll find their way into the trash - easy-come-easy-go.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Portland NW Match
The match went really well today. It was verrrrry hot, so hot that the blacktop was making the dogs really fidgety. So I was really pleased that Gimme even chose to work through that. The site was challenging, since there were no real grassy areas to walk the dogs. Since I had the time, Gimme and I did a 2 mile circuit that took us to a place where she could have grass to pee and poop on.
Our start at the practice boxes did not bode well when Gimme decided to destroy all five boxes multiple times. I was thinking it was not going to be a good day.
Vehicle Element
Gimme found the hide in 1:12, a really good time. Our vehicles were three trailer rigs from 18-wheelers. I was glad that we'd done searches on those when some were parked behind Shopko. Most dogs did well enough, but some didn't know what to make of them. The judge commented that she thought Gimme was great and enthusiastic, but needed more experience to overcome distraction. Yes, that is a train blaring its whistle in the background. Given that she'd never heard one before today, I think she did a great job ignoring it. I think the judge might have read "distracted" when she watched Gimme search - that wasn't my take.
Container Element
Wow, oh WOW!!! Gimme did this search in 18:57 seconds! She indicated just the one correct box. This is the best container search she's done in a long time. Very clean and efficient, certainly not what I was expecting after killing all the practice boxes.
We went to the practice boxes again before the second set of searches and I had a hard time getting Gimme even interested in them. She didn't feel the need to kill them, but wasn't interested in indicating either. So I just waited until she decided to do something, a light sniffing of the correct box and rewarded that.
Unfortunately I forgot to grab the camera, so don't have video of the other two searches. Someone told me that the group putting this on had taped all the runs and would be making them available for us to download. I hope that is true. It'll be nice to see the last two searches, as well as seeing the first two again, from a different perspective.
Exterior Element
Gimme did a great job in the exterior search. She did her usual thing of running about scanning the area before getting down to searching. She often does that and will know where the hide is, but wants to make sure there isn't another one before she indicates it. This time I saw her head tilt in the middle area, but didn't know what she was noticing. When she came back to it in just 1:06, there was a weed pushing up through the concrete and they had placed an odor tin under it. She was all over that weed, pawing at it and I actually heard the tin scrape along just as I called alert.
Interior Element
This was our worst search. Gimme had a hard time finding source and I don't think she ever did decide where it was. She kept searching the two bottom shelves on a bookshelf and a bunch of bedding on the rack beside it. She went over that general area three times and just didn't settle in on a particular spot. Then she decided to go break down the baby gate to the room where the dogfood was, so we lost some time there. When I got her back was about the time they called the thirty second warning. So next time she snooped around in that area I called alert. Thus our time was 2:51.5, just 8.5 seconds to spare. The judge asked me where and I sort of indicated generally where I thought it might be. He told me where it was and it was a spot that I'd thought to myself, "if I were a judge, that's where I'd put the odor".
He said if it'd been a trial he would have passed us. His comment was that he thinks Gimme needs a stronger indication behavior. Honestly, I don't think she ever committed to one spot. I don't know if it was a particularly hard hide for her or maybe she was just tired. It had already been a very long and hot day.
On a very positive note... where we parked there was a fair amount of traffic from people walking by with their dogs to the only spot that was remotely "green". I was very pleased that Gimme noticed them, but mostly ignored them. She only responded to one dog who's idiot owner allowed it to stand and stare into our car. How rude! She ignored the other dogs and even ignored the pair of dogs that barked very loudly when we walked by their car even though we were 20 feet away (the only way to get to the staging area for both sets of searches). So she's getting better about those things too.
All in all a real good day. Gimme is exhausted and sound asleep. I'm very tired myself.
Our start at the practice boxes did not bode well when Gimme decided to destroy all five boxes multiple times. I was thinking it was not going to be a good day.
Vehicle Element
Gimme found the hide in 1:12, a really good time. Our vehicles were three trailer rigs from 18-wheelers. I was glad that we'd done searches on those when some were parked behind Shopko. Most dogs did well enough, but some didn't know what to make of them. The judge commented that she thought Gimme was great and enthusiastic, but needed more experience to overcome distraction. Yes, that is a train blaring its whistle in the background. Given that she'd never heard one before today, I think she did a great job ignoring it. I think the judge might have read "distracted" when she watched Gimme search - that wasn't my take.
Container Element
Wow, oh WOW!!! Gimme did this search in 18:57 seconds! She indicated just the one correct box. This is the best container search she's done in a long time. Very clean and efficient, certainly not what I was expecting after killing all the practice boxes.
We went to the practice boxes again before the second set of searches and I had a hard time getting Gimme even interested in them. She didn't feel the need to kill them, but wasn't interested in indicating either. So I just waited until she decided to do something, a light sniffing of the correct box and rewarded that.
Unfortunately I forgot to grab the camera, so don't have video of the other two searches. Someone told me that the group putting this on had taped all the runs and would be making them available for us to download. I hope that is true. It'll be nice to see the last two searches, as well as seeing the first two again, from a different perspective.
Exterior Element
Gimme did a great job in the exterior search. She did her usual thing of running about scanning the area before getting down to searching. She often does that and will know where the hide is, but wants to make sure there isn't another one before she indicates it. This time I saw her head tilt in the middle area, but didn't know what she was noticing. When she came back to it in just 1:06, there was a weed pushing up through the concrete and they had placed an odor tin under it. She was all over that weed, pawing at it and I actually heard the tin scrape along just as I called alert.
