When You Have Four Dogs, You Have A Class

  I had some time this morning to work the dogs at a local shopping plaza where we had before. I am not sure why I did not think to use this place before now, but Mike and I were about to pull out of the parking lot one day when we both realized it was an awesome spot for Nosework.  Part of the plaza is under renovation, car traffic behind the stores is light, and docks are quiet.

  Today, I was not sure what locations I wanted to work, but I did not want to use all the same areas as last time.  I ended up re-using one of the loading docks, but found a Bobcat and its accessories parked in the spot where I had before.  Oooooooh.

  With my van parked around the building corner and I figured would long walk each dog to mimic a trial environment.  I set seven areas in two sets with the first set having four areas with six hides and the second set having three areas with five hides.  My plan was to allow each dog to work, rest, then work again.

First Set

Area 1 - Vehicles

The biggest mistake I made in setting these hides was the one placed on the Backhoe.  There was more than enough room for the dogs to catch odor from all sides, but I forgot they can go under it while I cannot.  In the case of Torch, Desi, and Tarot, this was NOT good.  We survived with a tangled lead, but the hide was found.  It would have been nice for me to not contort around heavy machinery to deliver a reward.

  All four dogs were brought in from the back of this photo, with one of the parking lines as the threshold.

• Niven pulled to the left and found the Backhoe hide immediately, searched the vehicle line around to the Hide on the outrigger.  Ironically, her normal "alert" returned today.  Figures.
• Torch pulled to the left and had to work his way along and under the bent arm until the hide was found.  From there he continued to the outrigger hide.
• Tarot pulled to the right and worked herself first to the outrigger hide and then around to the backhoe.  Like Torch, she had to traced odor by working up, back, and under the arm until found.
• Desi pulled to the left, but being inexperienced skipped the backhoe hide and worked to the outrigger hide.  From there we continued around the Bobcat until she picked up scent.  She had to weave back and forth to the backhoe hide.  Interesting note for Desi, all hides today were unpaired and she worked these pretty quickly.

Area 2 - Vehicles (or giant Container)

  When my neighbor had demolition work on his house a few months ago, a similar dumpster was dropped off on the street.  Three of the dogs have had experience with this type of container, but Desi has not.  A splotch of pink paint dead center was used as the Threshold, with the hope of the left side hide being strong enough for an immediate find.

•   Niven immediately found the front hide, then moved along the outside length of the dumpster to the hide inside the niche.
• Torch followed Niven's search with nearly the same pattern.  He started to move to the outside, caught scent and worked it back to that front hide.  Continuing along the outside of the dumpster, the niche hide was found.
• Tarot started by going to the right, but realized she was out of odor and came back to find the front hide.  From there she turned to work along the outside length to the back end, but used the yellow poles to track to the niche hide.
• Desi had the most difficulty with the front hide and chose to move along the inside line, placing me between the wall and dumpster.  I had to be able to change direction while keeping the area open for her to work to the front hide.  Once found, she worked the inside dumpster wall to the yellow poles and found the niche hide almost immediately.

Area 3 - Loading Dock

  I had worked this area the last time and did not realize there was a six foot drop along the back wall near the docks themselves until after we started.  This put a limit on how far I was willing to let the dogs use the corners to search this time.  The hide was placed on the ground in the broken concrete about three quarters of the way in.  Surprising it was Niven who had the hardest time with this.

  The yellow pole was our threshold and all four dogs chose to walk along the wall toward the back of the dock.  Again, I had a limit on how far they could go due to deep drop where the metal covers had dislodged.

  

•   Niven moved along the left wall until she was stopped by me.  She turned toward the stairs, worked the wall for a few feet and circled the open area.  She caught scent near the stairs and traced the plume to the hide.
• Torch moved along the wall until he was stopped, then started toward the stairs where midway he changed direction.  Using a line of broken concrete, he channeled the odor to the hide.
• Tarot used the wall halfway, then cut an angle beyond the hide, turned and went straight to the hide.
• Desi moved along the wall just past where Tarot pulled from it and did a similar bee-line using the broken concrete to the hide.  

