Most of the teams testing today passed. A few did not. I'm sure that all of the teams are able to ID the correct box in practice. However there are many things that make it more difficult in the test. The most obvious factors to me are the nerves of the handlers and the level of environmental sensitivity that some dogs struggle with. 

I've long believed that a huge factor in the success or failure of teams in most competitive dog sports is the nerves of the handler. It's a tough one to train for. 

Since I've been involved with K9 Nose Work I've developed a huge appreciation for all that a dog's nose can tell them. It really is difficult to fully imagine. I'm certain that our dogs smell our nervousness. I'm convinced we can't fake it for training purposes. This smell of nervousness put off by the handler changes the contextual picture to the dog. And we all know that dogs are context specific. Besides changing the context in general, the handler is not so available to the dog because of the handlers anxiety. For dogs that are highly sensitive to the handlers emotional state, it can spell difficulty with a capitol D. 

In this sport I think the best thing to do is to get in lots of practices in lots of different environments including some trial like situations. To that end I'll be putting on another practice of some sort in the next couple of months. Stay tuned. 

Oh my! If my youngster [nearly 15 year old Mick] lives long enough, he is surely a worthy candidate to take a shot at a Nose Work three trial. He is working so well, and I am able to track what we are doing out there [at least in practice!]

We have blind container drills with call to finish successfully under our belt twice now. At level three, the handler doesn't know how many hides there are, between one and three. And has to call 'finish' when you believe the dog has found all the odor locations that is present in the room, on the vehicle, in the container drill, and for the exterior. And there will be one interior room to search that will not have odor, and the handler has to call 'clear'. So many challenges.

The good news is that Mick just had a geriatric workup with our favorite and trusted vet Dr. Williams and he is doing great.

A fun one to watch in Beaverton

We had an awesome class last night in Beaverton. One of the dogs who is in his 10th week of food hunting is so interesting to watch. He moves very slowly, and sometimes cautiously. However it pays off for him. He walks along, makes a turn and goes straight to the hide almost every time. Rarely see him detailing. His stealth movement doesn't disturb the movement of the odor and he is just darned direct!

Progress with a fear/alert barker

I have a little 'Toy' Schnauzer in one of my K9 Nose Work classes. She is a fear/alert barker. Often directed at strange people. And she is a great little hunter. Often she barks as she enters the room and sees the class observers. Than she gets down to hunting and there is less barking. Today she did some barking during round one. During round two there was hardly a peep. Great to see her get more comfortable, and focused.

Our dogs can help us with our mistakes

OOPS! last week my Thursday evening class went to Wilco Farm store to do exterior and interior hides. My Bad, I apparently left a tin behind when we left. 8 days later, one of my friday morning students dog found it!

Watch the KATU-2 Video:
“Can your pooch become a Super-Sniffer?”

On New Years day I put on a practice/match for Nose Work 1 and 2 levels. It was a beautiful day although windy.  We had 29 participants.

The dogs and handlers did great, I've gotten lots of feedback about how much fun and how valuable it was especially for newbees.

Thanks so much everyone, it was very gratifying for me, and I will indeed do another in a month or so.

Joyce

Chase, from the Chase Away K9 Cancer website

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Dogs with Cancer. It is a 6 letter word that I hate. Did you know that canine cancer affects one out of every three dogs? And about 50 percent of dogs over the age of eight are diagnosed, Freeman says. Cats have similar rates.

I recently lost my lovely Rider to Lymphoma at a young 8.5 years. 14 years ago I lost my not yet 5 year old Golden Ashley to Cancer. And now my Silky Simon who was treated for Lymphoma just a few months ago, has his Lymphoma coming back.

That is why I support the Chase Away K9 Cancer organization. Today the Oregonian posted a very nice article about them: Local woman’s campaign aims to eradicate canine cancer.

And here is the link to their website Chase Away K9 Cancer: chaseawayk9cancer.org. ]]> http://www.joycesdogs.com/blog/chase-k9-cancer/feed/ 0 http://www.joycesdogs.com/blog/k9-nose-work-blind-pup/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=k9-nose-work-blind-pup http://www.joycesdogs.com/blog/k9-nose-work-blind-pup/#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:33:43 +0000 Laura http://www.joycesdogs.com/?p=1055 A few days ago I saw a young pup who is blind. We did a private session to get him started in K9 Nose Work.

Well, he already knows so much because he can't see. He will be great at getting sent that is 'up' since he is pointing his nose up all the time. He obviously already knows that this is a good source of info.

Fun, Fun, Fun.

Oh my. My old boy Mick is now teaching me about 'old dogdome'. He is the first dog I have owned that has lived past 8.5 years. He is 4 months from his 15th birthday. He still loves to retrieve in water and on land. He lives for this, and for FOOD.

