School Is In

  A break in the early September heat wave encouraged me to pack the van full of dogs and head out for Nosework practice.  Being this is Labor Day weekend, I did not want to go to the normal park locations in fear I would be distracted by or run out early by people coming to set up family park parties.  Normally, I would take that as challenge, but this particular morning I just wanted to work the guys.

Elementary School
Parking Lot and Playground

  I found two local spots, one an elementary school and the other the pool park.  Even though the pool area was empty when I stopped by, I knew once I got working this would change.  I elected to try the elementary school despite the possibility of someone calling the police about a woman wandering around and placing things near the building.  If I was worried about this as a real possibility, the person who did show up happened to be my neighbor who owns the yard where I normally practice.

 ORT Boxes & Containers
  The asphalt parking lot was still relatively cool and I set up objects for Desi, ORT boxes for Tarot, and Containers for Torch & Niven.  If the surface temperatures were causing heat convection, it was not enough to create issues.  Neither was the wide open field with it tempting breezes and birds in flight.

• Desi is working Primary Odor (food) and it took her about five seconds to realize she was playing the Nosework game in a new location.  She moved over the plastic containers, some stacked, others needing to be pushed into with speed and grace to find them all.
• Tarot stayed focused on task for eight rounds of searches, four each for Anise and Clove.  Each odor box was found relatively quickly and only twice did we have to navigate the line up and back.  I was happy about Tarot's focus on the boxes and not on the field or asphalt cracks.
• Niven has already passed her ORTs, so the boxes were moved around to form a circle Container search.  I kept Anise and Clove for her to search, which both were found fairly quickly.  I just need to remember she will crush boxes if I wait too long with the hot dogs.
• Torch worked the same circle pattern, finding his two hot boxes just as fast as Niven.  Fortunately, he is more gentlemanly about his indications and does not crush box lids.

 Playground
  For the next round of searches, I decided to work a NW1 Exterior, placing two Birch hides (only one in testing) within the playground area.  One Hide was placed in a metal container on the playground equipment. The second was placed in the ground using a medical centrifuge vial.  Each of the dogs was walked up to the back side, so everything was to the right.

• Niven pulled between the playground and shed (not seen) and almost to the school's wall before turning back to find the Playground Hide.  From there, she moved to the Ground Hide.
• Torch also passed the Ground Hide to search near the shed, then tracked back to it.  From there he worked the playground area to find the elevated hide.
• Tarot searched similar to Niven, passing the Ground Hide to work from the school wall to the Playground Hide.  Moving onward, she worked the shed area to the Ground Hide.

   Later when everyone was done working, I did set up a series of hot dog hides for Desi.  One piece was placed near the wooden shed ramp, one on the ground near the corkscrew, and two on the plastic climbing benches.  Both Ground hides were found first, followed by a cubbyhole hide.  It was the hot dog on top of the plastic bench that gave her the most trouble and it was not because of height.  We eventually walked around the outside of the playground and immediately Desi tracked it straight to source and jumped up to get it.

Dumpsters

  We ended the practice session by working a series of Dumpsters.  I put out three Birch Hides; one on the backside, right, and under the lift sleeve of #2.  One was placed front side, right, and bottom of #3.  The last Hide was placed on the front, left, midway up #4.
  For all three dogs, we weaved in and out, up, down, and through the Dumpsters to find the #2 and #3 Hides.  It was the one on #4 that gave the most trouble since odor was probably traveling upward or outward toward the field behind.  Everyone needed to go about twenty feet out to come back to find it.

  One of the biggest take-aways I have from this search was with Tarot. Like Niven and Torch, she had difficulty with that #4 Hide, but her overall performance wandered.  For some reason, Tarot does this with Dumpsters and Vehicles and I have excused it away as needing more practice.  I am starting to see is a pattern where "metal" causes her to search harder or lose focus, almost like she is not finding odor at all.
  A few weeks ago, I had set a Clove Hide on a fire extinguisher and had the worst luck in having Tarot find it.  Two weeks later, a Birch Hide was placed on one during class and the same behavior started.  I dismissed this as either needing more time with other chemical scents or that odor was traveling upwards.  I am not too sure now this is the case.
  Oddly, we have had serious time searching metal folder chairs, racks, and stools without issue.  Could there be a limit for Tarot when the object being searched is "x" large?  To see if this is possible, I do plan on driving around one night with her to find dumpsters and other training opportunities.  Should be interesting to see if this helps.


  For a two hour practice session on an early September morning, we accomplished a lot.  All four dogs got opportunity to stretch out and use their noses in a new location while I enjoyed being outside with them.  Niven and Torch are both entered in their first NW1 trials and  I am waiting for word on Tarot's entry.  In the meantime, I get to look forward to next Saturday's ORT with her for Anise and Clove.

  We need to have mornings like this and I am really glad to have left the video cams behind.
  Hope you enjoyed the weekend!
  Joyce