  It was this area search that impressed me for each dog.  Niven threw me off while Tarot AND Desi wasted no time with technicalities.  Not kidding, Niven had the longest search and it was no more then forty seconds.  The other three had to be in the low twenty second range.

Area 4 - Rear of Store

  The threshold faced us directly toward the wall.  For Niven, Torch, and Tarot, the threshold was farther out to allow them access to a dumpster to the right.  For Desi, I started her closer to the area I wanted her to stay in.

  I learned another thing about hide placement and that is where odor emanates from.  Stick a hide under a piece of metal and it will shoot out the other side and top.  Bad me for poor placement.

•   Niven went straight to the wall, worked right toward the grey door, turned around, and went straight to the hide.
• Torch moved toward the dumpster and corrected himself to work the wall.  Like Niven he searched the gray door and back along the wall.  It was here that he alerted to the backside of the metal guard.  It dawned on me at this point odor was coming from the top and would not be an easy find.  Although this alert would be correct for an NW2 or NW3 search, he had to find odor source and this is why I need to be hurt for my placement.  It took a few more seconds, but Torch continued to work until the hide was nose touched.  
• Tarot also moved toward the dumpster and quickly went to the wall and the metal guard.  She had to work back and forth about five feet from each side before alerting to the top of the metal guard.  Sigh......I had to wait for her to figure it out and she did just as fast as Torch.
• Desi was started closer to the wall, but still had to go to the the dumpster.  Very quickly she indicated there was nothing there and moved directly to the area around the metal guard.  Like Tarot, she worked about six feet on either side, and looked at me while on the opposite side.  As soon as she moved to the correct side, I dove in with treats.

   I think I spent more time setting the hides for these four areas, walking each dog, and traveling to each area than I did actually working them.  I do wish I had video for timing reasons, but each dog worked all of these hides in under two minutes a piece.

  Second Set

  Areas 1 and 2

  What I had planned for this round was more introduction, reintroduction, or training.  I had some containers in the van from a previous class and thought it a good idea to see where we were with a "luggage inspection".  Good idea, bad idea. 

  For Area 1, all four dogs struggled with my horrible version of a luggage search and I had to pass over each about four times.  Even Torch who is the master of boxes struggled and I now know where we are weak.  Each dog did a beautiful job of quickly sniffing each object, but struggled to find my hide.

  Area 1 and 2 were kind of built on each other and my hope was to get a straight line "search".  For Area 2, the line of concrete parking blocks allowed for this, but again everyone needed multiple passes before finding both hides.  I am glad I did set this up, especially since all of my guys had a hard time.  That is not a dog related issue, but a training/experience/exposure issue.  At least I get to be creative for practice exercises and maybe use the Goodwill store to get real luggage??

Area 1

Area 2

 

  Area 3
  When I set the first two areas, I wanted to end the day with something familiar.  There was a large grass area with picnic table that I knew would be a relatively easy search.  The threshold was far back to the left of this photo and gave the dogs plenty of opportunity to pick a direction.

•   Niven stayed to the left and found the picnic table hide, went to the support beam, and traveled along the wall to the grass hide.
• Torch followed Niven's path and search.  The only difference was he needed to travel down the wall to the wall jut-out to track back to the grass hide.
• Tarot moved to the left, found the table hide and cut straight to the grass hide.
• Desi started by going to the wall on the right, shortly worked it before being distracted by the table hide.  Oddly, she was almost on top of the table hide when she pulled to the grass on the left and found a discarded french fry.  For once I was faster than the dog and got to it first.  Table hide was then found and she went back to the opposite wall where the grass hide was located.  Three other dogs ignored the fry........

  Despite the second set being more about training, each dog again found five hides in under two minutes.  We still need to some practice work on the Containers (other than boxes), but that can be a fun thing to work on as the colder months force us to find indoor locations.

