Reply To: Mary & Salu

#6094
MARY
Participant

Lesson 3, video 2:
As usual, it’s been an interesting and educating few days with Salu :).
Yesterday we went to the park (the one I initially posted pictures of) – he’s only been there a few times and I quickly learned that the open area had way too many distractions for him at this point in his training. He spent roughly 15% of his time searching and the rest finding and playing with sticks, listening to woodpeckers – basically anything and everything.
So, I put him in the car for a rest, collected the scents and placed them in a smaller area covered with mulch. He did much better there and was more focused.
Then, I tried just throwing a couple tea balls in the open grass to see what he would do (not buried). Well, the good news is he loved that game and found them but…. one came open, the piece of truffle fell out and it immediately went down the gullet. (Mental note: practice touching with smaller pieces of truffle). Oh, and did I mention while he was in the car resting he chewed the long leash in half? LOL!!
So, in this video we are at the same area as I posted with Lola. I placed them, took Lola home and brought Salu back. Same markers and environment as in Lola’s post. What you don’t see on this video as I hadn’t started it yet, was Salu immediately found the first scent but then left it to find another and would not come back to “show me”. First time he’s ever done this – so, how is that handled when he’s showing me the second one and I’m standing there with the first one in my hand??
This video then starts with scent #3. He finds 2 and he’s getting distracted and it’s apparent he’s losing interest so I manufactured the 3rd as you suggested, with him watching.
I’m curious to see how these scenarios are handled…. Another interesting few days…