Dash passed his Anise ORT

This past Saturday, Feb 16th, I drove an hour and a half to Lakeland, Florida so Dash could test for the K9 NoseWork 2 Anise Odor Recognition Test.  And he passed!  However, not without some shenanigans.  You see, Dash has been giving some "false alerts" when we practice containers set up in an ORT pattern.  When we are practicing containers that are just strewn about with no pattern, he will periodically false alert, but most of the time he is spot on.  Containers in an ORT pattern have been another story with him consistently false alerting, then if I ease him off the incorrect box and get him hunting again he will indicate the correct box.  Luckily for me, his false alert, although adamant, is pretty easy to differentiate from his correct alert.  His false alert (so far!) has been smacking the box with his feet and looking directly at me (with a big doofy dog grin that says Where is my treat???) and he is incredibly insistent, however, he does not really look at the box at all.  When he correctly alerts he will first hit the box with his nose and push it a little bit, then smack it with his feet and look back and forth from me to the box.  I am so glad that we ran into this during practice sessions so I was able to recognize his false alert during the ORT.  I bet he stuck to that wrong box for 5 to 10 seconds (which seemed like ages at the time) until I asked him to work the line of boxes again.  Then he hit on a box in the next row, which I believe was directly across from the one that he'd false alerted on.  I do not necessarily believe his original alert was a "fringe" alert.  I think he knew full well that he was not on the correct box simply due to the fact that his body language and behavior were completely different from when he gives correct alerts.  When he indicated on the correct box it was a definite push with the nose, then paw whack, then look between me and the box.  I called Alert and was correct.  And I got a "great job reading your dog" from the judge!  All that in 53 seconds.  Now onto NW2 trials!

Dash's First Nosework 1 Trial

 

 

I am super proud of Dash.  He handled the atmosphere of the trial beautifully which is a big accomplishment for him.  I also think he had a really good time and he did just great!  I wrote this throughout the day so I wouldn't forget how each element went.

 

Element 1: Interior
Dash was great!  He went right in the room and straight to odor. I almost called it but wasn't sure *exactly* where source was and wanted to take my time to be sure.  So he did one quick circuit of the room and I could tell he was working and not exploring and came right back to it and I called it and we were right.  I feel like he found it in about 40 seconds. Will be interesting to find out our actual time. Not that I care about time at this point, I just want him to have fun and do well.

 

Element 2: Vehicles
I was apprehensive about this element because we haven't practiced much.  But told myself to relax and trust my dog. There were three vehicles and as Dash went over the start line he was walking a little timidly and not his normal forward walk.  He was completely bypassing the first vehicle and was headed past the second vehicle.  I was a little worried that he wasn't focused on the vehicles but I could hear Ron's guidance that he gave in the morning briefing: "Don't think for your dog!  He knows what he's doing.  Trust your dog!".  As Dash got closer to the second vehicle he turned hard to the left and stuck his head right into the wheel well and was spot on source!  He had basically bee-lined right to it!  I think we were under 30 seconds.

 

Now a couple hours until the next two elements. I will try not to psych myself out in the meantime!

 

Element 3: Containers
Dash started this one a little distracted and was not very focused on the boxes. He wasn't being methodical. But I kept subtly redirecting him to different areas. I think he was somewhat working the whole time but not 100% focused.  I could see his body movement change just a little and he hit a box and I called it immediately. I was right but maybe should have waited another second to be positive.  The judge complimented me on my handling for staying calm and directing him without interfering with him (big grin - I have a great instructor!).  Our time felt very very long. I think they said we were at 1:30.

 

Element 4: Exterior
Dash rocked this one!  He came off the start line and worked his way down the wall of the planters and turned the corner and stuck his nose right on source. This one and vehicles were definitely the best. This one felt like 15 or so seconds.

 

So now we hang out a few hours until they do awards.

 

Dash and I are settled in at home now  He slept like a log the whole way.  And the results are....

• Container 1:31.98
• Interior 0:35.41
• Vehicle 0:12.89 we got First place out of about 48 dogs (and he received a Pronounced mark from the Judge)
• Exterior 0:10.02 we got First place out of about 48 dogs (and he received a Pronounced mark from the Judge)
• Total time 2:30.30

In hindsight I would change one thing about the way I worked containers.  The setup was such that the start line was at about a 45 degree angle to the boxes.  So if you "squared up" on the start line so that you were directly facing the line, that meant your dog was only looking at the top left corner of the search area with the majority of the boxes off to the right.  Dash went straight to where I had him pointed...the top left area with just a few boxes.  If I were to work it again, I would "square up" on the boxes prior to my search instead of on the start line since the dogs don't realize there is tape or a start line.  We still would have crossed the start line, it would have just put his focus on the whole area.  But truly, I couldn't be happier!