Interior Element
This was our worst search. Gimme had a hard time finding source and I don't think she ever did decide where it was. She kept searching the two bottom shelves on a bookshelf and a bunch of bedding on the rack beside it. She went over that general area three times and just didn't settle in on a particular spot. Then she decided to go break down the baby gate to the room where the dogfood was, so we lost some time there. When I got her back was about the time they called the thirty second warning. So next time she snooped around in that area I called alert. Thus our time was 2:51.5, just 8.5 seconds to spare. The judge asked me where and I sort of indicated generally where I thought it might be. He told me where it was and it was a spot that I'd thought to myself, "if I were a judge, that's where I'd put the odor".
He said if it'd been a trial he would have passed us. His comment was that he thinks Gimme needs a stronger indication behavior. Honestly, I don't think she ever committed to one spot. I don't know if it was a particularly hard hide for her or maybe she was just tired. It had already been a very long and hot day.
On a very positive note... where we parked there was a fair amount of traffic from people walking by with their dogs to the only spot that was remotely "green". I was very pleased that Gimme noticed them, but mostly ignored them. She only responded to one dog who's idiot owner allowed it to stand and stare into our car. How rude! She ignored the other dogs and even ignored the pair of dogs that barked very loudly when we walked by their car even though we were 20 feet away (the only way to get to the staging area for both sets of searches). So she's getting better about those things too.
All in all a real good day. Gimme is exhausted and sound asleep. I'm very tired myself.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Match Videos
I took the plunge and changed browsers so that I could get blogger to work right. So far so good. Here are the video's of our four searches, in the order that we ran them. Enjoy!
Exterior Search
I didn't intend to correct her when she peed... it just happened. You can see she wasn't too crushed by the experience. She definitely pegged where the odor was the first time around, but she just really likes checking the whole area before committing. Sometimes she does that when there are two hides, finding both and then indicating one and immediately going to indicate the other.
Container Search
When Joyce (our match judge and my instructor) said, "she's better already" she was referring to the amount of box killing that Gimme likes to do and our recent training with differential rewards for indicating the correct one first. This was already a great improvement, since the Wednesday before, Gimme indicated 10 out of 18 boxes. During this search she only really indicated 3 out of 21 - so that's pretty substantial. You'll note she indicates the right one early on, but doesn't stick when I kept moving. I do think I was moving too fast initially and partway through the search when I was nearest the camera I caught myself and slowed down. It was shortly after that when she indicated and stuck the right box.
Vehicle Search
You will notice that Gimme seems a bit distracted to start with. After you know where the hide is, it becomes clear why - she was walking by vehicles that had no odor smell to them and thus had no interest in them. When we come around the edge of the second vehicle and she gets a whiff of Birch, she just dragged me over to the running board on the truck. Unfortunately you don't get to see that because the cameraman can't get there fast enough and ends up coming up between the vehicles. Taking videos is a hard job to do well and get enough accurate representation of what the dog did, without intruding and distracting the dog from the search.
Interior Search
Gimme did a nice job on this interior search. Interestingly that was the first time she ever pawed at a chair, even though we've had plenty of searches on chairs. Of course, then she goes straight over the top and starts rearranging the furniture.
She did a very nice job during this match. She has such a talented nose, doncha know. With the exception of marking in the grass, she really is the best dog around for nosework. Not that I'm bragging or anything like that....
Exterior Search
I didn't intend to correct her when she peed... it just happened. You can see she wasn't too crushed by the experience. She definitely pegged where the odor was the first time around, but she just really likes checking the whole area before committing. Sometimes she does that when there are two hides, finding both and then indicating one and immediately going to indicate the other.
Container Search
When Joyce (our match judge and my instructor) said, "she's better already" she was referring to the amount of box killing that Gimme likes to do and our recent training with differential rewards for indicating the correct one first. This was already a great improvement, since the Wednesday before, Gimme indicated 10 out of 18 boxes. During this search she only really indicated 3 out of 21 - so that's pretty substantial. You'll note she indicates the right one early on, but doesn't stick when I kept moving. I do think I was moving too fast initially and partway through the search when I was nearest the camera I caught myself and slowed down. It was shortly after that when she indicated and stuck the right box.
Vehicle Search
You will notice that Gimme seems a bit distracted to start with. After you know where the hide is, it becomes clear why - she was walking by vehicles that had no odor smell to them and thus had no interest in them. When we come around the edge of the second vehicle and she gets a whiff of Birch, she just dragged me over to the running board on the truck. Unfortunately you don't get to see that because the cameraman can't get there fast enough and ends up coming up between the vehicles. Taking videos is a hard job to do well and get enough accurate representation of what the dog did, without intruding and distracting the dog from the search.
Interior Search
Gimme did a nice job on this interior search. Interestingly that was the first time she ever pawed at a chair, even though we've had plenty of searches on chairs. Of course, then she goes straight over the top and starts rearranging the furniture.
She did a very nice job during this match. She has such a talented nose, doncha know. With the exception of marking in the grass, she really is the best dog around for nosework. Not that I'm bragging or anything like that....
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Today's Match
Gimme did very well, finding all her hides with good solid times. Her focus was very nice and even though one of the hides was a bit on the hard side for NW1, she still found them all. The only downside was that she marked in the exterior element. Marking is an elimination fault and would keep us from titling that day, no matter how well she does otherwise.
We started with the warm-up boxes and I was very happy to see that she didn't whack all the boxes. She sniffed the first two, went right past the next and straight to the fourth box and indicated it. That was certainly promising.
