Mary & Lola

[MARY]

Thanks Alana – we’re about 90% de-burred…. still working on the top of her nose. She’s definitely getting the Cloud Chaser.. I did some Googling on gun dog sites and the general consensus is to use Show Sheen for horses. Spray it on, brush it through and let it dry. Bridget actually recommended it to me when I first got Salu to use for mating. I have a bottle so I’ll let you know how it works. The cornstarch will be great for her face though as I don’t want to use chemicals around her eyes.

We’ll start working with the white truffle oil. This week I’m keeping Lola at this same park only in a grassy area with buried scents. I don’t want to move too fast with her and new areas. 🙂

[Alana McGee]

We think that is a good idea Mary.

PLEASE do let me know about the show sheen. I would love to have something to Use on Lolo for matting. Cornstarch isn’t perfect, but it does certainly help with burrs- and makes them easier to remove when caught- tip from a groomer friend.

[MARY]

This is the same area Salu was. Same park as last week only a different area. Lola has not been here prior.

Again, the leaves are damp but the ground is dry. I brought Lola here after Salu this morning to see if she could find the remaining tea balls (btw… these are buries and not marked. They were placed last night and although I know the area they were placed I don’t know where so I’m calling this “pretty blind”). She became frustrated and showed no sign of finding a scent (not really like Lola). We went back to the car and I placed the ones Salu found earlier under some damp leaves and we waited 10-15 minutes. This video is from that point on.
What’s VERY apparent is that once Lola finds one her whole attitude changes and it really hit home how important even manufactured success can be to the feeling of the game. So, are manufactured successes something you, as a handler, will do continuously during the “hunt”? I also saw first hand the importance of moisture in relation to the scent. Lola is a complete 180 from 20 minutes prior when the scent were in dry ground.
Again, I’m more comfortable with Lola staying at this level and practicing at different locations. It takes her awhile to feel comfortable and adjust but I think the more we practice this the more fun she’ll with new enviornments.
Oh, and as we were leaving Lola gets excited and finds another tea ball that we buried the day before. BIG party over that!!

[Alana McGee]

Before you had Lola in this area, when you were trying to find the ones placed last night that Salu did not find, did you ‘prime’ Lola prior to going out in the area? If not, we suggest you do.

As for do we offer manufactured success during the hunt: The short answer is yes, we do! It depends on many different factors as to ‘when’ we offer those as we read our dogs and each day and each area are a little different, but yes, we will manufacture finds for the dogs out in the woods and on orchards if they are not finding anything. We aim to avoid putting pressure on the dogs, and as we say, it should always be fun!

Great on the Party on the way out!

As always, you two are a joy to watch your connection. We think it is great you want to stay at this level of difficulty and gain more practice in new situations. That is perfect for Lola. You know her best. The more you can do that in newer locations with successful outings (aka fun and confidence building!) overtime the more confident she will become in even newer areas feeling more comfortable performing these same scent related tasks.

Nice search Mary She does many nice head checks like at 0:57. You do a great job of encouraging her to stay in a certain areas through verbal engagement. Nice mary! (1:03)
1:24 we love watching her when she hits the scene column, pinpoint (1:24, and at 2:34)- beautiful nose touch on target on that first one!

The section at 2:42 is a PERFECT example of bracketing. Bracketing is a terms we use when describing this behavior of the dog catching parts of a scent column or scent field in this case, and then creating and setting boundaries on where the scent has flowed around and slowly narrowing the search area. You can see her here going back and forth slowly narrowing down the area where true scent is coming from.

That was really nice!

Do you have any questions about anything in the video. It looks good Mary.

[MARY]

Thanks Alana – I’m not sure I”m exactly clear on “priming Lola”. We had not checked out the area prior (which we should have) – we had walked around/past during a couple walks through the park.

The scent disc that Lola was “bracketing” was actually partially buried on it’s side so it could have more exposure to the damp ground and leaves. It is fun to watch when she’s onto a scent…she doesn’t leave much to the imagination…

[Alana McGee]

Priming meaning before you go into a search area performing a simple alert sequence on a target.

For example, before I start hunting with Lolo in an area (although she generalizes the game and knows what is going on) I drop a target on the ground in visible range or view (or sometimes hold it in my hand) and ask for an alert. It is a way to provide information on the game being played.

You could do a couple of easy ones for Lola in a new area before you ask her to search for partially buried ones.

Does that make sense?

[MARY]

Yes it does!! And, I’ve been guilty of not doing that.

I’m thinking we might try my friends land this weekend (that I posted pictures of late) and ask her to throw some scent balls out in the middle of the open area (not too large of an area and on the surface) the night before and go out in the morning (while there’s still dew on the ground) and give it a try.

Then tonight on my way home from work I can collect some “distractions” from the park and ask Juli to collect some from her land and we can practice with those this week prior to going out.

Your thoughts??

[Alana McGee]

We think that sounds like a perfect idea to work on distractions for those environments.

[Author]

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