NW525: Gina & Kalli (Aussie mix, NY)

[Gina BakerSpectator]

Hi….Gina and Kalli here. Kalli is a 10 yr old Aussie mix and we have been doing Nose Work for about 6 years now. We are still working on our NW2. Kalli is on the reactive side but has come a long ways! It has been a very fun and interesting ride! I am proud of how far we have come and looking forward to continue to learn and grow as a team. I am feeling that we may have been going off track a bit – so much information and different ways to interrupt it. As an example – at the start line I used to get Kalli more excited but was too much in her face, then I changed and said nothing to het at the start line and waited for her to turn her head towards the search area, but that did not feel right to me. My goal for this class is to go “Back to Basic” to take a couple steps back so we can work better as a team. Also just the very basic of preparing the q-tips, storage etc – I never had a formal class to learn that aspect, just kinda made it up as I went.
We did earn our L1I and L1C a week ago got some of our confidence back. And I did talk to her at the start line but did not get in her face.

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Congratulations on your new titles! Woohoo! You and Kalli have made great progress in the last year or so of classes. Nice to have you both back. 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525: Lesson1

Here are Kalli’s three searches – we did them all on the same night. I do apologize for the quality of the videos; my camera does not do well without a lot of light.

Search 1 – My training plan for this search was converging odor. I placed two hides, both, which were Anise. The one hide about a 2ft of the ground on the clothesline pole with the second hide on the opposite clothesline pole just above Kalli’s nose height. The poles around 20 feet apart.
65 degrees
6:45 PM
light wind
off-leash
hides cooked for just under 2 hours
We started just a little off being in line with the first hide – she got it at 0:06. I still struggle to get her to move on and where I should start to move. I couple steps and she followed me but then I moved back towards the fence she continues on her own. Then she goes off camera a long time (I did keep that in due to the fact the other two videos were good time) –she was not crittering, she caught something and was working the steps, iron railing, on the side of the house to where the hose was rolled up – a good 20-25 ft away. I did call her back a couple times but she turned to come towards me when she was ready. At 1:50 – she know where it was! I don’t feel that I accomplished converging odor but was a very interesting search and would have been a prefect search to use the “smoke matches” that I have not purchased yet.

Search 2 – My training plan for this search was an elevated hide. The first search she did well right above her nose so this search a place a hide higher to challenge her.
1 hide place on the coat tree in the middle of the room – half way up
anise
smaller area
hide cooked just over 2 hours with door closed
7:00pm
off-leash
I thought she did a nice job working it out. At 2:14 slight change of behavioral and I almost went in to treat but glad I held out for more.

Search – 3 – My training plan for this search was a small area hide. The last several trails the Interior searches have been in really small rooms. She kinda freaks out just a little bit – I have to wait her out for several seconds then she will search. It is not so much small area as it is people added to the small area. The training plan, to work in small area to make her feel more comfortable so when people are added she can deal with quicker. The bedroom was a little tight so this search was in a smaller space – bathroom. And of course very comfortable because it is home
1 hide on the heat vent – heat was not on.
Anise
hide only cooked for about 20 mins.
7:30 pm
off-leash

She had no problem getting to source – brother Wally even came to help – well, to get a treat!

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Altho’ I really was looking for one search with 3 challenges it seems Kalli worked thru these pretty easily!

In the first search your stated challenge was “Converging Odor.” With the spacing and the wind it ended up being merely a search with two hides. Some other challenges that I did see in this search:
* Evening/dusk and darker – odor moves differently at this time of day
* Elevation (2nd hide)
* Grass
* Off-leash
* Largish space

We know that Kalli is investigating off-screen for some time but note her behavior when she reappears. At (1:47) she makes a turn and follows the scent cone directly to the 2nd hide. Look how far away she was! Nice! 🙂

In the second search your stated challenge was “Elevation” and we see the hide in clear view of the camera which was nice. Some of the other challenges I see in this search:
* Small indoor space
* Relatively crowded
* AC unit in the window (I assume not “on” but it is a hole in the wall)

Kalli sorts this one out easily and it is very quickly clear that the hide is elevated.

