Mocha needs a forever home! 6 yr. Old French Brittany Spaniel

Yea!  Mocha has found a wonderful new home with 6 acres, a new dog buddy and someone to run and mountain bike with.

K9 Nose Work Rock Star!

I just have to brag about Peaches!!!

This weekend we put on a "mock" K9 Nose Work Trial in Portland in preparation for putting on a sanctioned NACSW K9 Nose Work Trial in the spring. It was run exactly like a real trial with a certified judge (in fact he was one of the founders) and in all other aspects.

Well, my miss Peaches rocked!    

Peach won:

• 1st Overall

• 1st in the Team event (cumulative of 3 events on an assigned 3 dog team)

• 1st in the Vehicle Search (in the pouring rain)

• 2nd in the Interior Search

• 3rd in the Exterior Search (during a crazy snow and sleet storm!)

• 6th in the Container Search (where the time difference between 1st and 6th was less than 3 seconds) 

• She also got her "mock" version of the NW1 Title
• In addition the judge gave us "Pronounced" indications in all four elements
(The judge may ‘Pronounce’ teams demonstrating exceptional technique and/or teamwork at each trial and title level. This is not part of the title, but rather an acknowledgement of exceptional teamwork on that particular trial day. To be considered for pronouncement, teams must have scored 100 points.  The judge will evaluate the following elements in the teamwork: Professionalism, handler and dog safety, observational skills, leash handling technique, off-leash control, speed and efficiency, accuracy, stamina, enthusiasm, clarity of alert, odor obedience.)

This is the first competition event either Peaches or I have done!  I can't even begin to tell you how proud of her I am!  She was confident as soon as she crossed the start line knowing exactly what we were doing and what her job was. She did really well being around other dogs on leash, which has been a challenge for her and part of the reason we are doing Nose Work as they make accommodation in the trial set up such that no dogs ever interact, so we don't even have to worry about it, it lets us focus totally on the work.

Here is Peach and her ribbons:

Some photos from each of the four elements in the trial.

Container Search, checking each box.

Found it!  Clearly alerting her find with a look at me.

Vehicle Search. Ready to work mom!
Let's go search those vehicles.

She knew immediately it was on the vehicle on the far left of the three.

She know's she is close
but not directly on "source" yet.

Now she is dead on the "source"...

 ...and alerts with a direct look at me.

Interior Search, here she has picked up the odor in the school classroom.

Found it! Tucked under the edge of the desk.

Alerts and is waiting for her reward.

The Exterior Search in snow!  Let's go find it, who cares about the weather.

 You can barely see Peach but she id dead on the "source" and about to alert.

Peaches and Ochoco Tracking 10/17/10

A beautiful fall day for tracking!

This is Ochoco's first time out, so her video is of two little baby tracks each about five feet long.

Peaches is back to practicing tracking after not having been out since last spring when she was just beginning. So this is about a 70 yard track with three articles and treats at each article. Note she downs at the end glove, this is something she has started as her own indication! She also does this in Nose Work.

Peaches Passes her ORT 9/19/10

Yea! Peaches (Kaibab's Fuzzy Peach) passed her ORT (Odor Recognition Test) today. It is for K9 Nose Work competition and is similar to tracking in that you have to pass a certification test before you can trial.

She did it in 45 seconds, they have 3 minutes to do it in. You can see an example video of Peaches working below, and others farther down in the blog.

This is the first competition of any type for both Peaches and myself. I was so proud of how focused she was and that I was able to keep my butterflies under control and pay attention only to Peaches and trust her to "alert" on the target box. The closed target box contains a small aprox. 1" vented metal container with 1-2 scented cotton swabs.

Websites to see more info on the sport: http://www.k9nosework.com/home.html and www.nacsw.net

Peaches Beach Agility!

Peach has invented a new sport! Beach agility!

Fun Birthday Party at the Dog Park!

Here are some fun photos and videos from the "birthday" party held for Jersey at our local dog park.

