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Hi Kristin/Alana – I’ve not been doing box hides with Lola for a couple years (last class) – we’ve just been practicing where we left off then… Hiding scents in bushes and burying them in the yard and in the house when the weather is bad.
Question – would there be value in re-visiting the box hides at this point? Or, continuing with what were are currently doing?Here’s a short video to show you where we are. This is our backyard and this is where we have done 90% of our practice hides. It’s early morning and pretty damp from yesterday’s rain. There are two hides, one in some tall grasses and one buried about 1″under a tree.
I started to record another short video of a couple searches in the grass but the neighbor decided to weed whack along the fence line while she was searching so I stopped recording and turned the search into a truffle treat party as Lola tends to be reactive towards noises/people along the fence.2nd video to give you an idea of where I am with Lola at this point. This is only the second time ‘truffles’ have been in the grass/open area. In the past they’ve been hidden/buried around the perimeter. It does give you a good idea of her seach patterns though.
It’s interesting that in both videos show very abrupt turns towards the scent as she passes it. That’s not something I’ve observed in the past. It also looks like we could work ‘fine tuning’ her alerts – I’ll be curious to get your thoughts..Thanks Kristin – actually I’ve never paid attention to her coming back to get me but I think a good percent of the time she does – I’ll pay more attention and reward that.
This is my son’s yard – Lola and I will be doing searches here as it’s new and unfamiliar, not many distractions and it will be easy to do blind hides.
We will also be working in our yard and the nearby park – same as Salu.
Hi Alana – Matt (my son) does not have animals. He does have a 10 mth old son – who Lola is fine with and he won’t be outside while we’re searching.
No neighbor dogs/cats but lots of chipmunks. Lola has never shown interest in those however.
In the second video I posted a neighbor of mine was using some loud equipment while Lola was searching – I almost stopped the search but decided to play it by ear since Lola was so focused. In the past that would have been a problem but she did fine. And, even after we were through She never seemed to notice. 😊. Yay for clickers and treats.
This should be the last video of the week for Lola. It’s a few seconds over the 3 minutes, but she was SO close the finding the third scent I had to let her finish.
A few things… We took a video earlier and after reviewing I wasn’t happy with her passive alert (nose touching) so we worked with the clicker for 10-15 minutes on alerts and did a retake – thus me using the clicker during this video.
There are two times she was a bit distracted. Around the dried grass/weeds I had placed a scent ball and moved it thinking it was too noticable – I’m sure it left some scent. The other time she lost focus at the back fence. My neighbors came out with their 2 y/o to play soccer. I thought she re-focused very well though and found the remaining scent.
I should add that I know Lola tends to be a bit of a “free spirit” during her searches. I tried to keep the scent area pretty small but she still was all over the yard.
I haven’t used her leash (6ft) as I think it would cramp her ‘style’ so I’ve ordered a 20ft long line to try with her. I think she will still have the freedom she needs and but remain in the area at hand.
Class 2 video 1:
OK, some background… we went here to practice some blind hides yesterday and while searching Lola got a thorn in her foot. She was screeching, limping etc…. After going to the car and seeing that she was OK and the pain was gone I didn’t want to leave the area with that in her memory so we went back into the yard and had a “treat party”. After a few minutes she was running around happy so we left.
Today – there are 5 scent balls – all blind hides but not totally hidden. 2 left from yesterday and 3 placed today and have been cooking for a little over an hour. These scent balls have been in the fridge overnight with the summer truffle.
The beginning of the video is deleted to shorten it and there wasn’t much to see but Lola running around, rolling in the grass and being Lola.
In this video she found the 3 that were put out today. She’s pretty wound up so the alerts are sketchy at best but she’s doing the best she can. :). We’ll continue to practice the alerts in our yard as well as work on hides in Matt’s yard. As time goes on this will get better.
Well, as I’m getting the gear ready to go to the car I look down and Lola is at my feet with the two remaining tea balls!! I wasn’t paying any attention but she had started searching on her own and brought them to me. She totally caught me off guard and I’ll admit I rewarded her without them in my hand…but, I then I remembered and did it correctly. Never a dull moment…. 🙂Thanks Alana – Lola’s fun for me to work with. No surprise this is her favorite game..
Ok, so a few questions…Regarding Lola bringing me the scents… what about me using ground caches and then keeping a scent ball with me to mimic the truffle after removing the ground cache – would that help? Or does it matter at this point? Lola also does this when the scent is buried. She’s VERY fast at digging out the scent and then brings it to me or “throws” it towards me. Just wondering if this is something I should start addressing now…
Also, when using multiple scents.. In my case fresh summer truffle and truffle training oil (Oregon)… Is it preferable to have both scents out in separate containers during the search, mix the two in the same containers or only practice with one scent at a time?
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