Rosie's Vehicle Search
I think we can safely say that there were enough distractions going on during Rosie's search!!!
Linear Bag Search
Yep, Rosie's got this linear bag search licked too 😄
Bag Search
I gave my handlers a blind linear bag search. I think they did rather well.😃
Brushing up on indications
Rosie's on it with her indications too. 😊
Indication Work
A little break from vehicle searches.
Working on duration of indications. You keep that nose down Indy. Great work.
Rosie girl's vehicle search.
She's not a fan of doing repeated indications, but she was going for it on this one!
Critiquing myself on this search..... I could have done with reminding mum to reward nearer to source.
That, and switching Rosie on to a longer lead. The girl's got it. We now need to give her a little more space to work the area.
Good encouragement from her owner Rachel, as at times, Rosie does need reassurance.
This time we have the distraction of a barking dog!
UK Sniffer Dogs Bronze Level Scent Detection
You truly can't get many more distractions whilst getting your dog to do a vehicle search. Well done Indy.
The noise of a saw, passing traffic and a plane overhead. Gotta love a quiet Sunday morning.
Week 8 Tracking
UKSD Bronze Level Tracking.
This is the lad that had a serious trauma. With his owners permission, what actually happened was, a blood clot paralysed his hind legs.
It truly was a scary time. Being admitted to specialist vets in their intensive care unit which was a 2 hour drive away.
Quite literally a life or death situation. And then there has been taking it one day at a time for his owners, hoping with every fibre of their bodies that he'd pull through and recover.
Thank goodness their boy had the strength and the love of his owners to come through the other side.
His rehabilitation now concentrates on him using his hind legs equally. Tracking, Scent work slows him down and makes him work.
I never thought I'd be so glad to watch a dog walking. I'm just as pleased to see him using his back legs walking well, as I am watching him sniffing. I don't know which end to look at first!!!
The last week of the Bronze Tracking Course
UK Sniffer Dogs Bronze Tracking. Open Box layout.
It's always interesting seeing how our different breeds tackle tracking.
The breed isn't the only factor. Our dogs have characteristics that are bespoke to them, their personality, and then their age and experience will determine their style and experience of tracking.
Asher is a young dog. She definitely knows how to do this. Sometimes her concentration wanders and then she has moments of being totally on it and straining at the leash.
As their owners, once they know the game of tracking but then stop on the track - we need to hold back and hold still. This usually gives our dog the time to recommence tracking. If they still look blankly at us, that's then the time to cue them back on the track.
Our dog steers the ship on this discipline. We go at their pace. Whilst we can see them working and hear that nose going, our job is to keep quiet. You're nailing it Dee 😉😁. Just a little more fine tuning on your lead skills required. You and Asher have come a long way in a few weeks. You can both be proud of your achievements.🙂
If you ever wondered what tracking is all about, this is it.
The track layout was an open box. What you see here is a fantastic execution of the first 90 degree angle. An assisted indication when finding the KONG. Spaniels for the main part, well - so far as I have found, is that they prefer to "down" as their indication.
The next 90 degree angle was a text book turn. Holly's head came up and she air scented because there was a change of direction in the track. She then did a 360 degree turn to locate the ground disturbance before getting her nose down again.
The last leg did look like she had lost it a bit, but no, she was on it. As the saying goes "trust your dog!" She even took time to powder her nose 😂. Well done for multi tasking Holly!
Holly did take a bit of time to locate the end of the track which was a small piece of KONG rather than a whole one, but she actively and independently worked to find it AND offered up the indication without prompting.
The reason we used small pieces of KONG is because Holly has already done scent detection.
As she knows the scent of red KONG well, there is the danger and frustration that if our dogs raise their heads to air scent that they will dismiss the track and go straight for the end goal.
You may think that's not so bad and what's the problem? In real life scenarios e.g. police tracking dogs, their maybe articles and evidence that do not get accounted for.
I had a real dog parent moment and she's not mine!😁.
I must applaud Sharon Packham. Cracking line handling skills.
Surprisingly, the weather was our friend. Yes, really! Who'd have thought!! No wind, apart from mine 😉 and a heavy morning dew. It always helps being able to see where you've walked!!
That's another thing I like about all things scentwork. It's you and your dog working as a partnership, as a team.
It's about sensing when to assist them and knowing when to stand back and give them the space, time and peace and quiet to work things ou
Part 2 of the outside building search
Part 2 of the outside building search.
Outside Search
Another novel area. This time an outside building search.
The instructor was a bit pants. She should have removed the first hide. 🙄