  Glad to be outside today.  Hope you had a great Sunday.

  Joyce

  www.foxglen.net

Niven's NW1 Trial

  I wanted to learn more about detection work and when Nosework was finally offered in this area, I was glad to sign Niven up for a class.  Although there are differences between NW Dogs and Detection Dogs, training is relatively the same and I figured this would be a great start for learning.  I was not interested in picking up another competitive sport, but the longer you attend class the more trialing comes to the forefront.

  Without going into detail of Niven's background, it took me a year and a half to realize we were not progressing.  Behaviors that should have emerged never did and some that did should have been quelled immediately.  When two other dogs I was working progressed in less time, I knew it was time to stop what I was doing and figure out a solution.  By this point my confidence in Niven's alerting ability was zero percent and not getting any higher.  If it were not for my initial reason for getting involved to learn or that I hate to fail a dog, Niven would have been retired before a career was started.

  To begin troubleshooting, cardboard boxes were again pulled out, creative games were thought of, and a new class was found. It took about two months to see a solid difference with success and a few more to see the progress that had been lacking.  My confidence with  Niven had risen to ninty percent and my classmates easily convinced me to enter the ORT for Birch.  Even though the ORT went well and Niven passed, traces of her old behaviors popped up.  We took a short time off for surgery and came back stronger and consistent.  Unfortunatley, even now those old behaviors creep back and I am reminded how far we have come.  

  Later the ORTs for Anise and Clove were completed with no time lost, confirming it was time to try a Level 1 trial.  I could not enter a trial until now due to family obligations so this weekend was not only Niven's first NW trial, but mine as well.

NW1 Trial

  I  had to leave early to complete a two hour drive which turned out for the best, as I found a Burger King in a shopping plaza with a large grass area.  Niven and I were able to stretch our legs without worrying about breaking rules or walking where we should not be.  When we finally arrived at the Boy Scout camp where the trial was being held, we joined our classmates in making a parking lot camp and the day was made more fun.

  After check-in we found our small camp was split and Niven was to start with Vehicles & Interiors, followed by Containers & Exteriors in the afternoon.  Nivie and I were scheduled to run 18th and when it was finally our turn, we did the long walk through the forest to the large building where we had the first wait.  The walk helped and she was better at standing still until we were called to the final station.  There we sat waiting for the Search Stewart to call us, which by that time we had been down wind and air scenting for a while.

  We slow walked to the threshold line and I sent her on to search.  I was too focused on the determined trot of my dog to realize the significance of the moment.  All I could think was I needed to start trotting to keep up, but without crowding and potentially pushing her off odor.  No sooner did I pick up my pace then Niven abruptly turned to go back to the front of the car on the left.  I barely got out of the way and turned to watch her nose trace along the license plate and eventually stop.  

  Normally Niven will alert by looking at me while bouncing on her front legs, but two weeks ago she changed her alert.  I sighed, held my breath, called the alert, and was thrilled to here the "Yes" from the judge.  I gave her a large chunk of the hot dog I stopped at Wawa on the way to buy and l loved the look on her face when she realized it was more yummy than the generic ones she normally gets.

  There was no time to do more than quietly praise and we were off to complete the next search.

  The biggest concern I had about this room was the lamenant steps that led to linoleum flooring.  We got down the steps and to the threshold without worry.  Nivie's nose was twitching and when sent off, she immediately went to a folding chair around the corner.  Like the Vehicle search, she worked to find the hide and and her alert was weak which I delayed in calling.  I was relieved to hear the "Yes" again and Nivie did her dance for the hot dog.

  I wish I could offer more in critique, but Niven was so quick to find both hides it was hard to learn anything.  We left the test area and took another path through the woods and back to the van to wait for the remaining few dogs to complete their searches and lunch break.  From parking lot conversation, it seemed a lot of the dogs from our group did well on both searches, but from the other group, Containers posed an issue.  