In your third search your stated challenge was “Small Hide Area” and Kalli went straight to the hide. 🙂 Some other challenges that *can* happen with a bathroom are:
* Added moisture
* Other smells
* Odor drops into sink or toilet

Overall, I think your choices were good ones for the things you wanted to work on. The converging odor just needed to be a little bit closer together so the odors did blend together. As mentioned I was really looking for one hide w/3 challenges but that’s ok. 😀

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

Oops! I was afraid that I also got confused on lesson 1 after reading class forms. Would you like me to do another video?

[Gina BakerSpectator]

I actually have one video done that would have 3 challenges – high pee area, blind hide and elevated box, but it also shows how the hider forget which box he put the odor in!
Let me know if you would like me to post it.

Thanks

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Nope, this is good! I just wanted you to put a search together for practice so I could see what you chose and how it ran. You did a great job! On to Lesson 2! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525:Lesson 2 – Exterior
It was a beautiful day in Western New York yesterday so decided to start with exteriors.
-Five searches in two different locations
-temperature was 72 degrees
-light wind
-1 hide per search – alternating between birch and anise.
-started at 4:00PM and last search around 4:45PM
-a lot of traffic noise in the first three – it is not that noticeable when we are there

1st search – birch – on the bottom part of the pipe – should have started a little closer – dropped treat

2nd search – anise – on the grill pipe almost to the bottom of the grill

3rd search – birch – on the underside of a metal brace on the pavilion poll. Held her back, she was ready and I was not – dropped treat again

4th search – anise – on the side of the bench of the picnic table to the right
I really liked how she was trotting and looking at me till I grabbed her harness – change of behavioral. Was that her –“Ok, it is time to get to work or does she feel the tension from me when I grab the harness? I do grab the harness and walk up to the start line that way – my way of making sure I have a good hold on her in case something would spook her.
Shake off – I probably went I to reward a little too soon – she was there but did not fully commit like she usually does.

5th search – birch – on the underside of bench seat. dropped treats again

I think these were pretty straightforward searches for Kalli, but I was trying to be more aware of how I was at the start line and was definitely more distracted and could see how I hover over her too much. I never have had great posture, but should try to remember to stand up after I talk to her. And dropped a lot of treats! Butter fingers!
When you are practice (training) I don’t think that much about the start line but you can see that it can really make a difference.

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

It looks like you’re starting Kalli a bit further than 6-feet in some of these searches but I will say that she is engaged from the beginning and solves the problems very quickly! This is great! Keep in mind, when you do encounter the more distracting environments, you might work some hides very close to the start line to reinforce odor within the distractions, like we did in the last course. As for having Kalli ready to go from the start, it does appear that your routine gets her into that mode so don’t change it if it works.

It seems you did reward a tad early in the 3rd search. She did glance your way but wasn’t committed. WAY better than waiting too long, tho’. 😉

Very nice! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525:Lesson2-Containers

– 5 searches
– 1 hide per search
– birch
– temp in the basement was about 65 degrees
– dehumidifier was off
– 5:00PM
1- 3 searches in box
4 and 5 in the handle of the suitcase

I think our start line was more in line with the threshold space
1st search – I did hold her back, she was starting to go over to the left – because of handler error! I looked over and saw that I had left the anise hot box on a stand right there! After the search the box was moved and just used birch box.
3rd search – I did direct her a little bit – sometimes when you know where the hide is….

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Yeah for Kalli! Aside from the first search – which we now know she really WAS working odor – she seemed quite focused and ready to go. As for the 3rd search with the box on a bench I actually think she did a stellar job! Yes, you held her up a tad but she NEEDED to get to the outside to find that one. Excellent! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525:Lesson2-Vehicles
Thanks Kim!