Our first element was exterior and as I said, she marked in the grass. We'll continue working on that and in the meantime will pray that our exterior and vehicle searches are on concrete at the trial. It didn't help that where this was set up, is a spot where everyone potty walks their dogs before classes. I'm going to take my camera with me next time we walk Capitol lake and video her and see if I can find other precursors. Sometimes she does a little sidestep into position, but didn't this time. I have to confess a sharp "No" and a reflex jerk on the line happened - the look she gave me was priceless.
The hide was in a hard spot and while she went by it the first time with just a nod, she was one of the few NW1 dogs that found it. As a tribute to her scenting abilities, I noticed she also paid attention to the two places where I'd set odor for Mick on Thursday. So that's pretty impressive that she caught that residual, especially since the odor we'd set was in tiny plastic containers, so none of it actually touched the area. It took her 1:42, including the naughty-potty and restarting her.
Our next element was the container drill. I was thrilled that she did this in very nice time. She actually indicated the correct box early, but didn't stick it. She indicated two other wrong boxes and whacked two more in passing. So that is already a bit of improvement from our little exercises, even though there isn't that much showing in actually doing them. The second time she stuck the odor box and was very insistent. She did this in 25 seconds... probably would have been 5 seconds if she'd stuck it the first time.
Then she had a nice long break in the car - about an hour and a half before our second set.
Next was the vehicle element. There were three cars/trucks set in a triangle. We lost some time because we started up the wrong side... it was just in front of us. She was tending to be drawn away from the vehicles as we walked around those two, but in hindsight I think that was because she clearly knew there was no odor there. When we got around to the third one, she was right on business and very close to the exact spot rather quickly. It was up under the edge of the truck, but behind the running board/step. So she had a little trouble deciding exactly where it was, but when she did, she paw whacked right on the step in line with where it was hidden. All that in 58 seconds.
We followed that with the interior search. Gimme quickly scanned the entire room and then was all over/under/around one table, finally settling on the chair. When she persisted in one corner of the chair, I called alert and she was right again. That took 32 seconds.
All of those are very solid times. I was pleased that she was very focused and determined. Even though I've been trying to teach her a nose touch indication, it doesn't seem to be progressing. She paw whacked all these hides. There is the possibility of being faulted if she paw whacks a vehicle abusively, but as time goes on she is moderating the forcefulness of her whacks (except on boxes). I'll keep working on the nose touch indication, but am prepared to accept the paw if need be.
Gimme and Meaggi are both very tired (as am I). They were stuck hanging out in the car in their crates all afternoon after our part of the match, because I was volunteering for NW2.
We had a preponderance of small terriers (Border, Westie and Cairn) for NW2 and I have to admit I was surprised to see what great little scenting dogs they are. I hadn't expected that, but, of course, it makes sense, since they are bred to locate and exterminate vermin.
All in all a fun day and I feel very positive about Gimme's abilities for the trial in three weeks. Do cross every body part you can spare that she does as well as she did today AND that our exterior element and vehicles are on concrete.
BTW I should have the video for the match in a few days and when I do will get it all on line for your viewing pleasure.
We started with the warm-up boxes and I was very happy to see that she didn't whack all the boxes. She sniffed the first two, went right past the next and straight to the fourth box and indicated it. That was certainly promising.
Our first element was exterior and as I said, she marked in the grass. We'll continue working on that and in the meantime will pray that our exterior and vehicle searches are on concrete at the trial. It didn't help that where this was set up, is a spot where everyone potty walks their dogs before classes. I'm going to take my camera with me next time we walk Capitol lake and video her and see if I can find other precursors. Sometimes she does a little sidestep into position, but didn't this time. I have to confess a sharp "No" and a reflex jerk on the line happened - the look she gave me was priceless.
The hide was in a hard spot and while she went by it the first time with just a nod, she was one of the few NW1 dogs that found it. As a tribute to her scenting abilities, I noticed she also paid attention to the two places where I'd set odor for Mick on Thursday. So that's pretty impressive that she caught that residual, especially since the odor we'd set was in tiny plastic containers, so none of it actually touched the area. It took her 1:42, including the naughty-potty and restarting her.
Our next element was the container drill. I was thrilled that she did this in very nice time. She actually indicated the correct box early, but didn't stick it. She indicated two other wrong boxes and whacked two more in passing. So that is already a bit of improvement from our little exercises, even though there isn't that much showing in actually doing them. The second time she stuck the odor box and was very insistent. She did this in 25 seconds... probably would have been 5 seconds if she'd stuck it the first time.
Then she had a nice long break in the car - about an hour and a half before our second set.
Next was the vehicle element. There were three cars/trucks set in a triangle. We lost some time because we started up the wrong side... it was just in front of us. She was tending to be drawn away from the vehicles as we walked around those two, but in hindsight I think that was because she clearly knew there was no odor there. When we got around to the third one, she was right on business and very close to the exact spot rather quickly. It was up under the edge of the truck, but behind the running board/step. So she had a little trouble deciding exactly where it was, but when she did, she paw whacked right on the step in line with where it was hidden. All that in 58 seconds.
We followed that with the interior search. Gimme quickly scanned the entire room and then was all over/under/around one table, finally settling on the chair. When she persisted in one corner of the chair, I called alert and she was right again. That took 32 seconds.
