Container 1 video - There were 4 hides and we weren't supposed to go back if they missed one. Given Gimme's issues with pollen right now, I went back for one of them anyway.
Container 2 video - This time there were 3 hides and she caught every one right away. I think she has to work harder with the pollen issue, and it just takes her a bit to get her brain in gear. She has a long history of it being easy, so perhaps she just expects easy and then has to remind herself to work at it. I'll never know, since she doesn't tell me these things.
Container 3 video - With just two hides, this was easy peasy.
Container 4 video - Dorothy thought I was lunging Gimme around the containers giving her permission to check all of them - whereas I was thinking in terms of not getting between her and the one hide. There's no guarantee she would have searched different if on a shorter leash - we don't know. In a trial I wouldn't know where it was, so probably would go with her. Hard to say.
Vehicles video - Three vehicles and 4 hides, nothing on the first truck. You can see Gimme pays no attention to it. She gets right to the first hide under the trailer bumper. She follows the scent out and then right back to the hide on the trailer tires. Gimme gets the truck license plate hide as soon as she gets to the front of the truck. The only real challenge was the trailer hitch hide. I think she would have gotten it faster, but she saw me getting treats out of the pouch and then she assumed she was close enough. I just had to wait her out and then she got to source.
Overall she did very well. I've started her on bee pollen and hope it will help her soon. I usually start her on it in late march and end in October, so this is late to start it, but I just couldn't get it sooner.
Showing posts with label NW Vehicles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NW Vehicles. Show all posts
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Nosework class (2/44)
Friday, April 10, 2020
Nosework practice 200410
I've been wanting to do searches at the Bobcat dealership and this week's online exercise was the perfect excuse.
Vehicle 1 video - We had five paired hides and one unpaired. The breeze was blowing from 7 to 1 o'clock, which explains why Gimme wanted to go to the tractor on the right and out of frame. I let her explore so she could follow her nose to the unpaired hide, which she did. The 5th and 6th hides were challenging. It was interesting how Gimme found the 5th hide by following the scent across the crack of the cowling. The 6th hide was much harder than I expected.
Vehicle 2 video - Six unpaired hides. I expected more of a pattern in these searches, but I think the crossways breeze made it kind of scattered. She spent a lot of time checking out places where there was no hide, but the scent could have been pooling or she was looking in usual places. These are her first mowing machines.
Vehicle 3 video - I know how much she loves high hides, so I decided to do an odor bomb in the cab of the rental machine. It proved interesting. You can see when she realizes it's a high hide as her nose starts going up. The cab is closed on the far side, but there was a little crack and she caught the scent on the far side where it traveled down a crack in the cowling (1:22). In watching the video, I wonder if some of the scent didn't fall down on the tracks or it was interesting dirt smells. I've included two still pictures with arrows at the end, since you can't clearly see what she was doing on the far side.
Gimme was satisfied for 15 minutes, then she started complaining how she NEVER gets to do anything.
Vehicle 1 video - We had five paired hides and one unpaired. The breeze was blowing from 7 to 1 o'clock, which explains why Gimme wanted to go to the tractor on the right and out of frame. I let her explore so she could follow her nose to the unpaired hide, which she did. The 5th and 6th hides were challenging. It was interesting how Gimme found the 5th hide by following the scent across the crack of the cowling. The 6th hide was much harder than I expected.
Vehicle 2 video - Six unpaired hides. I expected more of a pattern in these searches, but I think the crossways breeze made it kind of scattered. She spent a lot of time checking out places where there was no hide, but the scent could have been pooling or she was looking in usual places. These are her first mowing machines.
Vehicle 3 video - I know how much she loves high hides, so I decided to do an odor bomb in the cab of the rental machine. It proved interesting. You can see when she realizes it's a high hide as her nose starts going up. The cab is closed on the far side, but there was a little crack and she caught the scent on the far side where it traveled down a crack in the cowling (1:22). In watching the video, I wonder if some of the scent didn't fall down on the tracks or it was interesting dirt smells. I've included two still pictures with arrows at the end, since you can't clearly see what she was doing on the far side.
