Gibbs - NW3 Container search
NW3 level with unknown number of hides - we were the LAST dog to run it. And, last dog to run for the trial.
Gibbs’s nose has taken us to so many fun sniffing scenarios!! Here is a compilation done by GoPro from the videos I have uploaded.
Gibbs at NACSW Summit
NACSW Summit. Amazing. Challenging. A goal.
At our last Summit trial we had a Container search challenge. Find 3 hides in 2 minutes in a long row (about 35 yards??) of 30 fabric pieces of luggage and backpacks. If we completed that, we got a Bonus search of 30 seconds in a room to find 1 hide which could get us extra points. Gibbs and I got the containers correct along with a correct call in time to get the bonus points. We did the container search in 46 seconds!! Even with that clean, fast run, we were 10th place. The first place dog did it in 25 seconds. That is Summit work! I’m still trying to figure out how they gave 3 Alerts, get 3 yesses, rewarded their dog and covered so much distance, as the last hide was in case #29. In the debrief we also learned 8 of the containers had food distractors - including eggs, sausage, bacon, fried fish, pancakes and Funyons, to name a few!
I am in awe of Gibbs (at 11 years old) and how far we have gotten. I remember when 3 minutes at our ORT to find one hide, almost didn’t seem long enough. Here’s our video.
Playing in some AKC Detective trials in Woodstock IL. We were given 9 minutes to find from 5 to 10 hides at the “Beef” barn. Got it cleared in about half the time. Let him do the outside initially his way, which worked for two of the hides - then I headed him back upwind (moving past all the green trash cans) so he could get downwind and come up the other side, which helped him get the last two benches. My handling goal is to have him barely notice I'm there, until he wants me to pay him!
Here's a video from the trial where Gibbs and I completed our NACSW ELT-CH title. It was a super hot day in Bettendorf, IA in August and he was definitely moving slower than usual. I decided to keep my lead shorter than usual - because he doesn't mind the close work and he just needed a little extra support for the work he was doing.
The last hide was playing all around the corner bookcases and I could tell he was working something but with the high ceilings and sunlight, it just wasn't moving much. You'll see me move into the corner and come back out (to help get the air to move around) and you'll see him change how he starts working it higher and away from the bookcases. (It was on the back of the sign on the stand). He was also one of the few dogs to get the chair in the reception area - which, I think, is why the judge sounded so happy to say "yes!". We ended up with a "Pronounced" from the Judge on this search.
Although the video shows "4 hides", which is how many were in the room, the parameter the teams were told going in was that there were 2-5 hides and we had 4.5 minutes. Sorry, kind of boring to watch, but definitely wasn't boring to do. So much thinking about covering the area and it turned out that all the odor was only on one side of the room, but you don't know that going in! 😄
Here's a search from our Elite trial in Oswego a few weeks ago. Trialing in the Summer has its challenges. Gibbs was 6th and 8th in the morning searches and then struggled with the afternoon ones. Ended up with a score in the 70's, but keeping an older, double-coated dog cool is a real struggle sometimes.... Unfortunately, it's easier to get into Elite trials in the summer in the Midwest than the cooler seasons. So, lessons learned and have been keeping him cooler on our last two trials. The two mirror hides on the lockers had odor pooling in the shower stall hallway.
Here is our Spill ‘n’ Rob Elite search GoPro video from July 9th in Appleton, WI at a Public Safety Training facility. To set the stage…. it was a warm day, the interior portion had no a/c or airflow (other than the door opening and closing) and was very warm and stuffy inside. We were given 5 minutes with an unknown number of hides and knew when we moved inside an entourage of people would follow. We took our time. He tried to ignore all the people following him when he was trying to tell me about the dust bin hide close to the door. I tried to help by moving into the tight areas more to help move air and I talked to him more than usual as encouragement because of the heat. We ended up finding all the hides and got a “Pronounced” search from the judge.
Also got the 75 container search. You don’t see his nose hit everything but seeing my pace says how steady this was. On the second hide, he even cut over to it and didn’t take my suggestion to start the move to the front of the row.
Knew there was not going to be a videographer at last weekend's Elite trial in Indiana, so played with doing my own.... Need to put on a wider view, but did capture the whole Exterior search. The windy day was actually in our favor on this one! When he got near to the hide on the last trailer, he flushed a bird which distracted him a bit, so I took him to another area to search. He got in odor there and I let him finish that before going back to where we left off on the last trailer. Loved how clear Gibbs was on his finds. Earned us a 2nd place!
Got the videos back from our NACSW trial last weekend in Shawano, WI. We were so happy to earn our Elite-3 at this trial and were super surprised to get second place in one of the searches. It was a chilly rainy day and we came into this search after being in steady rain...which you can hear in the video. Always like to give him a chance to search the threshold on leash and, since it was an option in this search area, let him run the rest off leash. He worked the room like a pro and a few body pressure suggestions. Also, that I gave him room to work in the tight pews, so much so that when he alerted on the bench he told the closest person to him, and then realized he needed to show me. 🤣
Here is one of the mysteries of nose work.
At a Level 1 NACSW Exterior Element trial (one hide in each location), Gibbs got 3 of the searches in under 15 seconds each (placing 1st, 2nd and 5th). Then, on one of the searches, the odor just didn't reveal itself to him. He sniffed the location marked in the video but headed off elsewhere both times we were near it. Maybe the wind died down, maybe it was lost in the grass, maybe there were more enjoyable dog smells... Sometimes it just doesn't happen. Here are all the searches combined into one video.
NW3 Interior Search - Room 3
Always interesting to watch a dog search an area with no hidden odors (blank area). And, yes, I kept him at it too long... there were just nooks and crannies I didn’t want to miss; but he entered the room slower than normal from the start.
