The trial location was beautiful and the event ran smoothly, at least from where I was parked. It was the type of Fall afternoon where you are glad to be out doors surrounded by forest landscaping. Unlike the trial a few weeks back, we were close to the search areas and there was little to no wind to bring on exhaustion. I was glad to finish the evening off with a good dinner with our instructor, Alexa, and head back to the hotel.
I do wish I could say Torch was "on" and everything played out like it does in practice, but there seemed to be some kind of funky overtone with him. I realized it has been two years since hes stayed in a hotel and three more since he was the only dog to "go". I am sure this was a contributing factor, but whatever was keeping him from being himself, he did well for three Elements. For Containers, I am not sure what was going through his mind, but we ended up with a non-pass for the day. Like both Mike and I later said, Torch rigged it so next year he gets another weekend alone.
Despite not coming home with the coveted NW1 title, I am really glad we had a great day with some great searches! I really wish there was a trial opening soon to enter, but we have a long wait before trying again.
Vehicle Search
Our group started with the Vehicle Search, which involved two stations of sitting on folding chairs for a few minutes each. What air movement there was blew from the parking lot and up toward the search area providing no extra information before we reached the top of the hill. I knew the approach from upwind would pose a problem because I cannot stop Torch on thresholds. Swinging wide and moving slowly provided nothing as he sniffed the cones.
I am not sure what Torch was doing, but he led me past both sport utilities and continued to focus on the volunteer parking lot beyond. It was at this point I realized he was not working and when I called him back I got a look of confusion. Similar to the behavior at the match a few weeks ago, odor was caught and he started to work, pulling me to the right. My biggest worry was that the two boulders would be used for the wrong reason, but both were used to quickly identify odor and bounced between car and rock to the first car. From there he worked along the car and partially went under the end it to alert underneath.
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| Not to scale! |
As the other group completed their Exterior search, we queued up. Torch was running as third dog in his group and off we went fairly quickly. Like the vehicle search, I could not stop him on the threshold and the confusion started again. Both cones were sniffed and he moved off to the left only to be distracted by the officials sitting outside of the area. These decisions distracted him enough to not pick up anything and resulted in us "walking the search area". It was not until Torch reached the covered porch that I felt comfortable there was something to follow. I continued to give him as much room as possible and he nosed his way toward the picnic table where he alerted.
Earlier, while waiting for our turn to search, I realized the wind had changed from the early morning. This new current moved odor to the corner near the door where it pooled. Eventually Torch found the area and sure enough picked up what he needed to follow the trail back to source.
Interior Search
The summer camp bunk house was more like our backyard shed, but I am sure constructed for human habitation. It was rectangular with the door dead center and hallway that lead into a tight open space. The designated threshold was located at the end of this hallway and passed an open door to a room not in use for this exercise. I decided to work Torch off lead and not to move into the room because of the tight aisle between the bunk beds and walls. I figured if he went into the area where I could not see, I would follow and get out of the way as soon as possible. It never came to that and I remained on the threshold.
As Torch moved over the blue line, he turned to look back at me and I opened my hands to show him it was time to search. This look back could have prevented him from focusing on odor directly in front of him and instead moved to the left. The bench was sniffed and he came back along the bed frame to stop and sniff. I almost called the alert, but knew he would look back he decided where the hide was. I am glad I did because after a few seconds he moved to the chair and fully alerted.
The cool thing is that we got a Pronounced for my decision. :)
Container Search
As we walked from the Interior Search and towards the building where the Container search was to be conducted, someone asked if we were ready to get our NW1 title. I wish she had not because it jinxed us. I was reminded of all the issues we faced and knew the recent problem that has developed with boxes. The room was hot, stuffy hot. I could not help but remember our Anise ORT where the same conditions existed and Torch had a hard time, eventually mis-alerting.
This run was no different, if not worst. He was interested in searching from the start and pulled down the line of boxes to the third box where he weakly alerted. I kept moving and he did go with me until the last box. He locked up and for the life of anything I did would not move, standing there staring at me.
Here it the dilemma.
In practice, I would know where the odor box is and this alert would be ignored with confidence. Since this is a blind hide and I do not know where it is and have to depend on the dog to tell me where it is, I am at a disadvantage. With Torch not moving come hell or high water, I have to assume he is working and not looking for some kind of confirmation from me. If this was truly the odor box and I pull him from it, what are the ramifications? What damage would I do to Torch's motivation? Would I receive a Handling Fault for not trusting my dog?
I decided in that moment to trust my dog as there was no immediate answer to any question that ran through my mind. I knew this box was wrong while I called it. Of course the judge issued his "No" and we failed the exercise and lost the NW1 title.
Interesting to note, they do let you know where the odor box is for you to immediately go there and reward. When human voices were heard, Torch seemed surprised he was not getting his treat where he stood and that I was moving around the outside. He moved to the box in the next row and alerted yet again. I kept going and when he passed over the correct box, his head whipped back and I was immediately able to reward. This was a good thing because there was recognition with immediate positive response from me. I rather failed like this than potentially create issues trying to "save" a title.
Tomorrow Is Another Day
Am I disappointed that Torch did not come home with a new title and fancy ribbons?
Absolutely!
Does it really matter?
Nope!
I have been at the dog trial thing for too long to not place that kind of stress on my partners and teammates. They think this kind of thing is cool and have fun no matter what. If wind conditions did not work in our favor, our technique was not good for the environment, or super focus did not emerge, I so rather a great day like this than creating a training issue by over handling.
Torch and I had a fantastic weekend away from home, enjoyed being outside, hung out with cool parking lot people, had dinner with a friend, and had a warm bed to return to. I have some ideas to practice that will benefit all four of my guys!!!
Learning and experiencing is good.
With that, there is no photo of Torch with a ribbon haul, but you do get one of him having a great day instead.
Hope you all had a great weekend too!
Joyce
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| Torchman getting ready to work the Exterior Search |
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