  Lunch completed and we were back to watching the number board until it was time to go again.  One aspect discussed was the "station hop" and the effect it has on the dogs.  For me, we started with a long walk to the first station, but now we had to cover the same distance with two stops before the final call in.  Again, Niven is not good about waiting, but she entertained herself by making her famous "disappointed whale" noises and air scenting.

  Air scenting.  I suddenly realized every chair I had to sit in for ten minutes was downwind from not only the Exterior Hide, but the Vehicle Hide as well.  We were basically sitting in constant, converging odor.  To distract myself I focused on the day and location.  I think my dad would be pleased that we were at a Boy Scout camp for something cool like Nosework.  The leaves were bright yellow and it looked like it was snowing with the stiff wind that was carrying converging odor up the hill right at us.  Eventually we were next and I was glad to have the torment ended.

  Here is where knowing so many dogs had problems with a search area is not beneficial.  Niven and I slow walked to the threshold and after send off, immediately indicted the first box, but did two things that led me to believe it was a fringe alert.  First, although the nose was over the lid seams I was not certain this was a true alert because she was pawing the the box.  That is a behavior she does when it is the wrong box and she is testing waters.  It was one of the issues that had been trained out a year ago. Was this the problem that knocked everyone from the other grouo out??  

  The second, to test the strength of this 'alert' I took a few steps and she came with me.  Not a good sign.  I mentally marked the box and very quickly walked the rest to make sure there was no other "real" one hiding out there.  I was now sure that first box was it, as none of the others caught her interest. We returned to the first box and Niven displayed a more normal alert.  I made the call and was happy to hear the "Yes". 

  While waiting for the judges to get into position, Niven's nose was twitching as she air scented.  For the last time, we tried to slow walk to the threshold, where she went to the left once released.  Following the concrete wall to the grass area she appeared to work the taller grass and U shaped piped sticking out of the ground.  I was fine with this as long as information was obtained and she moved on, which was done quickly.

  When Niven moved toward the table laying on its side, I was in the way and tried to move to offer more space.  Instead, she read my body movement as a push and turned to go away from me.  She appeared to catch something and took interest in a wheeled plant stand and stopped.  Without waiting, I called the alert and was happy to hear another "Yes".  Nivie was very happy to get another third of a hot dog and I was glad to survive this set of hides. 

 The wind was brutal, the wait long, and the day tiring.  It was not until someone asked if that was our title, that I realized it was.  

  I suddenly wanted to cry.  

  Three years of a journey just came to an end and I had planned to retire her after the NW1 was obtained.

  I held it together as we walked back to the van and while our friends cheered for Niven.

  The trial ended with everyone gathering together to listen to the Judges and CO discuss their observations from throughout the day.  It was interesting to hear generalized feedback and why hide locations were chosen.   Afterward they announced the winner of the Harry Award and Placement Winners for each Element and Over All searches.

  I was shocked and still am to have heard Niven's name called as the 1st place winner of the Vehicle search (09.75 seconds) and then again for 3rd place for Over All searches (1 min.10 seconds).  We even got a Pronounced for the Exterior search, which I thought was cool.  For this trial, I went with the mind set of gaining experience and at least surviving four hides.  I was not anticipating the additional wins and was even more proud of myself for holding back an all out cry in front of fifty people.

  As a first time competitor with a dog I had to retrain to get this far, I am really proud of Niven.  I know she enjoyed being the only dog to go sniff stuff and she did it well.  I am proud of myself for making the decisions I did because of the long road behind us.  Judges do not know that story.   I can only hope Torch and Tarot have the same type of fun day Niven did with their upcoming trials.

  According to my classmates.......I am not allowed to retire my nearly ten year old Lab.  I guess a NW2 trial needs to be planned into 2016 for Niven?

  Joyce

www.foxglen.net

Niven NW1 and her nifty haul

Sniff and Go

  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.

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.

                              

                                            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.

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.

Not exactly to scale or object placement

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.

