Not Too Hot to Sniff

The weather has been hot and humid lately which does not make exercising the dogs an easy task. Even if Porter was tolerant of the heat (and I wasn't such a delicate flower) the ground if often too hot for the pads of their feet.

Yesterday Porter was getting a bit stir crazy (and I was inspired to do more NW training after chatting with other trainers about getting together for a practice group) so I set up three hides in each of the bedrooms.

The first was the most successful. We waited at the threshold for 10 seconds, he entered and did an immediate u-turn to the bookcase where I had the tin in a dump truck on the bottom shelf.

The second hide was at the far end of the next room tucked into the side rail of the bed. He did seem to find it very quickly, but then moved on. I think my mistake was not jumping on that first indication but waiting for something stronger. If the hide is low to the ground he seems to lay down. So I thought he might do this, or might sniff at it longer, or something. But a quick sniff or two and he was off. He sniffed all around that area and kept circling and returning to that corner but never that close again. I wonder if he ruled out that spot since I didn't reward him the first time :( He kept searching, never getting frustrated or tired and finally went back tot he spot where I promptly rewarded him.

You would think I'd learn my lesson, right? Nope. The next hide was in the master bedroom. Off to the left is the master bath and I placed the tin in a slightly opened drawer. While at the threshold Porter's nose was going crazy and he immediately went left. He ran past the drawer, into the bathroom, turned back, out into the bedroom, and back again to the bathroom. He lifted his nose up, near the drawer, I should have moved in but hesitated, and off he went again. Despite my repeated mistake, Porter is very resilient and continued to search until he finally found the drawer and lingered.

I need to remember that this is really the first time doing odor in my house so I need to reward sooner, especially when the hides are at or slightly above nose height. I really thought about the first placement more and it tells.

Today we did 6 hides out front and 5 of the 6 were fast and furious with Porter hitting the mark within 5 seconds. The last was, again, elevated, and in a jade plant so tons of leaves and branches for the odor to get caught in and swirl around in. And it was very windy. This was to his advantage in all of the other hides which were more out in the open. But with this plant it was much harder. I did place the hide on the downwind side of the plant. And now typing this I am curious to see his behavior if the odor was on the upwind side of the plant (if that makes sense).

One of the great perks of K9 Nose Work is it takes my cabin fever dog and turns him into Rip van Winkle.