Gimme was satisfied for 15 minutes, then she started complaining how she NEVER gets to do anything.
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.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Nosework class (2/41)
Vehicle search video - Gimme went right to the first hide, sniffed with interest and then left it. As she got to the back bumper, she went back and forth between the two truck bumpers. Then went back up to the step at the front door and alerted. Then she went around to the far side of the white vehicle, until she got to the front bumper and alerted at the license plate. From there I gave her far too much time to investigate the back half of the white boom truck. She gave me some looks, as if to see if I would pay her, but it wasn't "the look". I don't know why she was interested in the back end of the boom truck, but at least she didn't give me a false alert.
Interior 1 search video - The first interior search (on leash) was of three carts in the little foyer - set up to be purposely crowded. It took Gimme a bit to find the first hide on the beige cart, because she was inhibited at first by where I was standing. When I moved on a little bit, then she got right in and indicated. She went around a bit but wasn't settling anywhere, so I called "finished" and was wrong. When I gave her more time, she alerted on the red cart. She had shown a little interest there, but not an alert. Handling in such a crowded area is hard because the line snags on stuff. Also it's very challenging to strike the right balance between staying far enough away to allow the dog room to work and being close enough to be supportive.
Interior 2 search video - This search was in the tiny bathroom, with a large tub and wheelchair added to make it crowded. Gimme quickly got the hide on the tub. I tried to get her in the space between the tub/wheelchair and the sink and it was challenging. She did finally get in there and then immediately left. She's not normally inhibited by crowded spaces, so I think she knew there was nothing else to find there.
Interior 3 search video - The last search was the whole big room. We were instructed to not tell the dog what to do. Case in point being all the times I tell Gimme, "Thank you, find another one". Gimme rushed in and found the first hide on the green tub in 13 seconds. She finds the second hide on a chair in 5 seconds. She finds the third hide on the red tub in 9 seconds. Hide four on another chair took just 5 seconds. The fifth hide on another chair took 14 seconds. The sixth hide took 18 seconds. Finding the seventh hide took 30 seconds.
When Gimme went back to hides I knew she'd done, Dorothy encouraged me to ask her "are there any more?" It was interesting to see how easily Gimme moved on when asked. This probably makes great sense to her because it's so similar to when I ask "Is this the good track?" in tracking. We also saw her start checking hides she'd already indicated and then moving on by herself. It was cool.
This was a great class and interesting. Unfortunately this week (11/19) Gimme had to miss class. I've wrenched my back and can't do much of anything. I can drive and such, but if Gimme pulled on the line (as she so often does in nosework) it would be very painful for me, which might negatively affect her confidence. We also skipped tracking today (11/21), for the same reason, plus Nadine sprained her ankle.
Interior 1 search video - The first interior search (on leash) was of three carts in the little foyer - set up to be purposely crowded. It took Gimme a bit to find the first hide on the beige cart, because she was inhibited at first by where I was standing. When I moved on a little bit, then she got right in and indicated. She went around a bit but wasn't settling anywhere, so I called "finished" and was wrong. When I gave her more time, she alerted on the red cart. She had shown a little interest there, but not an alert. Handling in such a crowded area is hard because the line snags on stuff. Also it's very challenging to strike the right balance between staying far enough away to allow the dog room to work and being close enough to be supportive.
Interior 2 search video - This search was in the tiny bathroom, with a large tub and wheelchair added to make it crowded. Gimme quickly got the hide on the tub. I tried to get her in the space between the tub/wheelchair and the sink and it was challenging. She did finally get in there and then immediately left. She's not normally inhibited by crowded spaces, so I think she knew there was nothing else to find there.