All of those are very solid times. I was pleased that she was very focused and determined. Even though I've been trying to teach her a nose touch indication, it doesn't seem to be progressing. She paw whacked all these hides. There is the possibility of being faulted if she paw whacks a vehicle abusively, but as time goes on she is moderating the forcefulness of her whacks (except on boxes). I'll keep working on the nose touch indication, but am prepared to accept the paw if need be.
Gimme and Meaggi are both very tired (as am I). They were stuck hanging out in the car in their crates all afternoon after our part of the match, because I was volunteering for NW2.
We had a preponderance of small terriers (Border, Westie and Cairn) for NW2 and I have to admit I was surprised to see what great little scenting dogs they are. I hadn't expected that, but, of course, it makes sense, since they are bred to locate and exterminate vermin.
All in all a fun day and I feel very positive about Gimme's abilities for the trial in three weeks. Do cross every body part you can spare that she does as well as she did today AND that our exterior element and vehicles are on concrete.
BTW I should have the video for the match in a few days and when I do will get it all on line for your viewing pleasure.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
About That Match
With the help of friends, I've been able to convert and then edit the video from our match. I edited it into four separate videos, one for each search: vehicle, container, exterior and interior.
I think that because in class I always know where the hides are and Joyce is always pushing us to get in there and feed at source IMMEDIATELY, Gimme is at this place where she thinks if I don't rush in to reward her - that it must not be right and she should look some more. That is why I think its so important to encourage a strong indication and I really don't understand why they are so against that in nosework. I should ask on the yahoo group why that is... there doesn't seem to be a bias against teaching a strong indication early in tracking training. I sure don't want to push Gimme to the point where she gets insecure about her talent, but I think she needs more challenge than she is getting.
I've always thought her tail wagged faster when she was in odor, but that didn't seem as clear in these searches. It was very obvious in the video we did in her first field trip to Home Depot. If any of you see something that is indicative of when she really has it vs. when she is just spending time on an area - then do tell me. It won't hurt my pride if you find some tell that I've missed.
Vehicle - She paid attention to the correct spot the first time for 2 seconds, the second time she did a drive by sniff, the third time she stuck her head further in... She also spent the same amount of time (2 seconds) on the rear bumper of the blue car, the bicycle, and the front bumper of the blue car. BTW notice the judge tilts her head and upper body when Gimme was sniffing in the grass, soooo wanting us to get back into the search area - kinda like opening your mouth when you spoon feed a baby. This judge, Cindy, runs a delightful Bulldog who is getting ready to compete for NW3 - amazing... Also you may notice that right after I get her out of the grass, she still seems to be distracted in that direction - its not as clear in the video's audio, but there was a bunch of geese somewhere in that direction honking and making noise.
Container - She's always really good on containers... and after she gave up on the lunchroom had this one in eleven seconds. She either pushes them with her nose or skis across the room on them - which is why we failed the ORT the first time, since she didn't do either and only did a drive-by indication. BTW Gimme was THE FIRST dog of the day - you'll note they closed the door to the lunchroom after her search, the lady that closed the door is Joyce, our instructor. Another cool thing to know is - often dogs get "help" finding odor by the scent of all the previous dogs having gone through and so in classes we rotate who goes first in each set of hides. Thus, it was nice to see that Gimme was so competent -- that's my girl, the nose that knows.
For starters, I don't "miss" her indications entirely, rather I need her to persist. The goal is that she has the courage of her convictions and insists that I pay up right then and there. We have to call "alert" to stop the clock and once we call it, there is no going back. If I call it and was premature - then we've just NQ'd for the whole trial, because we have to pass all four searches on the same day to qualify. So since I don't know where the hide is, I'm more cautious. Is she sure it's there or is she catching fringe scent (scent that drifts and pools because of air currents - like what happened at the ORT) and still sorting it out? It was my premature "alert" call that failed that second ORT for us.
I did notice as the day went on, that she was getting more persistent in the early indications. The one on the chair during the interior search (last of the day) was really the best first indicator as far as persistence. On the vehicle search (first of the day) she didn't do any detailing the first time she paid attention to the place where the scent was - even the judge agreed.
I think that because in class I always know where the hides are and Joyce is always pushing us to get in there and feed at source IMMEDIATELY, Gimme is at this place where she thinks if I don't rush in to reward her - that it must not be right and she should look some more. That is why I think its so important to encourage a strong indication and I really don't understand why they are so against that in nosework. I should ask on the yahoo group why that is... there doesn't seem to be a bias against teaching a strong indication early in tracking training. I sure don't want to push Gimme to the point where she gets insecure about her talent, but I think she needs more challenge than she is getting.
I've always thought her tail wagged faster when she was in odor, but that didn't seem as clear in these searches. It was very obvious in the video we did in her first field trip to Home Depot. If any of you see something that is indicative of when she really has it vs. when she is just spending time on an area - then do tell me. It won't hurt my pride if you find some tell that I've missed.
Vehicle - She paid attention to the correct spot the first time for 2 seconds, the second time she did a drive by sniff, the third time she stuck her head further in... She also spent the same amount of time (2 seconds) on the rear bumper of the blue car, the bicycle, and the front bumper of the blue car. BTW notice the judge tilts her head and upper body when Gimme was sniffing in the grass, soooo wanting us to get back into the search area - kinda like opening your mouth when you spoon feed a baby. This judge, Cindy, runs a delightful Bulldog who is getting ready to compete for NW3 - amazing... Also you may notice that right after I get her out of the grass, she still seems to be distracted in that direction - its not as clear in the video's audio, but there was a bunch of geese somewhere in that direction honking and making noise.
