OK, below is my week one video homework. This trial was atypically long: four minutes. I’m hoping that since I’m only posting one video a week it’s ok that this one ran over the three minute guideline. I think there might be some useful lessons for me in there, since Mo was quite inefficient!
Here’s some context for what you’ll see:
I’ve been a little concerned this past week that Mo, while workmanlike and effective finding the targets, lacked enthusiasm. In this session, though, Mo showed a ton of enthusiasm–the kind of spunk that recently he’s exhibited mostly while doing scent work on the live quail I’m raising in the back yard.
Several times during this session I wondered if Mo was actually keying on quail scent and not the black trumpets I’m using here; that could explain both his wild enthusiasm and his lack of efficiency finding the targets. The morning before I shot this video, I released a quail for Mo to track down. He pointed, I flushed it, and it flew away; later, though, it returned to the pen and probably walked through the area in which we’re now hunting for mushrooms.
I’m wondering if I should only work quail in this area, and mushrooms somewhere else . . .