Nosework Diary: Field Trip – June 11, 2011
So after what seemed like an eternity without nosework (almost an entire month!), my lovely teacher Michele agreed to set up a field trip for everyone. Unfortunately some of our regular group couldn’t make it, but Dax and I were there! I even helped pick the place!
We met at an elementary school. We pretty much had the place to ourselves which was really nice and meant we could hunt anywhere. Michele set up eight hides in all different places along the school. Dax was up first and totally rocked my world! There was new smells and a new place with blowing wind and he was a total champ!! He did so well on all the hides hitting one after another so quickly:
HIDE #3: A single birch q-tip in a crack in the concrete.
 |
 |
 |
Dax surprised me by how quickly he went from his start line to the odor. He made a straight line, only lagging to detail. It was this hide that told me he was ready for an exterior hide in a trial!
HIDE #4: A tin with 3-4 birch q-tips in the outlet cover.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Dax worked hard on this hide, blowing right past source, but working his way back with some help from his handler (me!). He worked the odor from the left but ran into cobwebs and I learned that Dax doesn’t like cobwebs as much as I do! He actually walked around them and hit source from the right.
MULTIPLE HIDES #5-7: Three hides in the lunch table areas, one under the bench; two, on the side of a planter; three, on the handle of a garabage can.
 |
 |
 |
Dax taught me I need to help him more on multiple hides. He hit the first odor tin which was under the bench part of a picnic table, however he had a “HEY STUPID HUMAN” moment when I didn’t believe him. I thought the hide was under the table part of the picnic table and just kept staring at him. But he kept insisting on the bench and I meekly said ‘Alert.’ Of course, trust your dog!, cause he was right! I generously rewarded him and then sent him off to find the other two hides. He started searching for the second, but wasn’t strong enough not to want to go back for the first hide, and I didn’t have the best handling to keep him from it. He didn’t hit it again, but I got that little reminder from Michele to ‘hold my ground and not let him go back.’
Dax is my little rockstar nosework dog, but he is getting some competition with Dylan! We ended the day with some quick hides in the grass for the puppy, which is something he had done since he was 9-weeks old! Dylan was all over the food tin! I am very hopeful that he will live up to his name as “Master of the Hunt”!
lol
I genuinely enjoy examining on this web site , it has good posts . “The secret of eternal youth is arrested development.” by Alice Roosevelt Longworth.