Container - She's always really good on containers... and after she gave up on the lunchroom had this one in eleven seconds. She either pushes them with her nose or skis across the room on them - which is why we failed the ORT the first time, since she didn't do either and only did a drive-by indication. BTW Gimme was THE FIRST dog of the day - you'll note they closed the door to the lunchroom after her search, the lady that closed the door is Joyce, our instructor. Another cool thing to know is - often dogs get "help" finding odor by the scent of all the previous dogs having gone through and so in classes we rotate who goes first in each set of hides. Thus, it was nice to see that Gimme was so competent -- that's my girl, the nose that knows.
Exterior - Her first indication was three seconds, second was a drive-by (nose tilt) and final was again quick, but more pointed. You'll notice the last time she put her shoulders under there to indicate it, instead of just sticking her head under to sniff at it. She did two other prolonged notices of a specific area of two seconds each. I was very pleased that Gimme worked so well, especially since people unintentionally came out of the building walking right into the beginning of our search, making noise and talking. The talking you hear on the video after the initial part isn't as bad as it sounds, since they were standing right next to Dave who was taking the video.
Interior - She paid attention for four seconds the first time but didn't persist and based on what she did, I would not have been able to tell the judge where under the chair the hide was (center back edge). Her indication for "real" wasn't as long... but it was more "pointed". Do note that Gimme did not forget about the lunchroom, even though it was three hours later, the door was shut and they put a divider in her way... Also, if you watch carefully, right after she smooched the camera, there was a blurry spot that follows her around the room - having left a nose print on the lens. <g>
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Great Nosework Match
Saturday was our nosework match and it was a great experience and very successful. It was set up just like a nosework trial would be and after our runs in the morning, I stayed to work for the NW2 folks in the afternoon.
Gimme ran true to form and squirted off to check out a distraction on the vehicle search. I gently reeled her back in and then she went to work. She did pay a bit of attention to one wheel well and then was off to go around the vehicles again. I kinda thought that might be where the odor was and she did come back to it. Our time was about 1:45.
Then we went straight to a container search inside the building. Gimme was very interested in the room we would be exiting through (which was also serving as a lunchroom for the workers), sniffing repeatedly at the door and wanting to go there. I had to reel her back twice before she got to work, finding the hide in 24.29 seconds. Again she found the box, kind of checked it out and then goes on, coming back to it later (this will be a consistent behavior in all her searches). With less distraction she would have been much faster, obviously, but it was still a good time.
Late morning she had her exterior and interior searches. She did a good job on the exterior search and found odor in about a minute and a half. The interior search was again close to 1:45 on time. Both times she found and then bypassed the odor to come back to it later. Keep in mind, these were all blind hides for me, so I don't want to react prematurely to a weak indication.
I opted to have my runs taped and will get the tapes later this week. I want to study them and see if I can learn to read her better. Joyce asked me to forward them to her and she'll upload them to her laptop and we'll use them for discussion in class. I do sometimes notice in class that Gimme's tail wags a bit faster when she is in odor and finds source, but I confess it is hard for me to "see" in real time. I'll be getting the files for her runs on Thursday, so will probably get them edited and uploaded that evening.
Watching the NW2 dogs was very interesting. Some unusual and some great things. There are a number of people who are distracting their dogs with their efforts to be helpful - one person totally micro-managed her dog and he didn't find hardly any of the hides. A lot of people have problems reading their dogs - I resemble that remark. Afterward, we set up for NW3 and got to watch Joyce run her 15 year old dog and then Cindy ran her Bulldog. That was quite interesting. At that level you also have to call clear when you are sure you've found all the hides - so that's interesting.
Sunday I spent the whole day with my parents - went over the night before, right from the match. We had two big goals. First was to get their truck and drive to my house and break down and load up all the aged cedar I'd gotten from my neighbor who is replacing his fence. It'll be wonderful stuff to start fires with (my parents' heat with a wood stove). Getting the panels cut up was taking forever until Damien (a young man from across the street) came over to help. He only had 20 minutes to devote to us, but showed me that just breaking them apart was much faster than trying to cut them. We got 3/4 of the wood loaded in the truck (taking twice as long as I'd estimated) and then drove the hour back to my parents' and sorted it as we unloaded. Some of it will need to be pre-cut before they can use it, which I'll get there and do. We staged the ready to burn stuff near the house. Much of this wood has nails and staples still in it, so any cutting of it requires someone be alert to that - something I don't want my father to be doing.
After that we got the riding mower in the truck. The advice from Home Depot proved to be correct and we were able to move the mower more easily with the gearbox disengaged. I decided to use the tractor to push the mower up the ramp into the truck; it hung up right at the top of the ramp. At that point, we backed the tractor off and then Mom and I lifted the ramp boards off the ground enough for Dad to get the tractor bucket under the ends - which he then lifted up and the mower rolled right into the truck bed. Haven't quite figured out how we'll get the mower out of the truck once it is fixed, but I am sure the tractor will be a featured player.
Last night was our last rally class for awhile - until Fall. Gimme graduated again and for our judged run through had the highest score of the class, a 95. I think that is far too generous.
Today we were going to go to the fort, but the rain arrived just as I would have been going out there. During the "winter" I don't mind walking in the rain, but when its "spring" I just have a strong objection to it. Can't explain it, it just is what it is.
