Reply To: Annie & Ashley

[Alana McGee]

Thanks Alana for your wonderful insights.

I did not realize the hot with no wind would be so difficult. But that does explain why she really had to work to find a particular hide.

We had wonderfully cool, cloudy, windy!!! conditions yesterday. She looked so happy running along and all of a sudden catching scent everywhere and she was able to pinpoint all targets very quickly.

I’ll pay more attention to how I come in. She only backs off when she can’t get close to the smells due to height or heavy plant coverage. I will test with a hide up in a planter. Click when she is standing by it, then come in slowly and help her find it and see how that does. Watching the last video of Speed with the pawing at the branch in the way is very similar to what Ashley is doing (without the pawing). But, if Ashley catches another scent she goes to the other scent. On the upside, she does return to the difficult hide and does her modified alert again and even pawed once – jackpot! big party!!!

We will go out this weekend and see if we can find some fresh mushrooms. It will be fun to see how she reacts to a real mushroom.