Hi Annie
My apologies for such a long delay in responding to you. In this day and age expectations are high that Broadband will be the minimum connectivity to the internet, but alas that was not true last weekend, so I had not internet connection to respond to your homework video.
We only see a snapshot of your training through these videos, but Tooz’s enthusiasm has increased since the first video. Well done. Sometimes the video doesn’t pick up everything spoken, so great that you were encouraging Tuesday when her body language changed to say that she was in odour on the previous video. Knowing what is the right reward, and reward intensity, for your dog in different forest situations is so important.
When an opportunity arises when people offer to assist you with a search, you have to make the most of it, even if they do run interference, which can be both distracting for you and Tooz.
Tooz is an enthusiastic working, and your encouragement is good, even when it turned out that something wasn’t there. Great timing to call her off from the ‘trap’. Be careful asking her to leave an unexplored area without checking it out. When out in the bush searching, her body language may alter slightly and if removed before a closer check you may ask her to leave a hidden treasure.
Tooz did a great search when at (1:12) you gave some good bridging support when she hit the cone of scent, shown by the body change, and then she worked towards the source of scent. Really GREAT work by Tooz, and yourself in locating this.
2.24 was an AWESOME interaction between the team. Tooz located the truffle and you got down and close with her and she was on top of the truffle, waiting for you and then you dig it up together was great to watch. That tail is such a give-away for what she has found.
2:47 was another wonderful location and both of you were eager to find out what was down there.
Tooz doesn’t appear to be phased by all the ‘chatter’, but another dog you train may work in peace and quiet, or the chatter may hype them up, so it is really great to watch her with all these distractions going on.
This is some really BRILLIANT team work between you and Tooz. I would suggest securing the indicator/alert signal for a number of reasons: Tooz will not damage the truffle through digging or disturbing the ground; keep her in the current location as there may be other truffles in close proximity and having a strong alert will reduce the opportunity for her to alert and then be called away from a buried treasure; will make her more keen for the end game and waiting for the ball.
You have taken the suggested changes on board and your training has moved forward in leaps and bounds. Tooz has so much energy now, and is working harder for a smaller number of rewards. The approximations to reduce the rewards has been well timed, and the behaviour has increased without deterioration.
Well done on this video.