So we went to Home Depot to do a search. Gimme did pretty darn good. I set up the first odor just outside the door, then two down the electrical aisle. Gimme kept finding the odor on the way in, but was distracted by the automatic doors opening/closing over and over. When we moved inside, I found someone had moved a pallet full of some lawn stuff with a strong chemical smell right to the beginning of the aisle. That was close to where our hide was. Gimme caught the odor, but just couldn't find it. So we went down the aisle and found the other hide - despite there being three men standing around it. On the way back up the aisle, Gimme was able to get to the source on that hide, despite the nasty chemical smell. Bless her little spotted nose. On the way outside, she got in the odor and was again distracted by the automatic door. I let her smell around and when she got back into it, as soon as the door opened, I stood in it, keeping it open until she was able to get to source.
We came directly home from that and she's been sound asleep ever since. Seriously, as fun as it is for the doggies - scent work is hard work.
Next Sunday is our next ORT attempt, so keep your fingers and paws crossed for us.
Gimme ran true to form and squirted off to check out a distraction on the vehicle search. I gently reeled her back in and then she went to work. She did pay a bit of attention to one wheel well and then was off to go around the vehicles again. I kinda thought that might be where the odor was and she did come back to it. Our time was about 1:45.
Then we went straight to a container search inside the building. Gimme was very interested in the room we would be exiting through (which was also serving as a lunchroom for the workers), sniffing repeatedly at the door and wanting to go there. I had to reel her back twice before she got to work, finding the hide in 24.29 seconds. Again she found the box, kind of checked it out and then goes on, coming back to it later (this will be a consistent behavior in all her searches). With less distraction she would have been much faster, obviously, but it was still a good time.
Late morning she had her exterior and interior searches. She did a good job on the exterior search and found odor in about a minute and a half. The interior search was again close to 1:45 on time. Both times she found and then bypassed the odor to come back to it later. Keep in mind, these were all blind hides for me, so I don't want to react prematurely to a weak indication.
I opted to have my runs taped and will get the tapes later this week. I want to study them and see if I can learn to read her better. Joyce asked me to forward them to her and she'll upload them to her laptop and we'll use them for discussion in class. I do sometimes notice in class that Gimme's tail wags a bit faster when she is in odor and finds source, but I confess it is hard for me to "see" in real time. I'll be getting the files for her runs on Thursday, so will probably get them edited and uploaded that evening.
Watching the NW2 dogs was very interesting. Some unusual and some great things. There are a number of people who are distracting their dogs with their efforts to be helpful - one person totally micro-managed her dog and he didn't find hardly any of the hides. A lot of people have problems reading their dogs - I resemble that remark. Afterward, we set up for NW3 and got to watch Joyce run her 15 year old dog and then Cindy ran her Bulldog. That was quite interesting. At that level you also have to call clear when you are sure you've found all the hides - so that's interesting.
Sunday I spent the whole day with my parents - went over the night before, right from the match. We had two big goals. First was to get their truck and drive to my house and break down and load up all the aged cedar I'd gotten from my neighbor who is replacing his fence. It'll be wonderful stuff to start fires with (my parents' heat with a wood stove). Getting the panels cut up was taking forever until Damien (a young man from across the street) came over to help. He only had 20 minutes to devote to us, but showed me that just breaking them apart was much faster than trying to cut them. We got 3/4 of the wood loaded in the truck (taking twice as long as I'd estimated) and then drove the hour back to my parents' and sorted it as we unloaded. Some of it will need to be pre-cut before they can use it, which I'll get there and do. We staged the ready to burn stuff near the house. Much of this wood has nails and staples still in it, so any cutting of it requires someone be alert to that - something I don't want my father to be doing.
After that we got the riding mower in the truck. The advice from Home Depot proved to be correct and we were able to move the mower more easily with the gearbox disengaged. I decided to use the tractor to push the mower up the ramp into the truck; it hung up right at the top of the ramp. At that point, we backed the tractor off and then Mom and I lifted the ramp boards off the ground enough for Dad to get the tractor bucket under the ends - which he then lifted up and the mower rolled right into the truck bed. Haven't quite figured out how we'll get the mower out of the truck once it is fixed, but I am sure the tractor will be a featured player.
Last night was our last rally class for awhile - until Fall. Gimme graduated again and for our judged run through had the highest score of the class, a 95. I think that is far too generous.
Today we were going to go to the fort, but the rain arrived just as I would have been going out there. During the "winter" I don't mind walking in the rain, but when its "spring" I just have a strong objection to it. Can't explain it, it just is what it is.
So we went to Home Depot to do a search. Gimme did pretty darn good. I set up the first odor just outside the door, then two down the electrical aisle. Gimme kept finding the odor on the way in, but was distracted by the automatic doors opening/closing over and over. When we moved inside, I found someone had moved a pallet full of some lawn stuff with a strong chemical smell right to the beginning of the aisle. That was close to where our hide was. Gimme caught the odor, but just couldn't find it. So we went down the aisle and found the other hide - despite there being three men standing around it. On the way back up the aisle, Gimme was able to get to the source on that hide, despite the nasty chemical smell. Bless her little spotted nose. On the way outside, she got in the odor and was again distracted by the automatic door. I let her smell around and when she got back into it, as soon as the door opened, I stood in it, keeping it open until she was able to get to source.
We came directly home from that and she's been sound asleep ever since. Seriously, as fun as it is for the doggies - scent work is hard work.
