Niven and I began training in Nosework in October of 2012, with Torch and Tarot started the following year. You would think I would have entered a trial or gone to a match before now, but schedules never aligned for me to enter. Recently I entered three dogs in their first NW1 trials and I figured it would be a good idea to have a little bit of experience before going to one. For today's DTCCC's Sniff & Go, I originally had Tarot signed up, but she is now in mid-cycle season. Bitches in season are allowed at trials and are placed last in a running order, but I think this is hard on the male dogs who would run later that afternoon.
I really wanted to give Tarot opportunity to work in a new location to help with the threshold work we have been doing. Instead, Torch would get to work on not fringing to alert, which he has been doing to me a lot. Torch enjoyed being the only dog to walk out the door and I benefited by having the small, focused dog to handle. I have to say it was a very relaxed morning, augmented by one 'judge' being my current instructor and the other a previous.
There were twelve dogs ahead of us and we had time to get ourselves together. The four search areas were continuous, with the last one being an Exterior. The only misgiving I had was working three different rooms and going outside without a potty break. Other than that, it was going to be what it was going to be. This was all Torch's show.
We waiting outside the main door and were finally called in. Torch is a dog I cannot really stop on the threshold, but I managed to keep us moving as we approached the blue line on the floor. He was a bit confused as to what was wanted of him, but as he started to look back to me, he caught scent. It was game on.
Interior 1
Walking through the door and getting a whiff of 'old building' was a reminder of everything that could go wrong for an inexperienced dog and handler. I reminded myself that Torch would find everything and my job was to pay attention. In the meantime he looked confused as to why we were going into this room. I chose to run him off-lead to allow free movement around the table and chairs. If he started to catalog, I could always put him back on lead and offer more direction.
We crept slowly to the threshold line and he appeared to walk into odor because from that moment onward, there was no question as to why we were there. I stayed back on the near end of the tables, while he moved along the wall and cut over to a group of chairs at the far end of the tables. While he was working under the chairs, I had to bend down to make sure I was not missing a possible alert. First issue by having a dog without a tail, it is hard to read the back end of a Corgi in Alert Mode.
I was still in my spot at the other end of the table when Torch turned and bee-lined it for the chair at the end of the second table. From where I was standing, I could clearly see the Alert and it was called. The judge responded with her "yes" and Torch & I survived our first official, yet unofficial search. He got half a hot dog for his 15.65 second search.
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Not exactly to scale or object placement |
Interior 2
We waited in the first room for the dog ahead of us to finish and soon enough we were led into the hallway. I am not sure if Torch knew we were to make a right or if odor was caught, but the end result was he was working long before we got to the next area. I did pause him at the doorway and he did not look back or pause like he normally does.
Moving through the doorway, he made a sharp left turn and started to work a short cabinet/box up against the wall. He tried to stick his nose under it and alerted. Again, we survived the search and another half hot dog was given for this 11.43 second search.
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| Not exactly to scale or object placement |
Interior 3
While the first two searches were issue free, we always learn from something that went wrong. It was not that Torch's actions were wrong to non-qualify, it was not planned and I learned something from being thrown off.
We had to wait in the area of the door that opened to the kitchen for a few minutes while the dog ahead finished its search of the kitchen (Interior 3) and the following Exterior. When the door opened, I was just about ready to start. I did the slow step to the threshold, let go of the harness, and Torch immediately indicated something on the left side of the door jam. I thought about calling the alert, but realized he was looking at me from the corner of his eye and that something was wrong.
Not being able to see into the room since I was still two feet back, I wanted to be in there. Before I could make the decision to push him into the room, Torch gave up nose pointing the woodwork and came back into the room to work under the table. At this point, I called him back, held the harness, and slow crept with him into the search area. He did fight me on this while passing the door jam, but once I had cleared a stack of boxes to the left, I let him go agian. He started to work while I turned around to step backward. I hated to push him into the room like that, but I really had no choice.
I figured if the hide was on the threshold, me getting out of the way would give him the opportunity to work the area again. The door was now shut and he chose to go down the length of the cabinets. Almost to the end, he turned around and came back toward the doorway. There was a pause while the boxes were sniffed and Torch re-investigated the bank of cabinets to the other end.
With Torch now mid-room away, I realized my position in the bottom right of the room was horrible for seeing what he was doing. I moved along the opposite side of the island because the aisle between was very tight and I did not want to block a working dog. No sooner did I get within sight of Torch who now working between the cabinets and wall when he Alerted. It was a good thing I showed up with a lot of hot dogs because Torch got another half for his 38.87 seconds of working.
What made this search a bit more challenging was the exterior doorway at the top of the room. Each time it opened, it pushed odor down along the wall. The cabinets on that wall were not flush with it and there was a two inch gap that allowed free air movement. Torch caught that scent on the door jam and chased it back into search area #2 where it was either lost due to me calling him back or mingled with the other odor source. In any case, this hide was pure evil for the number of times that exterior door opened.
Learning point about Thresholds:
- Always check to make sure there is not an obvious and potential odor chute near them.
- Be prepared for a dog to pop out of the room to chase odor.
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| Not exactly to scale or object placement |
Exterior
It was decided during the briefing that dogs would be given time to potty after the three interior searches. An area was designated away from the Exterior search and I decided to take that offer. We came out of the building and turned right where an ExPen with cloth was set up as a visual barrier. Torch immediately caught odor from it and started to work strewn objects, ignoring me completely when I said it was time to pee.
If he had it in mind that he was working another search, I had better stop my quest for a break and follow his working lead. I turned around and walked us straight through the threshold cones while Torch began to hug the building wall. I realized during the walk thru this wall was similar to my neighbor's garage door and the potential for crittering would be very high. Was I surprised there was so much attention paid to it now?
While Torch did the super sniff thing under the wood door, I kept lead tension. I was positive Torch would lift a leg and I was near sure this was crittering. It was when he moved away from the wood door and started to work the stone wall that I realized he might just be finding something real. I mirrored his direction and was in position in enough time to see a small stone pile and Torch alert. The last of the hot dogs was given out for his 21.18 second work.
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Not exactly to scale or object placement |
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| Overall Search Flow - Four Areas |
We Had Fun
So much for having large rooms or lengthy yards to sniff through. I find it amazing how the dogs work differently when an area is devoid of odor and how the dogs know the difference. When working in rooms or fields were birch, anise, or clove were previously set, the dogs have to work twice as hard to isolate old from new. This building and property had not been host to Nosework and it made the difference for short searches.
I was happy to have a great experience as a first time competitor even though this was a "Sniff & Go" and no where near official. The morning was set up and conducted as if this were an Element Trial and I have a better understanding of what I am about to put three dogs through starting this month.
As a first experience for me, I am very glad it is with Torch. After seven years of trying to find his dog sport, this is it. It is also bittersweet because most of my 'first' experiences have been with Corgis. Mandy was Obedience and Crumpet was Breed, Agility, and Herding. Niven was my first to exhibit in Rally and train in Nosework, but Torch gets to blaze the way into trialing.
Joyce
foxlgen.net
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