Reply To: Rachel & Vidoc FE520

[Alana McGee]

Very nice video Rachel. It looks really well done here.

We really like the second find in this video because it provides info and is a good experience. Very nice job on the encouragement when you are at source. He really works so hard and is so dedicated to locating odor.

It looks like he kicked it out behind him, and I think I can see you shaking your head?It?s ok! So, can?t quite tell if you actually picked it up or touch it, I don?t think you do. It looks like he tracts back to on his own- with your verbal encouragement? Can you confirm that?

If not, instead of pointing right at it, pat the ground near it. We know he?ll find it! Also get in the habit of you looking in the hole.I know he picks them up and spits them to you on occasion, but he won?t always be able to do that with the larger truffles, because he won?t be able to get it completely out of the ground. So start peeking your head in the hole before you encourage him to check behind him.

Luckily the truffles you will be finding- primarily Burgundy truffles, but also possibly Perigords tend to be bigger and easier to see to some degree because of that, inside the holes. You rarely find tiny ones of those- but I suppose it?s possible, so this is good practice with the small vials. But start to get in the habit of peeking in the hole to see what he sees there before helping or encouraging him to check behind. You can verbally communicate and confirm while you check the hole (it doesn?t have too be more than a second or two- its just to start getting used to it? even if you saw him kick the vial behind.)

At 1:52 he does this beautifully on his own. Textbook perfect for tracking backwards for checking trailings.

The video was great Rachel- looks really good.

I?ll check back through the forum to make sure we don?t contradict something we said earlier about plan of attack- but In this area which is more familiar start burying them a little deeper. It is still familiar and not a huge space, but it is a good space for this level with some topography features and distractions and plenty of room to move around still. Build value on working on slightly deeper hides in this area.

Like Kristin mentioned in the previous video- you can use that area too but maybe decrease the space used a little bit and don?t have them as deep. And marking will also help relax you a little.

But well done- very good. Vidoc was much more relaxed in this scenario. He will try and try and try for you, and keep going until he finds it- but this was a nice short sweet session. Well done.