Next Sunday is our next ORT attempt, so keep your fingers and paws crossed for us.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Nosework (5/2) & Match
Gimme continues to do superbly in class - she really is good at this and totally loves doing it. When I was getting so excited about us doing one of our hides with just just the odor, i.e. not paired with food, our instructor asked why I was so excited about it since Gimme had already done one last week. Here we had a milestone moment and I missed it entirely. So, we did our first unpaired hide a week ahead of our classmates - not that I'm competitive or anything.
Today we drove 2:10 to Gresham, Oregon, for a nosework match that would simulate a Nosework Test. I wanted to do this to get Gimme ready for the upcoming ORT. The dogs have to pass an ORT for each level before they can enter a trial - much like they do in tracking. I started the day off exhausted, even though I went to bed early. Meaggi got up and very restless about 3:00 a.m. and I just never got any restful sleep after that. So now am very tired and running solely on excitement.
First I have to tell you it was very cold... mostly because the wind was unbelievable. I checked on line and it reached 29mph today. So while the temps were actually at 43/44 degrees, with wind chill it was more like 32-34 degrees. Half our our elements were outside and I worked a lot of classes so I could really watch what was going on and learn from the experience. I'm still cold.
Joyce told me during class to make sure I knew where all her hides were during the match and to ask the judge to pair them with food before we started. During the walk through when I asked how to work getting the judge to pair the food so that Gimme wouldn't see it happen, she said "awww don't worry about it, Gimme doesn't need it. And indeed, that proved to be true.
Our first hide was the interior element. The building is a training building, has a groomer's area and bath stations where people can come wash their dogs. Plus they had a lot of food, treats, toys and training stuff everywhere for sale. Gimme found all that stuff very distracting and so she ran out of time before she found her odor. However, when we got away from all the distracting stuff, she did find it and very quickly. I'll be buying her a bag of kibl and breaking it out into paper bags to set out when we are practicing. I'll have to do the same thing with other distractions between now and her test. Later on when I worked the class and watched the level II dogs work in this same area - they had similar problems and had it been an actual trial only two of them would have passed.
Our second hide was the vehicle element. When we searched a vehicle in class, it was only one vehicle and indoors with no real distractions. For this element, Gimme had to find the odor on one of three vehicles with those 29mph winds. She was distracted a lot, but did find it and within the allotted time (3 minutes). Woohoo!
Our third hide was an exterior area element - again with the 29mph winds. Gimme eliminated herself by peeing on the grass, but Joyce let us continue searching for the experience. She was able to find the odor in a real tough spot. Later on I saw a lot of the level II dogs have real difficulty with that same hide location (they have two odors to find). I'd had Gimme out twice to pee before that, but I think she was too distracted by the presence of other dogs. So lesson learned that if need be I'll have to walk out of the property and down the street so she can take care of business.
Our fourth and final hide was an interior container element. Gimme sniffed one box and then drove off to the side toward something that caught her attention. I thought we weren't going to do well. On her way to the "thing" she caught a whiff of the odor and turned on a thin dime. She sniffed two boxes quickly and the third one was it - she was all around that box and very persistent. I called "alert" and we had it.
Gimme got that hide in 9 seconds! The fastest container find of the day - both levels!!! Of course I can't help but point out (Joyce bragged on her first) that Gimme was the youngest dog there and with the least training, having only been on odor for four classes. Everyone was suitably impressed, as they should be.
I learned a lot. First I LOOOOOOVVVE my new Biothane line. I bought myself three of them for Christmas (6, 25 and 40 foot lengths). I used the 25 foot one for the match. Its a bit long for what we need, but its so easy to handle and so comfortable to grip that it wasn't a problem, once I worked out how to coil it so I could let it out and take it up readily. It was well worth the cost and I'm sure Gimme and me deserve it. One of the judges even complimented me on my line handling and handling in general, going on to say that she sees a lot of level II and level III people that don't handle their dogs and/or their lines as well as I was doing. So that was very nice.
As I said, we'll have to work with more distractions so that Gimme learns that "shopping" doesn't pay. I can't pull her off the stuff, because its conceivable that the odor could be tucked in among the distracting things or attached to the shelving. She just needs to experience more distractions so she can be successful at ignoring the enticement and finding the source.
I saw a lot of people pulling their dogs off the odor. The level I people did it a lot and I was just sure the level II people wouldn't have that problem. Not so. This seemed to happen for three reasons:
We can pause for up to ten seconds before crossing the start line so the dog has a chance to catch the scent, so Joyce encourages us to do that. Gimme wants to go, but has learned to not pull too hard there. But, when I give her the "where-zit" cue, she just flies. That's great if she has caught the scent and certainly I can't help but love her enthusiasm. However, it will create problems if she didn't catch the scent and the hide is near the threshold - since we could easily be past it and she might not get back there on her own. I'll have to remember if she doesn't find the odor elsewhere to encourage her back near the threshold in case she missed it. They give us a thirty second warning - so that'll be my cue to get her back near the threshold if she isn't actively working a spot.
The other thing we'll need to work on is her indications. Right now she just acts persistent. Before she gets to higher levels she will need a more formal indication. So I'll be asking Joyce more about that.
Overall it was a great learning experience for both of us. I was very pleased with how Gimme did in her first strange location. I'll have to take her on some nosework field trips. I'm happy to have this sport for her to work in while she continues growing up and getting through her reactivity issues - it'll help me to have this to do so I don't push her too much. And naturally, she'll certainly enjoy herself - she loves to use her nose.
