MW2015Dec: Terry & Taku (Alaskan Klee Kai, Alaska)

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Found it, thanks Kim!

Taku and I did Kim’s last Gold online class and learned so much. Some of you were in that class and are my NW buddies up here 🙂

We tried for our NW Title 2 in September this year, and did not pass 🙁 But I learned a lot from the experience, LOL hindsight is 20/20! We have been doing nose work for probably around 5 years or so. Yeah I know that is a long time (we are slow 🙂 Not worried about the time frame. It gives us something to do together as he is dog reactive and this sport let’s us participate. We were in the first class available in the area. I know that our instructors have learned more and more each year and so have we. Taku turned 14 in June and is probably 99% deaf. LOL and I am 65 🙂

I live in a small/tiny town about an hour one way to NW class, so in the winters when it gets dark so early, is snowy/icy and more moose on the roads I don’t make it to class 🙁 And I need the modification that online classes give me to get up off my rear end and practice instead of going into hibernation mode 😉 In the winter, when we do practice it is liking in the house or garage.
Thanks Kim!

Terry Wright

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Glad to have you and Taku back, Terry! Welcome! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Found it, thanks Kim!

Taku and I did Kim’s last Gold online class and learned so much. Some of you were in that class and are my NW buddies up here 🙂

We tried for our NW Title 2 in September this year, and did not pass 🙁 But I learned a lot from the experience, LOL hindsight is 20/20! We have been doing nose work for probably around 5 years or so. Yeah I know that is a long time (we are slow 🙂 Not worried about the time frame. It gives us something to do together as he is dog reactive and this sport let’s us participate. We were in the first class available in the area. I know that our instructors have learned more and more each year and so have we. Taku turned 14 in June and is probably 99% deaf. LOL and I am 65 🙂

I live in a small/tiny town about an hour one way to NW class, so in the winters when it gets dark so early, is snowy/icy and more moose on the roads I don’t make it to class 🙁 And I need the modification that online classes give me to get up off my rear end and practice instead of going into hibernation mode 😉 In the winter, when we do practice it is liking in the house or garage.
Thanks Kim!

Terry Wright

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Movie Night – 1

I set this one up to imitate one of the interior searches that we missed at our last NW2 Trial.

At the trial, he went back and forth from both sides of the bed and would be very interested on the sheet that was hanging off the end of the bed to the floor, but never alerted so we timed out. In hindsight I was standing between him and the hide in the dresser drawer each time. DUH

This search was for anise, which had been set an hour before.

Surprise surprise…
.06 sec showed interest on the blanket
.08 sec body snap
.09 sec alert, tho I didn’t call alert

quick and sweet, sure would like to see this at trial 🙂

Terry Wright

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Excellent! It can be so much easier to see the dog’s body language when we know where the hides are! 😉

One comment I will make is about your response to Taku and how your body pressure might have affected him. When you begin the search and Taku enters the room you can see a quick head snap towards the dresser (:05). At that moment you are still at the doorway. However you continue to walk into the room which (I think) body pressures Taku further into the space. He does check the blanket and then makes a turn back to the drawer at (:08) but it’s that moment at (:05) that can be a critical to notice. I’m betting if you’d not stepped further into the room, Taku would have told you at that point that there was odor in the drawer.

What are your thoughts?

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Well, I told myself before starting that I would accept him finding it anywhere on that bottom drawer, so you are probably right that when I stepped further into the room it pushed him to move in further also. I think I set myself up for that one, as I was thinking he’d blow right past it and go further into the room (so I was moving)… silly me. Sometimes I think I think to much. LOL

What I setup was it an inaccessible hid? I believe it was. Still having a hard time with understanding accessible and inaccessible.

Since it was a small area, I could have done it off leash, right?

Would you have any suggestions on how I should setup the next search video, we are working on NW2 stuff.
Thanks Kim!

Terry Wright

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Yes, that would be considered an inaccessible hide and anyplace on the dresser, really, would have been acceptable. It kind of depends on the construction of the object – a big hole at the back or loose seams on the side, etc. Under a pallet of wood where it’s all open underneath, that’s an inaccessible hide where the dog could tell you it’s there from anyplace. The dog will tell you! That’s why it’s important to have the dog TRYING to get to source. It communicates to you where that source might be. 😉

It was a nice simple search and Taku did really well! You can practice any searches off leash and that area may have been a place to try. If you chose to do something like that on-leash again, remember, you can PAY OUT the line from the doorway. You don’t need to step into the space right away.