59 degrees
6:00 PM
no wind
1 hide per search – anise
1st – on license plate
2nd and 3rd – on wheel well
4th – on hitch pole
More distractions with these searches

1st search – Distractions -(dog to our left outside playing with a little girl) – I thought Kalli did well after giving her moment to take it all in, she went right to source. I think she was in odor as she was checking out the dog – what do you think? Re-watching Kalli actually started a split sec before I said search. We did a little dance, but she got her reward!

4th search – not sure what happen – our start line was cut off

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Nice! I’m so pleased to see Kalli really knowing that she’s searching from the threshold even with distractions! You do a nice job of letting her get in front of you, paying the line out, reeling it in as needed. She does tend to paw at the lower hides when she’s not paid immediately but she’s very gentle with the paw and it shouldn’t cause you any problems. 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

She does paw at low hides – goes back to when a formal alter was the way to go. She usually does use a light paw but should try to stop that. Knocking the box off the bench could have been a fault in trial.

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525: Lesson 2 – Interior

6:00 PM
1st – she looked at me 0:12 but then went on to source.
2nd – search on the bottom of armoire
3rd – bottom of the metal rack – several inches off the floor
4th- – is very dark -floor heat vent, but the heat was not on –hide on the bottom of door frame

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

LOVE IT!! I’m so tickled that Kalli is so focused to search as soon as she’s at the “start!”

I’m really curious about her interest in the door knob in search #1. Did you happen to touch that after placing the hide on the wall?

🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

Yes, I notice that too but thought maybe the scent was drifting but she did give me a very clear look. After your thought – yes, I did have the tin in my hand and I put it on the doorknob for a split second then decided not too.
Lesson – make sure you decide where the hide goes and stuck to it!

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525: Lesson 3 Corners

3:00 PM
56 degrees
partially sunny
light winds

These are not he best search setups. I was limited as to where I could get video due to forgetting my tripod and having to put the video camera on the hood of my car!

1st search – should be outside edge to corner – she did well but blow off the corner all together. The placement of the hide should have been closer to the corner. I would have liked to see her get back into the corner to follow the source
2 search – should be outside corner to edge, but again my placement was off and should have been more in the center

Decided to go to our “old stand by place” to see if we would have better luck – was able to position the car a better

3rd search – should be edge to inside corner
4th search – should be edge to outside corner

OH MY – I think I got really confused! Let me know what your think and if you need me to redo a couple!

Thanks

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Your first search she did cut the corner but she worked the wind and still was able to find that hide quickly. That was sort of an odd configuration but I think you were intending for her to work it from the inside corner?

Your second and fourth searches have the hides at the outside corners. The third search was a beautiful inside corner and she stuck it even when you weren’t sure she got there. 🙂

So what you missed was an “edge” or the flat surface of a building from and outside corner. Essentially coming up along a building, rounding the corner and working to the hide on the other wall side.

I will leave it up to you if you’d like to repeat that one? What I’m looking for is the dog’s ability to navigate around the niches/corners in an exterior environment. Kalli is doing well. 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

Got it! I will try to at least get that one done. Yes, I did want her to work the corner but she worked her way!

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525: Lesson 3 re-does

We re- did two of Lesson 3a.
-Inside corner –
I placed the hide closer to the corner so Kalli would work the corner a little. She didn’t really work the corner but did work the edge to the corner.

-Rond the corner to edge –
There was a reason for you include in the lesson, preferably not grass! The inside corner search was fine but this one – it was either the corner itself or something in the grass. I ‘m thinking many dogs have passed that corner to put their mark! This is the second video of the search – the first one I had to pull and I mean pull her off that corner, so we went back to the start line and I tired to get her more excited about the search. It seemed to work good for this time – she did stop and sniff the corner but moved on.

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Excellent work! And good choice, I think, to just restart her instead of fighting the grass. PLUS, you were able to give her success in the presence of what must’ve been some pretty enticing greenery. 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525: Corners/ Edges Interior

Thanks Kim for the comments on the re-does!

Not the best video night! But wanter to get something up due to busy week – here goes!