  

   Hope you had a great Sunday!
  Joyce

  foxlgen.net

Rainy Days and Pedigrees

  Rain has come from nowhere these past few days and I have been housebound since it started.  Tarot is in season and most of our activity has ground to a halt while we wait for better weather.  I actually got to answer email, one including a slight distress call from a friend who has been involved in Rottweilers for near forty years.

  Recently she had bred her bitch to a dog with one of those pedigrees everyone wishes they could find.  Not only was the sire's lineage a perfect line up to the bitch's, but he was a product of frozen seamen stored for over twenty-five years.  The bitch's pedigree may not have the top dogs from the 1990's in the first five generations, but there is hidden off page.  As it normally goes when expectations are high, only one female puppy was produced from the mating and she was finally going off to her new home.  Thus the email request from my friend.

  Online Pedigree generators are handy, but most do not store the information and only provide HTML or PDF as a method of save.  My friend wanted to send the puppy people off with a five generation pedigree because the AKC form only will provide for three.  She spent time entering information into one of those online sites and only produced a PDF that spanned two pages.  Could I crank out that much information in a real short amount of time to get it to fit to one page?  The answer was no, curse the thing called 'being at work'.  The email chain grew longer and the plan to repeat the breeding came to light.  She wanted the pedigree for her website with no rush to complete the task.

  But it rained and there was no class and the house chores were caught up.  The HTML I have been using on my own website had corrupted and I had to build a new table from scratch.  By helping with the puppy pedigree, I could finally fix the problems I was having with with my own website.  I cannot tell you how much fun I had despite the tedious 'cut & paste' methodology.

  Basic page layout was complete and the puppy's ancestry slowly took form.  Half of the sire's ancestors I did not recognize because they were from the early 1980's, but knowing the others made it interesting.  I had time to really look over the dam's lineage and understand what each Rottweiler breeder was going for in their choices and then see the resulting championships and working titles.  Decisions made from paper sometimes do nothing in the whelping box and vice versa, but this little puppy is the perfect match of genetics.  If your are interested, visit the Von Braun Rottweiler page for more information.

  I spent a few hours getting the table to balance while reminiscing on dogs long passed. Soon enough the final product was created and my friend was happy to have working HTML to add to her website.  I was still in 'dog mode' and decided to fix the broken code on my own pedigrees, which meant I had be patient as each dog's name was cut and pasted for five pedigrees.

  It was still raining and I was down to the two pedigree with missing information.  One of Desi's ancestors had been sold to Japan and I was missing two dogs in one generation.  Although it was from an American breeding, the kennel website did not have a pedigree for quick reference nor did anyone else's.  Ironically, this night I found the missing information on a Chinese website, thank you Google Translate!  The pedigree is now complete because the line goes straight back to the same dogs I am familiar with and suspected were there.

  Years and years ago, I embarked on a pedigree search of Crumpet's ancestry to try to teach myself the value of  'on paper' mating decisions.  I found a name or two which would open the pedigree to thirty generations before going cold again.  Time would pass and I would luck up during a conversation at a show that would spark the interest again.  I would go back sixty generations.  I ended up with an almost complete lineage with the exception of a seventh generation blank.  I finally found someone who knew the two dogs personally and she sent their four generation pedigree.  It was a gold mine to me, completing the full pedigree back to the first English and American Champions and first registered Corgi in every line.

  I learned a lot by typing out each name and creating my own Access Database.  Eventually, I could click on the dog's name and produce the next view.  Pembroke Welsh Corgis are unique because up until the 1980s, you will find the same dogs appearing in one lineage up to an easy fifty times.  It is this tight breeding that caused, among others, von Willebrand Disease which is a form of Hemophilia.  What could be interrupted as kennel arrogance turned out to be deeper.  The breed was nearly wiped out during the Blitzkrieg and there were not many dogs to chose from. When genetic testing became available, it enabled everyone to make better out-cross decisions and lineages have opened.