For your next search, I recommend working on either a converging odor problem (with two sourceable hides) or another inaccessible hide search. To advance further you could do one inaccessible and one accessible. Remember, the dog doesn’t HAVE to put their nose on source but if they can’t it’s probably an inaccessible hide. 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Movie Night – 2a

To set this up some… Anise is in the clear tube up against the garage door with wrapping paper in front and on top, both ends of the tube are open the hide is inside in the middle. I made this as an inaccessible hide (I hope I had this right?). The next hide (birch) was in the little box on the floor in front of the coke box (accessible). It was close to the clear tube hide so I was thinking there *might* be some converging odor from the little box and the left end of the tube. But I didn’t really see that happening. I had another hide in one of my tennis shoes, but after 4 minutes he never found it on his own. I edited the video down to 2:12 as the rest of it was him walking around slapping the boxes… out of frustration.

The odor in the tennis shoe was a mix of anise/birch (maybe to old?).

I wanted to kept to the Christmas theme… the boxes on the floor were Christmas Lights 🙂 and the wrapping paper was Christmas paper 🙂

.13 to .17 Taku is checking the red/white cooler, coke box and plastic container. The hide is the little box on the floor in front of the coke box.

.31 he quickly checked the right end of the clear tube.

.36 he’s back at the coke box and plastic container.

.39 he then goes back to the clear tube (right end).

.40 starts to walk away and goes back to the tube end… rewarded

1.06 he finds the hide in the little box by the coke box.

1:38 he kept going back to the little box so I treated him and put the box up.

1:54 paws at empty box (frustration?)

2:10 looks in and smells in trash can, the mixed odor was in the tennis shoe closest to the safe.

Between 2:10 and 4:00 he was slapping random boxes (frustration?) I had Jim turn the video off at the 4 minute mark as Taku was not find the hide in the shoe. After the video was turned off… I helped Taku find the one in the shoe, because I kept asking him to find another one.

Welcome all comments and suggestions.

Terry Wright

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

What was interesting is that Taku did a fantastic job with the first 2 hides – and your reward process was great! 🙂 Very fast on the inaccessible hide (yes!) so he was rewarded for that head-snap and recognition. The two hides were REALLY close together and potentially quite difficult!

Something to consider in this search is because you had two odors on the one ends of the room it may have been a LOT stronger over there than where the shoe was. Especially with the garage door there, it may be collecting more on that end. Odor doesn’t generally come out of shoes very well (think leather/fabric holding it in) so it could just be the challenge plus if the odor wasn’t very strong in comparison to the other two combined it may have just been a tad too difficult for his level of learning.

One question: Did you consider putting Taku on leash and working the perimeter of the room with body pressure? You could have limited how far he ranged from the 3rd hide and that might have been just enough for him to catch the odor. I’m not sure what you did to help him find that shoe odor? Limiting where he gets to go is one way and much better than pointing or leading. The other thing you could do is to remove the odor (and objects) completely where the other odors were then bring Taku back into the space with JUST the shoe hide and see how that might be different.

Thoughts?

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Thanks Kim! I thought he did a great job in finding the inaccessible hide. At .32 he did kind of gave the tube a look/smell, but moved on.

Do you think that odor in the little box was spreading up on the coke box, cooler and the plastic container. Any idea why he couldn’t source it down to the little box at that first pass?

No, the thought didn’t cross my mind to put him on the leash. When I went into this search I had it in my head to do it off leash. Guess I need to tell myself to work it off leash till I see he is having a problem. In hindsight, yes I do think if I had put him on leash and limited his space he would have found it… keep on learning…

Yeah, the tennis shoe wasn’t such a good hiding place. I know I’ve heard that about fabric holding odor, but didn’t think about it at the time of this search. What I did for him to find the hide after the video was off was put a treat in the heal of the shoe and motioned him to find it (along where all the shoes were), he then found it.

Not sure what to do for my last video. Someone mentioned doing something in the snow. I’ll see what tomorrow or Sunday look like. Might try another inaccessible one and an accessible one. Any other suggestions, Kim… anyone?? Edited: Should I try a blind hide at this time??

boohoo, don’t want it to be the last one 😉

Terry Wright

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

I think it’s highly likely that odor was moving out each end of the tube and spreading all over. It was probably all over that space and why the shoe hide was so tough. Pairing was a great option to help Taku. You might try a similar search at some point but with just the shoe hide – maybe paired – to see how he works just that hide.