First search – inside corner near long wall
Second search – outside edge along the wall near outside corner
Third search – outside corner near long wall *Note – I did wait to reward. I could not see and I was trying to get to her, but then did not want to reward for the look so waited for her nose to go back to the source.
Fourth – outside edge along the wall near outside corner – The video shows I have already released her due to my position – and of course at that moment the heat came on plus I had used the other side early – but thought she did well to get to source.

Of course let us know if you need better videos!

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Awesome! And even when you didn’t reward quickly she stuck with the problem and told you again. 🙂

Video quality was just fine! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525: Lesson3.c Vehicles

Pretty straight forwards searches ….
After the first search – she does tend to go back to the previous hide
4th search – she starts to get a little anxious -she heard a dog barking but there was also a guy making loud brushing sounds – it was a weird sound.
5th search – she was very anxious -we did leave the start line, walked around a little and came back. She worked but, moved a good distance from the hide – “give me my treat and get me out of here!” I put her in the car and she lots of treats.
Those environmental sensitive dogs!

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Really nice! It’s OK that Kalli goes back to a previous hide location. Bottom line is SHE’S WORKING from the threshold! She went to where it had been, realized it wasn’t there and worked to where it was. Maybe the wind was blowing right to left? Regardless, she looked like she was focused and ready when released. 🙂

Also, yes, environmentally sensitive dogs can be a challenge but she STILL WORKED! Bravo! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525:Lesson3.c Containers

These where not our best search combinations – Kalli just wasn’t feeling the containers! These were the best out of the ones we did. She kept standing on the box and smashing it or she would pause to fake me out to give her a treat! And we did a lot dancing around each other and her looking at me – but like someone else mentioned – sometimes you have to include the “not so good ones”

I am not sure why I staggered the containers for the outside hides – at the time it did not stick out to me as much till I watched the videos.
The second video, is an example of her not checking the corner box located far left corner – I don’t think she needed to but did I move and lead her a little to much back to the one side. Should I have taken her to that box?

Amy comments are greatly appreciated

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Hm…

So I’m a little concerned that Kalli is offering behaviors at boxes that do not have odor. I think we really need to figure out why she’s doing that? I will say that it’s USUALLY because the dog is confused and not that they are looking for additional rewards. We’ve not seen this level of confusion with Kalli for a long time. So…

* Are these your containers?
* Are you SURE there has been NO contamination? (Non-odor boxes/containers NOT used for odor? Not stored near those that have had odor? Other people have not accidentally contaminated?)
* Were any of the non-odor boxes placed on top of previous odor locations?
* Is Kalli working odor that is pooling/collecting onto other non-odor containers and somehow confused about it?

Any other thoughts??

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

Yes, I do agree – she looked and acted confused. The faking me out to get treats was more of frustration humor.
Good point about the boxes – I got those boxes from the Element trial Oct 1st – left over boxes that the host did not want to take back with her – I assume they were clean ones – they looked it. I have not stored them with any of my odor boxes but could have been close at the trial.
And she always seems to be so in tuned to my moods – I was feeling rushed. Had been out running a couple errands, with Kalli in the car and they tool a lot longer than I thought so by the time we got to the club – I was feeling really rush to search and get home. Just like that one video in the class before – outside with my mood etc… And she also seemed more concern inside than usually. I did try to not put cold box where odor was – I think that is why things were a bit more staggered.
The first video, she went way out then came back but you can see her speed up just a little to get to source. She did seem to do better on the language hides vs boxes. I had done another language hide but she was off leash – she did work that better than the boxes.
Was feeling good about our searches and now feel we took a couple steps back. I set out three boxes (my boxes) last night and had her search – odd, she tripped over the boxes and started searching the room – I actually pointed to the boxes to get her to search and she half heartily went to the odor box. I then pulled out the big guns – moved the boxes to a less clutter room and she went to the boxes – when she got to the odor box, I immediately opened it and bombarded her with liverwurst!
We did a couple more searches and she did much better. I am going to try and repeat a couple of the container corners and edges tomorrow evening.
We just did the Container Element trial in Oct and she was right one! Actually we were #6 in standing – that was huge for us!
I try not to think about it too much – but we are going to a trail this weekend! OH NO containers could get us!

