Reply To: MW2016Mar: Julia & Brody (Malamute/GSD mix, OR)

[Julia BackParticipant]

Got it – Brody will (hopefully) learn his own way in and out of the pool with practice. I will get him some water wings and throw him in the deep end! 😉 Terri takes such fantastic photos! She and I will be at the CNWI course together in Pasadena in June, so we’ve been getting acquainted.

Here is my last video – I had a hard time deciding what to post since you’ve done such a wonderful job answering so many questions! I decided to go with something we’ve practiced rarely and could use some feedback on.

This is a practice blank room. Brody had worked 5-6 searches already. This room had never had odor in it and was pretty far from other search areas/had been closed up. I apologize for the video quality/angles here. No sound on this one. I didn’t know the number of hides.

This was interesting and challenging for me because while Brody isn’t on odor, he is working really hard and detailing a ton. The first couple of times we did blank rooms he did a much more cursory search and then went into “off” mode or kept checking in with me. On reflection, this was a small room and after he’d been around it once (or even twice) without focusing on anything, I wish I would have called it, but I was a little perplexed by his detail work and some of his tail wagging around the right-hand corner by the door. (*I definitely would not have moved the chair during a trial*).

I would love to hear your observations and suggestions for building the confidence to call it sooner. It seems like the longer we stayed, the harder he worked and the more I psyched myself out.