Today we drove 2:10 to Gresham, Oregon, for a nosework match that would simulate a Nosework Test. I wanted to do this to get Gimme ready for the upcoming ORT. The dogs have to pass an ORT for each level before they can enter a trial - much like they do in tracking. I started the day off exhausted, even though I went to bed early. Meaggi got up and very restless about 3:00 a.m. and I just never got any restful sleep after that. So now am very tired and running solely on excitement.
First I have to tell you it was very cold... mostly because the wind was unbelievable. I checked on line and it reached 29mph today. So while the temps were actually at 43/44 degrees, with wind chill it was more like 32-34 degrees. Half our our elements were outside and I worked a lot of classes so I could really watch what was going on and learn from the experience. I'm still cold.
Joyce told me during class to make sure I knew where all her hides were during the match and to ask the judge to pair them with food before we started. During the walk through when I asked how to work getting the judge to pair the food so that Gimme wouldn't see it happen, she said "awww don't worry about it, Gimme doesn't need it. And indeed, that proved to be true.
Our first hide was the interior element. The building is a training building, has a groomer's area and bath stations where people can come wash their dogs. Plus they had a lot of food, treats, toys and training stuff everywhere for sale. Gimme found all that stuff very distracting and so she ran out of time before she found her odor. However, when we got away from all the distracting stuff, she did find it and very quickly. I'll be buying her a bag of kibl and breaking it out into paper bags to set out when we are practicing. I'll have to do the same thing with other distractions between now and her test. Later on when I worked the class and watched the level II dogs work in this same area - they had similar problems and had it been an actual trial only two of them would have passed.
Our second hide was the vehicle element. When we searched a vehicle in class, it was only one vehicle and indoors with no real distractions. For this element, Gimme had to find the odor on one of three vehicles with those 29mph winds. She was distracted a lot, but did find it and within the allotted time (3 minutes). Woohoo!
Our third hide was an exterior area element - again with the 29mph winds. Gimme eliminated herself by peeing on the grass, but Joyce let us continue searching for the experience. She was able to find the odor in a real tough spot. Later on I saw a lot of the level II dogs have real difficulty with that same hide location (they have two odors to find). I'd had Gimme out twice to pee before that, but I think she was too distracted by the presence of other dogs. So lesson learned that if need be I'll have to walk out of the property and down the street so she can take care of business.
Our fourth and final hide was an interior container element. Gimme sniffed one box and then drove off to the side toward something that caught her attention. I thought we weren't going to do well. On her way to the "thing" she caught a whiff of the odor and turned on a thin dime. She sniffed two boxes quickly and the third one was it - she was all around that box and very persistent. I called "alert" and we had it.
Gimme got that hide in 9 seconds! The fastest container find of the day - both levels!!! Of course I can't help but point out (Joyce bragged on her first) that Gimme was the youngest dog there and with the least training, having only been on odor for four classes. Everyone was suitably impressed, as they should be.
I learned a lot. First I LOOOOOOVVVE my new Biothane line. I bought myself three of them for Christmas (6, 25 and 40 foot lengths). I used the 25 foot one for the match. Its a bit long for what we need, but its so easy to handle and so comfortable to grip that it wasn't a problem, once I worked out how to coil it so I could let it out and take it up readily. It was well worth the cost and I'm sure Gimme and me deserve it. One of the judges even complimented me on my line handling and handling in general, going on to say that she sees a lot of level II and level III people that don't handle their dogs and/or their lines as well as I was doing. So that was very nice.
As I said, we'll have to work with more distractions so that Gimme learns that "shopping" doesn't pay. I can't pull her off the stuff, because its conceivable that the odor could be tucked in among the distracting things or attached to the shelving. She just needs to experience more distractions so she can be successful at ignoring the enticement and finding the source.
I saw a lot of people pulling their dogs off the odor. The level I people did it a lot and I was just sure the level II people wouldn't have that problem. Not so. This seemed to happen for three reasons:
- Often the handler wasn't reading their dog and didn't know when the dog was truly working the odor, so they'd move away too soon and the dog would go with them. The opposite problem of crowding the dog when they are working has the same effect, since the dog is pushed off the odor.
- Sometimes the dog would give a very quick indication and when the handler didnt' recognize and support it, then the dog would move on.
- There were also instances of sloppy line handling. Some handlers had very long lines and didn't use the available length, so the dogs were getting unintended corrections. Others had just 6 foot leashes and that's just not enough when a dog is moving fast.
We can pause for up to ten seconds before crossing the start line so the dog has a chance to catch the scent, so Joyce encourages us to do that. Gimme wants to go, but has learned to not pull too hard there. But, when I give her the "where-zit" cue, she just flies. That's great if she has caught the scent and certainly I can't help but love her enthusiasm. However, it will create problems if she didn't catch the scent and the hide is near the threshold - since we could easily be past it and she might not get back there on her own. I'll have to remember if she doesn't find the odor elsewhere to encourage her back near the threshold in case she missed it. They give us a thirty second warning - so that'll be my cue to get her back near the threshold if she isn't actively working a spot.
The other thing we'll need to work on is her indications. Right now she just acts persistent. Before she gets to higher levels she will need a more formal indication. So I'll be asking Joyce more about that.
Overall it was a great learning experience for both of us. I was very pleased with how Gimme did in her first strange location. I'll have to take her on some nosework field trips. I'm happy to have this sport for her to work in while she continues growing up and getting through her reactivity issues - it'll help me to have this to do so I don't push her too much. And naturally, she'll certainly enjoy herself - she loves to use her nose.
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