Any other thoughts?

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

I think just doing some simple searches like you did, then rewarding heavily, even if you don’t open the box but to show that she can bring in the rewards by finding the correct hide. I would up the value of the reward, like the liverwurst, for the trial. 🙂 I’m guessing in a trial situation if the containers are in a place where it is clear she’s working containers she’ll be ok but if she seems not focused just do your best to get her back. A light and easy practice would be good for both of you. 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

Thanks Kim And like we have said before, when you have a senentive dog…. you know what can happen

Yes…the first search I did open the box and then we did 2 more searches where I did not open the box that night.

I did do a couple re-takes – still not exactly what the lesson was but wanted to do a couple for you to see that she was more on track.
I was unable to go to the club due to classes all and my space in the garage/basement was limited to hubby’ s tuck but we made the best of it.
First search was more of a threshold but she knew to go to the boxes.
Second search,(the hot was in same spot) there was another box in the right hand corner but the way the camera was position you can not see it. Again not a big search area with lots of boxes, but she knew what to search.

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Awesome! 😀

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525: Lesson 4.A
We are back……we video tapped this before the weekend – it was tight but I did 5 hides all being anise

1. – corner of cabinet
2. – down from the corner on the cabinet door
3. – on the front of the plant stand
4. – on the bottom of the hutch
5. – on inside leg of the chair on the left

She had no problems going to #1, 2 and 3 but then she did get confused. And when she gets struck or confused, she goes back to hides that she has found. I was able to get her to move on – at 0:49 she had to check out the camera but then caught the 5th hide. Then she proceed to go back to the previous hides – at 1:31 I did use hand motion to get her from under the table and search by the plants and she started to work it but could not pin it down so at 1:54 I did use hand motion again and helped her. She was getting frustrated. This seems to be a hard puzzle for her – converging odor when it is a different height. She seems fine working when they are all at the same level but just that little bit of elevation she seems to struggle. What do you think?

* Note – we had a similar problem at the trail – converging odor, different heights plus inaccessible – we got it just by the skin of our chin. Kalli worked really hard and we only had seconds left when I called it – it was close to be a yes or no. It was not pretty but I felt good that I knew that she knew it was in that area. And she did keep going back to the one that she found.

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

I would argue that having the SAME scent in a small space can be more challenging than different scents. I think you handled the discrimination as well as you could with Kalli going back to the same hides multiple times. After a bit of time you could pick up the hides she keeps “noticing” but this worked pretty well in the whole scheme of things and she didn’t give up! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Gina BakerSpectator]

NW525 Lesson 4.b

2:00 pm
32 degrees
windy – 20 – 30 mph
rain / snow mix
Tried to start down wind
5 hides – birch
nose level except for one – just above nose level
#1 – on door
#2 – on wall in line with #1
#3 – on wall in line with #2
#4 – on soda machine around the corner from #3
#5 – on the black trash can thing – across from the other hides and just above her nose

0:15 – she went to the black can but did not give a solid alert. She went a lot farther out than I thought she would – came in from the opposite side to find #3 at 0:47 then followed done the line to #2. 1:05 she go towards the #5 hide but turns to hit #1.
At 1:22 I probably directed her too much to go in front of me but she did go #5 worked it but still not able to hit source 1:47 heads back to #2, left the hide and then had to work out of the camera site again till 2:25 – I held out and she got it at 3:39. Probably lead her around again at 2:49 but then she went right to #4.

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Oh my! That does not look like fun weather to search in! You and Kalli are both troopers. 🙂

I don’t think you lead her around too much at all! You kept her in the search area which helped her to work out the problems. She needed to range out a bit which is not a bad thing. I’m betting a lot of odor was drifting a ways out and she was just trying to work the edges.

Good job! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

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