Interior 3 search video - The last search was the whole big room. We were instructed to not tell the dog what to do. Case in point being all the times I tell Gimme, "Thank you, find another one". Gimme rushed in and found the first hide on the green tub in 13 seconds. She finds the second hide on a chair in 5 seconds. She finds the third hide on the red tub in 9 seconds. Hide four on another chair took just 5 seconds. The fifth hide on another chair took 14 seconds. The sixth hide took 18 seconds. Finding the seventh hide took 30 seconds.
When Gimme went back to hides I knew she'd done, Dorothy encouraged me to ask her "are there any more?" It was interesting to see how easily Gimme moved on when asked. This probably makes great sense to her because it's so similar to when I ask "Is this the good track?" in tracking. We also saw her start checking hides she'd already indicated and then moving on by herself. It was cool.
This was a great class and interesting. Unfortunately this week (11/19) Gimme had to miss class. I've wrenched my back and can't do much of anything. I can drive and such, but if Gimme pulled on the line (as she so often does in nosework) it would be very painful for me, which might negatively affect her confidence. We also skipped tracking today (11/21), for the same reason, plus Nadine sprained her ankle.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Nosework class (3/38)
The weather was milder than it has been, so the instructors set up four vehicle searches. Gimme was on fire and I wasn't half-bad myself.
Vehicle 1 video - Gimme was really fast and direct. I have to say she is getting better and better about giving me "the look" for an alert. It's great when I see it, but if I miss her look, then she goes to something more assertive.
Vehicle 2 video - Gimme is very efficient finding all three hides here. Note how she gives me "the look" and then starts moving toward me. I think she appreciates it when I am being more efficient about reward delivery.
Vehicle 3 video - Bim bada boom. Don't blink or you'll miss it.
Vehicle 4 video - We were given the option to search off leash, but I chose not to. These were tight quarters and I didn't want to risk Gimme getting too far from me, causing me to miss a call resulting in her pawing a vehicle. I had a little pebble stuck in the tread of my shoe and it made an odd noise, distracting her right off of sourcing a hide. Fortunately she is persistent and goes right back to the hide. It was very tight spacing and almost forced me to be still, though I moved when I had the opportunity. It made it hard to video as well. I was very proud of her when I missed the second alert look - she just went to do it again and there was no sign of the paw coming up. Yay for Gimme.
I want to go back and look at some of our other recent vehicle searches to see if this has been developing all along, or if it is just now coming together. I do think this is the first class where all of Gimme's indications were "the look". This has been a long time coming and it's exciting. If it is more likely with vehicles, then it would stand to reason, at least partly it's because I am faster to call alert to prevent damage to vehicles. Since she is now more consistent with it, clearly I need to work on getting her to make "the look" into "the stare" and to transition this to other elements. Yay, yay, YAY for Gimme...
Vehicle 1 video - Gimme was really fast and direct. I have to say she is getting better and better about giving me "the look" for an alert. It's great when I see it, but if I miss her look, then she goes to something more assertive.
Vehicle 2 video - Gimme is very efficient finding all three hides here. Note how she gives me "the look" and then starts moving toward me. I think she appreciates it when I am being more efficient about reward delivery.
Vehicle 3 video - Bim bada boom. Don't blink or you'll miss it.
Vehicle 4 video - We were given the option to search off leash, but I chose not to. These were tight quarters and I didn't want to risk Gimme getting too far from me, causing me to miss a call resulting in her pawing a vehicle. I had a little pebble stuck in the tread of my shoe and it made an odd noise, distracting her right off of sourcing a hide. Fortunately she is persistent and goes right back to the hide. It was very tight spacing and almost forced me to be still, though I moved when I had the opportunity. It made it hard to video as well. I was very proud of her when I missed the second alert look - she just went to do it again and there was no sign of the paw coming up. Yay for Gimme.