For your last search you could do something in the snow or do something with mixed accessible and inaccessible (and don’t forget the leash option if he has trouble). I think you might try a blind hide but probably not in the snow unless you’ve been practicing that type of search. You always have the option of setting up a few different searches, videotape them all and then choose one of them to share?

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

I will setup the shoe hide again with it paired.

The following search I used a leash, my thought was to keep Taku in the living area and not trotting down the hall or in the kitchen or into the bedrooms. The two hide had set for about 45 minutes. Anise in the bag, birch on the red hanging thing on the hanging mirrors, you’ll see it better after he finds it. You seeing me using lots of hand/arm movements because I’m sure if he hears much of anything. I still talk to him also 🙂

My *why* for this search..
1. I wanted an easy find, but in my mind was hoping for it to be the last find, because it *was* easy 🙂
2. Did a high hide, but not to high, in my mind I was going to take the look up.

.06 finds anise in the gift bag. Sometimes I think it is his preferred odor.
.14 was proud of him sticking his head in the bag 🙂
.41 checking out what’s happening outside.
1.02 interested in table top, I assume the odor is coming down on to it.
2:12ish I did notice his head snap and body movement and his look up 🙂

To me working this search seemed to take a lot longer.

Seems like I probably was body pressuring him around 2:04 – 2:13, I wanted him to stay in that area (helps knowing where the hide was). But was this the wrong strategy?

Comments, suggestions?
Merry Christmas and hope to see you online in the New Year 🙂

PS, had wanted to a snow search but again is was below zero 🙁

Terry Wright

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Ruh Roh! I don’t see a video??

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Sorry, I forgot to paste it…

Terry Wright

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Interesting search! The bag proved to be a very simple hide for him and great that he put his head in the bag. The second hide, however, was a bit challenging for a few reasons;

* Food/water dish nearby – whether those were a distractor or not, they created a barrier so that Taku could not walk in that space.
* Ribbons on the floor – so cute! I might use that this weekend! – but they also maybe created a mental barrier where Taku didn’t want to step on them so that limited where he walked near the odor (maybe?)
* Whatever was outside was super interesting! Taku kept getting distracted by whatever was outside and it happened nearly every time he approached the hide area
* Christmas tree – yes, I would agree, odor may have been dropping there but with the configuration of the space it didn’t really help Taku to figure out the hide
* Near the window – this may have created some sort of air movement that carried the scent towards the windows rather than falling into the places where Taku went (think about warm air/cold air)

I think you did a good job of keeping him in the area by limiting him with the leash. You moved a few times to give him access from different angles and allow him to get a different picture. All that is good! I think it was just a challenging hide, unexpectedly so. I also thought your decision to reward when you did was spot on! 🙂

Thoughts?

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training

[Terry Wright and KaiParticipant]

Oh yes… I did learn a lot from the hanging hide and that whole search area. Again hindsight… but learning 🙂

* Food/water dish nearby – whether those were a distractor or not, they created a barrier so that Taku could not walk in that space.
** Very true about the food and water dish… so use to seeing them there that I never gave them a second thought, but looking back they did cut off his passage area back over to the hanging hide.

* Ribbons on the floor – so cute! I might use that this weekend! – but they also maybe created a mental barrier where Taku didn’t want to step on them so that limited where he walked near the odor (maybe?)
**** Yeah with the ribbons, my thought to keep with the Christmas theme and I was thinking with the hanging hide that if the odor dropped they might help him source the odor back up. Never thought about him not wanting to step on them, but I should have, he is environmentally sensitive.

* Whatever was outside was super interesting! Taku kept getting distracted by whatever was outside and it happened nearly every time he approached the hide area
**** Actually there was nothing out there. But he owns the whole lake out front (so he thinks), whenever someone is out on the lake and he barks at them they leave… so he thinks he is king of the lake 🙂 LOL Earlier we did have a sled dog team go by.

* Christmas tree – yes, I would agree, odor may have been dropping there but with the configuration of the space it didn’t really help Taku to figure out the hide
**** I agree looking back it was cramped quarters for him to work in.

* Near the window – this may have created some sort of air movement that carried the scent towards the windows rather than falling into the places where Taku went (think about warm air/cold air)
**** Never even thought about the air, warm/cold caused by the glass sliders.

So much to keep in mind! I’m hoping over time and practice that this things become normal and not something I have to second guess.

Let us know if you use the bows and how it went.
Thanks Kim I really enjoyed this Movie Week, even if I was up to my eye balls with *stuff to do* 🙂
Looking forward to the classes in the New Year!

Terry Wright

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