Notice that Ochoco is front and center for doggie meatloaf bites the whole time!

Peaches Tracking 4/23/2010

Peaches practicing short straight tracks, each about 5-7 yards long.




Oops I forgot to move the leash to her harness!

Ochoco Rally 4/2010

Ochoco in beginning Rally class, we definitely don't know our way around the signs yet! This is after about 8 classes, she was a hooligan the first 4 and has progressively gotten better and more focused!

K9 Nose Work Classes, Intro to Odor

Peaches second class in the second session where we are starting to pair odor with food.




Ochoco at her second session.

Ochoco at the Draft Clinic 3/27/10

Ochoco at the draft clinic this last Saturday! Isn't she cute! This is the only shot we got of her, she loves wearing the harness, and was fine with dragging the traces, but was not too thrilled about the pvc make-shift shafts. So we never attached them, but just walked near her with them to get her used to them. We also did a bunch of walking around with the cart near her but not attached. She had a lot of fun and was her usual wiggly self.



She starts the next session of K9 Nose Work on Monday and we'll have some video from that too.

Week Three of K9 Nose Work Class

Week three room set up and our fabulous teacher Shelley Smith!

This is Ochoco's second week of class, we started the series with Peaches but she only got to go to the first class before having emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage (she's doing fine and we are practicing finds at home until her staples are removed). Luckily I have two berners so Ochoco is taking Peaches' place in class. We'll start Peach back up next session.

Today was basically a repeat of last week except that each of us brought an item from home to add to the mix of boxes they had been working with the last two weeks. The hides were not much more difficult, but the added items increased the complexity of the smells and things to search.

Here are some videos of a few of the dogs working week three:

Ochoco does a great natural alert! She found the reward under the cone but was hesitant to tip the cone over so you can see she moves around it a bit and then sits of her own volition (just out of the frame of the video) to alert her find and say "Here it is, I found it." We hope she will do that again as that is what you want to come naturally.

Ochoco is silly, but actually pretty quick in her finds:

(At video marker 45 she runs past it and her head cranks back, she's caught the scent.)

This is Quin, he searches for a favorite toy and is fast and funny.

This is Chloe, she is all business and fast too!

This is Rider, and he is thorough and fast.

More of Ochoco!!!

Here she actually finds it quite early but is uncomfortable putting her head in the box to get the reward, so she does some circling back to it and finally we have to help her a little by lifting the box lid slightly so she feels safe enough to stick her head into the box. (She first finds it at the 26 marker point in the video and possibly has caught a whiff earlier at about marker 16.)

Here Ochoco finds it again quickly, but is again slightly afraid of the wiggly box lid it is in sitting on top of the cooler, so she does a bunch more searching and then goes back to the original find, and we have to help a little by putting the box lid on the floor so she can eat her reward. (Here she catches scent at the 25 marker.)

You may also have noticed that Ochoco goes directly to the instructor at the beginning of each search and checks her hands. The instructor has hidden the treat, so she has the scent on her. I'm not sure why she is doing this and I didn't notice it during class, but only after reviewing a bunch of her find videos.

Ochoco was frightened by a very large branch falling out of an evergreen tree when she was just a tiny 10 week old puppy. She was in an X-pen in the drive way while we were working outside near her. The large, long branch fell on top of the X-pen and bent several panels of the pen and easily could have killed her had it fallen at even a slightly different angle, much of the branch landed inside the pen and smaller parts may have touched her, we are not sure. Although there were no injuries, she was hollering from fear. Obviously this was a very scary moment in her life, and the fallout of that moment is some nervousness about things above her head and things that move unexpectedly near her head and feet, hence her hesitation at putting her head into or eating from things that move like the boxes in the search exercises.

Tomorrow is Ochoco's 18 month old celebration! I can't believe she is a year and a half already. It seems she was just a 20 pound fuzz ball not that long ago. She's now a fit and super trim 90 pound-and-still-growing girl. Happy Day O!