Oct 4, 2008

I sucked it up and got my courage back and decided to take Juno to Tampa today to meet Ed, the trainer for the Tampa FD search dogs.  I've trained with him many times, but always with Rascal, not Juno.  I had no idea what she would do, so I decided to move back to the very beginning and do a run-away myself, onto the rubble.  Ed and I walked over and up onto the pile to see where we could hide today.  Juno went up with us just to explore.  She has no issues with clibing, slipping and sliding on the rubble.  I should have taken a picture of it, because it is quite large and difficult to maneuver.

Ed suggested that he hide right at the top and get her excited about climbing onto the rubble.  She did great!  He then moved across the pile, but did a call-out when she got to the top.  Again, she did fine.  For the third rep, he stayed in the same place, but did not call her.  She got to the top and barked in frustration - Where was he?  She saw him and ran to him and alerted.  He was not concerned about this, because he said she stayed in search mode and didn't begin to wander or break off.  A fourth run cleaned this up and she ran back to where he was hiding.

After a break to work other dogs, Juno got another chance to work.   We repeated the same problem and she did a great job.  Ed then moved about 6 feet away.  She ran right to where he'd been hiding, didn't find him and turned into the wind and there he was.  He does this to get them to begin to use their nose and not their eyes.  Over all, a very nice day for her.  She was speedy in finding him, had a good, confident alert and enjoyed her food reward.

Ed was pleased with her and said she was progressing well.  He said if he had her, he could have her ready for testing in 6 months.  I guess that puts the pressure on me  :-)  Her biggest problem is me, because I've started and stopped her several times, and she is not totally confident going to new areas.  That is something I can work on.  Working her a minimum of two times a week with helpers and on rubble will be far more difficult.

Sun, Sept 14, 2008

Juno surely didn't have the answer to the question today.  She ascted like she had never heard the word before.  We were in a new place and on rubble, but I really didn't think that would make much difference to her.  She did fine at alerting on the victim - good barks and no fear - after I pretty much led her into the vic, but not much motivation on her own to search.  This is the Juno that I've washed several times.

It really bugs me that I can't find a way to channel this dog's drive into searching for people.  I"m strongly considering giving my victims a dead squirrel to do a run-away with....

9/3/08

Maia, the 10 year old daughter of my stepson's girlfriend (did you get that??!!) was over for the afternoon and wanted to do something with the dogs.  I asked if she wanted to hide for Juno, and she was very excited.  So, we hid together 2 times - once behind a big bush and once in the kennel office.  To find us there, she had to come into the kennel and then go into the office.  Then I sent Maia off to hide by herself.  Juno was off like a bullet when i sent her!  I ran after and got to the spot where Mai was supposed to be, but neither she nor the dog were there - yikes.  I turned and saw Juno searching the yard and Maia yelled to tell me where she was.  Juno searched and searached.  At one point in time, her nose went up and I knew she had scent, but my novice dog did not know what to do when she smelled a person, but there was no person there.  It was clear that Maia was in a dead zone - her scent must have been going straight up and away to a place that was inaccessible to the dog.  In fact, I sent Juno onto the porch where maia was hiding and she came down with no indication that she had scent.  I sent her up again and she looked at me like I was nuts, but then SAW Maia in the corner and went crazy.

I was so pleased that the little thing would do such a great job of hunting!  I'm getting slight encouraged, that she might like this after all!

I forgot to write a blog about our exciting day of training on Sunday.  We saw some visible progress!!

We went to Pam's to do some work at her place.  It is always good to train in a variety of places, so the dogs know that they have to work everywhere.  We did some agilty and she did her normal great job.  She had some trouble with the metal ladder, but did a great job on the wooden one.  We'll start doing some horizontal work with the metal ladder until she gets comfortable with the feel of it.

We then went to work our directionals - the baseball diamond.  Juno had to run over to the barrel to see if there was anyone there.  Yippee!  A sign that she thinks this might be a fun game!!

She did a great job on directionals - a mini miracle.  (We went home and did them on Monday and she seemed to forget again.  Go to Pam's on Wed and she did fine.  Now what is that all about???

But, what I was most pleased about was that while she was barking at Pam in the bark barrel, a bird flew over.  She stopped barking, followed the bird with her eyes, and then barked again!!!  Pam gave her a fast reward at just the right time!  This is the first time she has given an indication that she might be able to work past a bird and that is a very good thing!!

Sat, Aug 23, 2008

Juno, Rascal, my friend Pam and her two dogs drove 4 hours to Harrisburg to the training site of the PA-TF 1.  We met another team mate of mine and spent the day training.

We started with agility.  Juno climbed the Little Giant  8' foot ladder for the first time.  She tried to race up it and ended up with her legs flying, but was able to slow down and go both up and down.  They don't have to go down during our certifications, but I think it is a skill that shows bravery and control and could be useful.  I know handlers who had their dogs walk down a ladder into a hole in the 9/11 searches.  It was faster than hooking them to a harness and lowering them.  She followed directions well on the 6' high plank.  She needs to stop and turn up there, or on some other agilty obstacle.  She walked over anchor fencing and slippery barrels and did a very nice job.

We then went to the bark barrels.  Again, she had some concern about the lid moving.  My friend Pam said that the person hiding in the barrel moved it pretty quickly.  We did several repetitions and came back later and she had no problems.  She hasn't done enough of these for her to become unconcerned about the lid.  Time will take care of this.

We did two short problems on the rubble.  She was able to see and hear the victim call her and then she ran across the rubble to bark at the victim.  The victim was sitting in a big pipe and Juno could see her when she got there.  Why do we do this instead of just sending her out to find someone she can't see hiding in the middle of the rubble pile?  Many reasons.  Primarily, you always want them to be successful.  It is better to go slowly than to make a mistake.  That has to be balanced with the dogs who need to be challenged, but you still need to be cautious and plan well to make sure you are successful.  Also, she has done simple problems like this at home, but when you go to a new place, you back up a few steps. And, she doesn't know what "search" means yet.  She is still learning that command.  So, we want to make sure she is learning the right thing.  There are groundhogs and other critters living in this pile.  Our plan had to ensure that Juno would go to her victim and get a good reward.  If she wandered around searching for the victim and encountered the scent of a groundhog and began to search for that, guess what the word "search" would mean from then on???  I always have to remember that I am asking Juno to play this game.  If she were to decide what she wanted to do at this  point in time, it would have to do with hunting birds or other critters now.  People still can't compete with birds, butterflies, dragonflies, bunnies, etc....  If she ever decides that she can have as much fun with people, she will be a search dog!

Overall, it was a very successful day.  I would have like to work more problems, but she was successful at everything she attempted.  Nothing unnerved her.  She is progressing well.