Heat Wave and Nose Work 2

As of Friday, we moved into a heat wave, and definitely no rain.

Emile got started early Friday morning airing out his budda in preparation for a hot weekend. And by the way, he is watching hummingbirds while laying there, and occasionally chattering.

Nim dug himself a trough and rolled in it.

Saturday morning Nim and I went to watch Gypsy and my mom compete in their first Nose Work 2 trial.

Gypsy wasn't in any mood for Nim's antics on Saturday morning.

Nim needed to stay in the car anyway.

Long story short, they didn't "title" on Saturday. But this is not to say it wasn't a very worthwhile experience. I couldn't photograph any of the actual searches, and one I couldn't even watch but I can still give a general breakdown of events.

Hide 1 (exterior) - This hide was in an "area." The area was basically grass and concrete bound by two walls and then cones telling you how far out to go. For this search they ran out of time. 30 seconds was called and I think the head-whip I saw about 15 seconds after that was probably Gypsy getting into odor, but the clock beat her.

Hide 2 (cars) - This hide is again outside and around a cluster of cars. The sources need to be 10 feet apart and somehow on the vehicle. There were 2 hides. The first one Gypsy nailed fast, and the second she definitely narrowed the area and probably actually had the odor only her human attempted to do the thinking for her and didn't believe Gypsy. :) All of us, professional handlers or sport handlers have done this. Repeatedly.

Hide 3 (container) - This hide was done in an open room and there were "containers" scattered all over on the floor. A container example might be a suitcase. Gypsy nailed it.

Hide 4 (interior) - I didn't get to see this one, but apparently it was a very tiny room (think utility closet) and a larger room. I looked at the clock when they went in, and when they came out 3 minutes max later I knew they had done well. And yes, Gypsy nailed that one too. :)

So to "title" in this specific event (they are getting into adding legs, and other things that will provide other options) Gypsy would have had to make all the finds, all within time, no false alerts, peeing in the search area, etc. Crazy huh?

Very well worth the training and the experience and everything I saw her work she did really well. Lots of hot dogs that day so considering the weather and stress of a trial they did well!

I drove home that evening to these crazy clouds. It is even warmer today and we are keeping nice and lazy.