Scent alert and retrieve BG Kit and Juice
Dex's first and second attempt at finding the Low scent, then retrieving Kadence's BG Kit and a juice on command, after not doing this full mashup since Fall, so he's a bit rusty and it shows in the video. (The struggle is real!) The first 5 minutes is his first attempt with no intro to where to find items, and no practice run. Usually I'll do a quick run through prior to recoding so you can just view his progress; but for those interested, I thought I'd show you the time and patience it takes by doing a scratch video that shows all the mishaps, circles and out of focus moments. He's amazing, but yes, he was a bit rusty. If you want to go straight to his second attempt, it starts at 5 minutes in. Not AS rusty, cut his time down from about 5 minutes to 2 minutes! Again, this was his first time back since Fall so he did really well since there was so run-through prior to recording. Obviously I need to be better about practicing daily. -- It's a longer video so I try to talk to the camera so it's not silence the whole time.
Dex's new way of transporting juice
We were teaching Dex to bring Kadence a juice after alerting to a low, and though he could do it, we were always nervous about the juice box or pouch being punctured during transit. I worked with our trainer and she had the brilliant idea of keeping juice in a brown bag, and teach him to grab that. He catches onto change SOOOO quickly, it blows my mind. He caught me by surprise by the mastering first attempt, so I videotaped the second time around. He's usually pretty focused, but someone came downstairs and he was wondering why they just stopped and watched.
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You'll noticed he seems a bit tired and slow to respond. We recently found out he has a respiratory infection that we weren't aware of it at the time. In addition, we had played and trained outside most of the day due to this gorgeous weather, so his body was worn down and moving pretty slowly by the time this video was taken. Doctor's orders are lots of rest and very little movement, so we're putting training on hold until he's back to his normal, spunky self. Hoping to be back in a week or so.
Training to a live Low
Dex was laying on the floor so I quietly placed a live sample on the opposite side of her backpack and he popped up and started whimpering and placed himself in his "Hello, I have something to say!" spot (where the video starts). You'll notice he sniffs her backpack, and that's because that's where I originally put the scent so the smell was strongest there in the beginning. Our goal is for him to recognize the faint scent of a live low from her body and warn off that, but being he's lived with us for 2 years, that smell has been "normal" to him since he's around it 24/7, so we're slowly getting him readjusted to what her normal vs. a Low should be. He's doing great, and I love that his tail is wagging; he really enjoys the challenge!
More off-leash training in a public setting. (21 months old)
More off-leash training in a public setting.
I apologize in advance for the horrible angle!
(January 14, 2019 = 21 months old)
Off-Leash training in public
First attempt at off leash training in a public building. He did pretty good, especially considering Subway was right next to us!
(January 14, 2019 = 21 months old)
Associating the scent of a Low BG with "Warn"
Dex practicing his "Warn" command to Kadence's low BG level. This is his first time being front row to her BG check and the test scent of a low BG. A solid association between Low and Warn for him. We will definitely be doing this consistently with him. I love how much interest he shows. <3 Plus, he didn't mess with any Legos, so that was a win. ;)