  When I picked Niven as the puppy I wanted, I was given copies of her parent's AKC Pedigrees.  I knew from a quick glance that her sire was from working field lines, but her dam was a hard guess. Despite half the pedigree revealing working ability, I still took the puppy.

  Working dog pedigrees are harder to read than Show dogs'.  In the Show world, breeders have kennel names that can go for generations and help track backwards.  If you know the kennel, you have a idea of what type of traits are consistently thrown with each generation.  In the working world, breeders may select basic registered names where there are no references making it hard to figure generic kennel type from paper.  All you have are the titles and can assume the dog worked.

  Unfortunately, working dogs are normally selected for their ability to perform and not necessarily for their conformation.  Titles become important while the conformation of tail, head, or ear set do not factor in.  When I went to see the litter ten years ago, the remaining five puppies' conformation and type was consistent and I knew better than to walk away.  I would take my chances by only knowing half the deal.

~~

  The Age of the Internet is awesome for research, but often contains false information. Every time we read, we have to assume the person doing the writing has the facts straight.  This is no different when using someone's posted pedigree!  I took my chances in piecing together Crumpet and Sprout's pedigrees and continue to take chances with Niven and Tarot's.  It is always nice when you find a reliable source and I finally did.  Could there be mistakes?  Sure.  In the case for certainty I would have to find the owner of the Stud Books or buy each pedigree from the American Kennel Club.

  With that in mind, ten years ago I started a search on Niven's pedigree.  The field titled dogs were easy to find and I bonused with background information.  Then I found an online pedigree database where I could enter a dog's name and within minutes, be taken back to 1870.  It was the greatest experience accompanied by photos and extended background info, if only field wins.  From what I could tell fifteen generations back, someone knew what they had and continued the tradition of working dogs.

Niven's Sire: "Damien's Scar"

  For every dog listed in the fifth generation, they all go back sixty years and for a few, continue backward to 1868 where the lineage drops off into the true unknown.  Four or five dogs reappear a few times, but not in mass quantity we see in Corgis.  These decisions were made willingly and the pedigree balances from strategic planning to produce the Working Retriever.

  What do you do with the other side of the pedigree?  With no titles one can assume these dogs were family pets or personal hunting dogs.  Maybe there is a photo or two posted to an old website or on Facebook for "Throw Back Thursday", but that does me no good.  If anything, I figured there had to be some titles back there, maybe more breed championships than performance?  All I could do was sit, stare, and imagine the grandiose hidden lineage.

  Google searches led no where except for one dog entered at a breed show in 1997.  Every couple of years I would have a few minutes to search, but with the same results.  For nine years, I have stared at that fifth generation and wondered what was back there and eventually resigned myself to letting it go.  These dogs were long gone and the paperwork with them.  Who would spend the time entering in information twenty years later?

  So.
  It still rained.  It has been raining hard for days and Tarot is in season which means my routine is changed to one night of classes with the other dogs.  I have free time after spending an evening creating an HTML file for my friend's fantastic repeat breeding.  I decided to do another search.

  Desi's missing ancestors were found first, followed by Niven's.  By the time I was done searching the eight names left in the pedigree, I was ecstatic with four found.  Where Damien and Tex's (Tarot's Sire) pedigrees are heavily entwined on the same working titled dogs, Sady's goes back to breed and dual champions.  It merges in the 1950's with their pedigree of foundation dogs, all ending with "Netherby Boatswain" whelped in 1868 .  Now I hold hope for the other missing names to appear in a search one day, but I think I know where this goes.

  I realize there is an argument concerning when in a pedigree the dog or bitch becomes less influential.  Some say four or five generations, but I have experienced genetics pop up from ten generations back and it comes down to knowing what is back there.  Maybe I do not need to worry about those missing grand parents in the sixth generation?  In any case, I am glad to be a bit more educated concerning the pedigrees we are continuing and I look forward to the future.

     Here is to you, Sady X.  Your mystery pedigree is slowly being revealed after ten years.

Niven's Dam: "Sady X"

Damien & Sady

Niven

Tarot