Sunday evening I had some cooked chicken on the counter, painstakingly stripped from the bone for Simon who's appetite is up and down these days. I went out to the pool to meet someone. When I came back inside, the container was where I had left it …but it was empty. I think I probably had left the dinning room chair pulled out so that it was close to the counter. That's how he got up there to help himself without disturbing the container placement. My bad I guess, gotta be thinking more about prevention.

Yesterday I had my private lesson training bag on a chair by the table. Came home from teaching at Stay Pet Hotel and found it's contents scattered across the dinning area floor. Ripped and shredded to get the goodies out of miscellaneous bags and containers buried deep in the recesses of the bag. My bad again for leaving it on the chair in the first place.

Will I ever learn?

Wow, my Olympia students are doing just great. It's clear that the dogs are progressing in their ability to detect the odor and have a successful hunt.

I did a hide on a desk part that was about 16 inches off the ground The desk top was another maybe 14-16 inches up and on top of it was a couple of plastic baggies with kibble and dog treats. About 6 feet away from the desk and against the wall hung my jacket with pockets full of treats. Most of the dogs showed some interest in my jacket and in the top of the desk but they continued to hunt without trying to eat out of my coat pockets or to jump on the desk for the kibble. This makes it clear to me that they are identifying that the Odor is what pays. This is their 3rd week on Odor.

Lots of noses going up tonight too. Odor rising. The heater in the building goes on and off throughout the class. Gota think more about how the dogs hunt in relationship to heater on / heater off.

Itʼs trial day for us folks going for our NW2 tittle! Iʼm in Livermore CA and seeing folks I met last May is part of the fun of going to K9 Nose Work Trials.

It was an easy drive down with blue skies the whole way. Picked up Pritamo at the airport and went to see some of the NW3 trial. The first half was at a winery. The vehicle search was apparently near a heap of brush and lumber that houses wild bunnies. I didnʼt see the vehicle searches, but apparently a lot of dogs were distracted by that pile and had a tough time sticking with the cars. Something to put on the training list for advanced students.

The exterior area was fenced so I got to see one dog work off leash. Only two even tried it. The one I saw did excellent. I think she won the element 1st place. Dogs love to work off leash. But there are many reasons for many dogs not to do it – critter lovers, urine markers, etc.

Pritamo is the first in her group C and I am the last in my group D so we canʼt talk to each other ALL DAY! about the searches. That will take some discipline and thought not to make any mistakes. P. & Nick aced her first 5 hides in Exterior and Interior. She is very happy with how he worked. Iʼm hoping he has had a little conversation with Mick about where the hides are LOL. The first dog ran about 10am.

Itʼs now noon as I write and there are still about 8 dogs ahead of Mick and I. The A-B group is about done. One hide each in containers and vehicles. The sun is out and Iʼm no longer wishing Iʼd brought long-johns. Itʼs beautiful. Light breeze which Iʼm glad to have. I believe that wind and wet are your friends in Nose Work. Not a ton of one, and none of the other here right now. Oh Well. Mick is restless. Mr. sound sleeper at home is wanting to work. No surprise there. Phew! 5 hides in the first two elements and Mick is on! Worked very well on all three hunts, and I must say, I was patient, waited, moved, and made sure he was sure before I called it. Three thirtyish and finally we get escorted to the container and the Vehicle. I am nervous. I let him work on his own in the container drill, but also track where he has been and where he hasnʼt. He goes to the tall suitcase on a far edge, or is it one container in, I donʼt remember. He is sniffing pretty strongly, pushing on it, looking pretty adamant. I call it and we get a positive response from the judge.

Yippee, one hide to go. Out to the vehicles. There are three and they are configured like a pinwheel, front bumpers forming a small triangle space. Mick sniffs down one side of the closest car, and starts on the BMW front end. Goes to the far [right] front corner. Intensity increases, sniffing all over that corner. Telling me. I finally call it and Ron says yes. I feed him on the lower part of the bumper behind the light. Iʼm grateful I wasnʼt asked where because Iʼm not sure I would have called it right. I realize as I am typing this that I had no thoughts of how the wind was blowing when I was doing the vehicle. Gota work on that!

Mick has his NW2 tittle. Not bad for a dog that is closer to 15 than 14 years of age. Iʼm thrilled and proud of Mick and of my handling. I canʼt wait for NW3 trialing. Long live Mick, I so want him to keep having fun at this. The only sadness is that my plan was to start to focus on Rider getting ready for his NW2 trials. Who would have guessed that Mick had more time than Rider. And Rider really brought me to this sport, something he could do without having to worry about other dogs. Nose Work 3 really separates the ʻmen from the boysʼ so to speak. A room without odor needs to be identified, and the handler doesnʼt know the number of hides. 1-3 per element. Call finish when you think your dog has them all. This is a huge jump from knowing the number of the hides. I hope Mick stays strong enough to at least have the fun of trying a few times.

K9 Nose Work, truly the most fun a dog can have!