I want to go back and look at some of our other recent vehicle searches to see if this has been developing all along, or if it is just now coming together. I do think this is the first class where all of Gimme's indications were "the look". This has been a long time coming and it's exciting. If it is more likely with vehicles, then it would stand to reason, at least partly it's because I am faster to call alert to prevent damage to vehicles. Since she is now more consistent with it, clearly I need to work on getting her to make "the look" into "the stare" and to transition this to other elements. Yay, yay, YAY for Gimme...
Friday, June 14, 2019
Nosework class (2/38)
Several people were getting ready for trials this weekend, so class consisted of one search per element.
Vehicle search video - You can see Gimme is pretty much uninterested in the white vehicle. In fact she's not really interested in the black van either - until we start toward the back end and she gets in odor.
Interior search video - Gimme was quick to find the hide. I let her persist with the one box because she really would put her head deep in a box for an inaccessible hide. Remember the falling boxes search, where she shoved into a pile of boxes to get to the hide and there were boxes falling on her head? I don't see the difference in her behavior here with her head deep in a box of stuff and the falling boxes hide. I really was thinking about calling "finish" when the instructor called "time". As easy as it is for me to talk, you'd think it wouldn't be so hard for me to say one little word.
Container search video - Gimme goes into searches so fast she often overruns her nose to start with (just like she overruns almost every corner in tracking). She'd gone by the hide before but didn't notice it until I encouraged her to "slow down a little bit".
Exterior search video - The breeze is blowing from behind us at the start line and Gimme was going fast when she first passed the shovel, so she didn't catch odor until we were coming back the other way. She caught odor on the bucket easily. I wasted time bringing her back up the middle because I wanted her to check the two drains. She wasn't interested in them, so I could have called "finish" 30 seconds sooner. I've noticed before that I subconsciously wait to get to wherever I'm walking before I call it.
I really waste a lot of time in searches making sure she checks everything before I call finish. I need to learn to read her, "there's nothing here" demeanor. I can see it in video, but not as much in real time. Of course there is a fine line between there not being anything else and whether or not she's gotten into odor.
We also have trials this weekend. Friday and Saturday we are entered in the AKC trial at Argus. Gimme still needs two legs in novice buried element, which we've been training. She's in advanced for containers, interior and exterior. Then on Sunday we got into the NACSW level 3 interiors element trial.
Wish us luck for all.
Vehicle search video - You can see Gimme is pretty much uninterested in the white vehicle. In fact she's not really interested in the black van either - until we start toward the back end and she gets in odor.
Interior search video - Gimme was quick to find the hide. I let her persist with the one box because she really would put her head deep in a box for an inaccessible hide. Remember the falling boxes search, where she shoved into a pile of boxes to get to the hide and there were boxes falling on her head? I don't see the difference in her behavior here with her head deep in a box of stuff and the falling boxes hide. I really was thinking about calling "finish" when the instructor called "time". As easy as it is for me to talk, you'd think it wouldn't be so hard for me to say one little word.
Container search video - Gimme goes into searches so fast she often overruns her nose to start with (just like she overruns almost every corner in tracking). She'd gone by the hide before but didn't notice it until I encouraged her to "slow down a little bit".
Exterior search video - The breeze is blowing from behind us at the start line and Gimme was going fast when she first passed the shovel, so she didn't catch odor until we were coming back the other way. She caught odor on the bucket easily. I wasted time bringing her back up the middle because I wanted her to check the two drains. She wasn't interested in them, so I could have called "finish" 30 seconds sooner. I've noticed before that I subconsciously wait to get to wherever I'm walking before I call it.
I really waste a lot of time in searches making sure she checks everything before I call finish. I need to learn to read her, "there's nothing here" demeanor. I can see it in video, but not as much in real time. Of course there is a fine line between there not being anything else and whether or not she's gotten into odor.
We also have trials this weekend. Friday and Saturday we are entered in the AKC trial at Argus. Gimme still needs two legs in novice buried element, which we've been training. She's in advanced for containers, interior and exterior. Then on Sunday we got into the NACSW level 3 interiors element trial.
Wish us luck for all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)