With less than a month before our NW2 trial in Florida where are we with prep?
So far we have worked the following
- aged from 5 minutes to 29 hrs
- on lead and off lead
- food rewards and toy rewards so we have flexibility
- multiple hides
- lots of different containers, suitcases are still our weakest link she just won't stick to it
- high hide and low hides
- toy distractions
- food distractions - steak, kibble, dentastix, bacon, nylabone snap ins, garlic bread (that was the hardest actually)
- other distractions - deodorant, detergent, vanilla extract
- interior and exteriors
- some vehicles
What we are still missing:
- leather bags
- rubber lined bags
- more random food/toy distractions
- strange places like Home Depot, or the dog park
- hides in containers that are on top of tables (we've done a few of these but need more practice)
- blind vehicle searches
- sticking with containers
- my observing the whole dog instead of just her nose and eyes
I think I've figured out why containers are hard for us, other inaccessible hides like filing cabinets and drawers we have worked a lot with pairing and reward the slightest interest and then building up from there, but with the suitcases I kind of just jumped straight from boxes to bags/luggage without starting over from scratch. For the next couple weeks I will be focusing on the "missing" list and really work on back to basics for the areas where we are weakest.
Gah! I can't believe it's coming up so soon! Elli and I overlooked one I didn't see on your list either - corner hides! Elli had so much trouble locating source that was spreading in two adjacent directions & toward the floor.
ReplyDeleteI've also noticed her not sticking to alternate containers - most notably a lunchbox. We'll need to practice more with alternates.
Also, I will try a garlic bread distraction - I have yet to find anything that will truly distract her to the point of even staying at it longer than a passing sniff. Try peanut butter. I had almond butter in one of my alternate containers and it tripped her up just a tiny bit. :)
Corner hides AND threshold hides....need to add those to my list. I will try peanut butter too. We had done raw steak so I really didn't think the garlic bread would be a problem. She didn't alert on it, but she did lay into the bag pretty intently until she realized she couldn't get to it and moved on to the odor bag. It really caught me off guard.
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